JIAN LI¹, QINGQING WANG², XIAOYING ZHANG^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.6, pp. 1307-1316, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.028714 - 19 May 2023

Abstract Scutellarin (SCU) is a herbal flavonoid glucuronide with multiple pharmacological activities, including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, vascular relaxation, anti-platelet, and myocardial protection. However, the effect of SCU on complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA)-induced rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had not been studied. In this study, we investigated the beneficial effects of SCU in the CFA-induced RA mice model and the anti-arthritic activity was evaluated by paw edema. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was carried out to evaluate the plasma levels of immunoglobulin (Ig)G, IgE, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL), and osteoprotegerin (OPG).… More >

YAO LU^1,2,*, QIUYUE WANG¹, CAIHUI ZHANG¹

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.2, pp. 393-400, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.024944 - 18 November 2022

Abstract Myocardial fibrosis is an important manifestation of diabetic cardiomyopathy. This study investigated the potential mechanism of diabetic myocardial fibrosis. Male C57BL/6J and db/db mice aged 8 weeks were randomly divided into the diabetic (DB) and control groups. At 20 weeks, the mouse heart was harvested and subjected to hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE) and Masson staining to investigate the degree of fibrosis. The expressions of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), collagen-III, B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl2), Bcl2-associated X protein (Bax), cleaved gasdermin D (GSDMD), cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (caspase-1), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), and nucleotide-binding oligomerization… More >

CARLOS ALBERTO-SILVA^1,*, ANA CAROLINA DE ARAUJO¹, RODRIGO SIMãO BONFIM¹, JOYCE MEIRE GILIO²

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.2, pp. 289-295, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.023787 - 18 November 2022

Abstract Bothrops envenomation is complex and provokes prominent local tissue damage and systemic disturbances, but little is known about their effects on the male reproductive system. After intratesticular injection, the bioactive peptide fraction (Bj-PF) obtained from Bothrops jararaca snake venom changes the structure of different stages of the seminiferous epithelium cycle in adult mice. For the first time, we investigated whether local envenomation of Bj-PF induces toxicological effects on the male reproductive system, particularly on the seminiferous epithelium and Sertoli cells. Male adult mice were treated with 0.24 mg.kg⁻¹ by intramuscular (i.m.) injection for 24 h. The testes… More >

Chuanjun Huang^1,2, Yan Sun², Na Liu², Ziping Zhang¹, Xiyan Wang², Degan Lu², Ling Zhou^2,a, Caiqing Zhang^3,a

European Cytokine Network, Vol.33, No.1, pp. 13-24, 2022, DOI:10.1684/ecn.2021.0476

Abstract Background: Asthma is an airway disease characterized by airflow limitation and various additional clinical manifestations. Repeated inflammatory stimulation of the airways leads to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) which aggravates subepithelial fibrosis during the process of airway remodelling and enhances resistance to corticosteroids and bronchodilators in refractory asthma. There is growing evidence that IL-27 modulates airway remodelling, however, the molecular mechanisms involving IL-27 and EMT are poorly understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of IL-27 on ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic mice in vivo and TGF-β1-induced EMT in 16HBE cells in vitro. METHODS: Airway inflammation, mucus… More >

TIANTIAN ZHOU^1,3,#, YUMEI ZHANG^1,2,#, JUAN ZHANG^1,2, CHUNYAN XIE², ZHENYA ZHAI^1,2, XIN WU^1,2,3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.11, pp. 2433-2442, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.021290 - 07 July 2022

Abstract High-fat diet (HFD) is demonstrated to disturb the bile acid metabolism. The rhythm of bile acid metabolism can also be affected by uridine, whose metabolism exhibits a daily rhythm. However, the mechanism of dynamic uridine administration affecting bile acid during HFD remains unclear. In this study, C57BL/6J mice were fed HFD (the control group; CON) or HFD with oral administration of uridine in the daytime (DUR) and nighttime (NUR) to investigate the mechanism of the effect of uridine on the bile acid. This study showed that the mRNA expression of uridine transporters and circadian clock… More >

BING WANG^*, KAORU TANAKA, KOUICHI MARUYAMA, YASUHARA NINOMIYA, TAKANORI KATSUBE, MITSURU NENOI^*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.10, pp. 2315-2325, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.021161 - 13 June 2022

Abstract Investigation on possible induction of adaptive response (AR) by high-liner energy transfer (LET) particle radiation for protection against low-LET photon radiation-induced detrimental effects has not yet been performed in utero. This study verified if an AR could be induced by high-LET particle radiation from accelerated heavy ions against low-LET X-ray radiation-induced detrimental effects on fetal mice. Total body irradiation of pregnant C57BL/6J mice were performed by delivering a priming dose ranging from 10 mGy to 320 mGy of particle radiation on gestation day 11 followed one day later by a challenge dose at 3500 mGy from… More >

EUN NA¹, SUN YOUNG LIM^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.9, pp. 2101-2109, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.019807 - 18 May 2022

Abstract We investigated the diversity and composition of microflora in feces of Lycopus lucidus Turcz.-fed mice. In addition, we evaluated the production of major cytokines (Interleukin-6 and -10) which are related to inflammation and fatty acid composition of several tissues. 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing-based microbiome taxonomic profiling analysis was performed utilizing the EzBioCloud data base. Male mice fed on L. lucidus showed a significantly reduced number of lactic acid bacteria and coliform in the feces compared with the control group (p < 0.05). 16S rDNA sequencing analysis of fecal samples showed that L. lucidus supplementation decreased the community of… More >

WEI LIANG^1,2,*, QIANG LUO^1,2,#, ZONGWEI ZHANG^1,2,#, KEJU YANG^1,2,3, ANKANG YANG^1,2, QINGJIA CHI⁴, HUAN HU⁵

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.8, pp. 1989-2002, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.019300 - 22 April 2022

Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common microvascular complication that easily leads to end-stage renal disease. It is important to explore the key biomarkers and molecular mechanisms relevant to diabetic nephropathy (DN). We used highthroughput RNA sequencing to obtain the genes related to DN glomerular tissues and healthy glomerular tissues of mice. Then we used LIMMA to analyze differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between DN and non-diabetic glomerular samples. And we performed KEGG, gene ontology functional (GO) enrichment, and gene set enrichment analysis to reveal the signaling pathway of the disease. The CIBERSORT algorithm based on support… More >

AMOURA M. ABOU-EL-NAGA¹, SHAKER A. MOUSA², FAYEZ ALTHOBAITI³, EMAN FAYAD^3,*, ENGY S. FAHIM¹

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 535-545, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017739 - 20 October 2021

Abstract Testicular damage is one of the most hazardous effects as it’s associated with azoospermia. Busulfan (Bu) is a highly toxic chemotherapeutic drug that affects testis. Thirty male Swiss albino mice divided into six groups of 5 animals each. Control (oral 0.9% saline daily for 75 days); Mel (20 mg/kg/day orally for 30 days); ZnO NPs (5 mg/kg/day i.p. for 30 days); BU (single i.p. injection of 40 mg/kg and then left for 45 days); BU + Mel (single 40 mg/kg dose of BU and left for 45 days followed by 20 mg/kg/day Mel for 30 More >

JIGANG LEI^1,#, ZHENYAO XU^2,#, SUKE LI¹, MENG LI¹, ZHIKAI WANG³, PING LI¹, JING WANG¹, YINGLU CHEN¹, XIAOLE SONG¹, CHENGJIE REN¹, MEIPING SHEN¹, CHENGXIANG DAI^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.3, pp. 537-546, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.014569 - 03 March 2021

Abstract Psoriasis is an autoimmune-related chronic inflammatory disease with an approximate prevalence of 2–3% around the world, involving increased keratinocyte proliferation. Indeed, Th17 cells and IL-17 play critical roles in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. The monoclonal antibodies against cytokines have been shown to have effectively immunosuppressive effects on human psoriasis. However, there are still some patients that have no response to these treatments. Some patients have even serious side-effects which may affect their life. Mesenchymal stem cells have the ability of immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects, which may be an alternative therapy with more safety and efficacy… More >