THANDI MQOCO¹, SUMARI MARAIS¹ AND ANNIE JOUBERT

BIOCELL, Vol.34, No.3, pp. 113-120, 2010, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2010.34.113

Abstract 2-Methoxyestradiol-bis-sulphamate is a bis-sulphamoylated derivative of the naturally occurring 17-beta-estradiol metabolite namely 2-methoxyestradiol. 2-Methoxyestradiol-bis-sulphamate is regarded as a potential anticancer drug with increased antiproliferative activity when compared to 2-methoxyestradiol. The aim of this pilot in vitro study was to determine the influence of 2-methoxyestradiol-bis-sulphamate on cell growth, morphology and possible induction of certain types of cell death in the SNO esophageal carcinoma cell line. A dose-dependent study (0.2-1.0μM) was conducted with an exposure time of 24 hours. Data revealed that 2-methoxyestradiol-bis-sulphamate reduced cell numbers statistically significantly to 74% after exposure to 0.4μM of the drug. Morphological studies including light microscopy… More >

JUAN CARLOS CAVICCHIA*, GUSTAVO GUEMBE, MABEL FÓSCOLO

BIOCELL, Vol.34, No.2, pp. 81-90, 2010, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2010.34.081

Abstract In a previous paper we described a pronounced increase of apoptotic nuclei in rat corpus luteum of pregnancy whose programmed chromatin degeneration was induced by the progesterone antagonist mifepristone. Those observations encouraged us to study the apoptotic nuclear membrane during pregnancy and after parturition and pup removal, by using a freeze-fracture technique which allows us to observe ‘en face’ the nuclear envelop and also permits nuclear pore counting. This study was complemented with the TUNEL assay (TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling). Changes in nuclear pores during pregnancy begin with an intense reduction in number but still showing an even distribution on… More >

CHRIS VORSTER, ANNIE JOUBERT

BIOCELL, Vol.34, No.2, pp. 71-80, 2010, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2010.34.071

Abstract In the search for new and improved anticancer therapies, researchers have identified several potentially useful compounds. One of these agents is 2-methoxyestradiol-bis-sulphamate (2ME-BM), a sulphamoylated derivative of 2-methoxyestradiol. The objective of this study was to evaluate 2ME-BM’s in vitro efficacy as antiproliferative agent in the MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cell line. Light- and fluorescent microscopy showed decreased cell density, increased apoptotic characteristics and significant ultrastructural aberrations indicative of autophagic cell death after 24 hours of exposure at a concentration of 0.4μM. In addition, mitotic indices revealed that 2ME-BM induces a G₂M block. The latter was confirmed by flow cytometric analyses where… More >

A. LÓPEZ-HERRERA^1*, J. RUIZ-SÁENZ², Y.P. GÓEZ³, W. ZAPATA³, P.A. VELILLA³, A.E. ARANGO³, S. URCUQUI-INCHIMA³

BIOCELL, Vol.33, No.2, pp. 121-132, 2009, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2009.33.121

Abstract To determine whether fibroblasts from Blanco Orejinegro cattle, exhibit any level of resistance to infection against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) serotypes Indiana (VSV-I) or New Jersey (VSVNJ), 30 fibroblast cultures were phenotyped to evaluate their resistance/susceptibility. Thirty three % of Blanco Orejinegro fibroblast cultures were classified as very resistant, 50% as resistant, and 17% as susceptible to VSV-I infection, whereas 20% were classified as very resistant, 50% as resistant and 30% as susceptible to VSV-NJ infection. Therefore, there appears to be a large variation in phenotypic polymorphism among the fibroblasts to infection by VSV. To elucidate the mechanisms responsible for… More >

ANNIE JOUBERT^1*, SUMARI MARAIS¹, CHRISTINE MARITZ²

BIOCELL, Vol.33, No.1, pp. 67-70, 2009, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2009.33.067

Abstract Proteins of the B-cell lymphoma 2 family are crucial for the regulation of apoptosis. B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X is a pro-apoptotic protein, while B-cell lymphoma 2 protein opposes apoptosis. The influence of 1 μM 2-methoxyestradiol was investigated on the expression levels of these two proteins in MCF-7 cells. 2-Methoxyestradiol exposure did not influence B-cell lymphoma 2 protein expression levels after 24 h of exposure. In contrast, B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X protein levels were significantly reduced. An improved differential interference contrasting technique revealed compromised cell density and the presence of a mitotic block in exposed cells. The study proposes that the… More >

IIZUKA YOKO¹, SAMIN HONG², CHAN YUN KIM², SEUNG KAB KIM², GONG JE SEONG²

BIOCELL, Vol.32, No.3, pp. 245-250, 2008, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2008.32.245

Abstract Agmatine, 2-(4-aminobutyl)guanidine, has been reported to have neuroprotective effects against various neuronal damages. In this study it was investigated whether agmatine pretreatment rescues the retinal ganglion cells from oxidative injury in vitro. After differentiation of transformed rat retinal ganglion cells (RGC-5 cell line) with staurosporine, agmatine (0.0 to 100.0 μM) pretreatment was performed for 2 hours. Subsequently, they were exposed to hydrogen peroxide (0.0 to 2.5 mM) as an oxidative stress. Cell viability was monitored for up to 48 hours with the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay and apoptosis was examined by the terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated terminal uridine deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick… More >

GREGOR KOSEC^*¶, VANINA ALVAREZ^**¶, JUAN J. CAZZULO**

BIOCELL, Vol.30, No.3, pp. 479-490, 2006, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2006.30.479

Abstract Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite causing Chagas disease, contains a number of proteolytic enzymes. The recent completion of the genome sequence of the T. cruzi CL Brener clone suggests the presence of 70 cysteine peptidases, 40 serine peptidases (none of them from the chymotrypsin family), about 250 metallopeptidases (most leishmanolysin homologues), 25 threonine peptidases, and only two aspartyl peptidases, none of them from the pepsin family. The cysteine peptidases belong to 7 families of Clan CA, 3 families of Clan CD, and one each of Clans CE and CF. In Clan CA, the C1 family is represented by cruzipains 1 and… More >

ANDREA BOZZO*, CARLOS ALBERTO SOÑEZ*, MARÍA TERESA MUGNAINI*, ISABEL CECILIA PASTORINO*, ALICIA NÉLIDA ROLANDO*, MARÍA CRISTINA ROMANINI*, HÉCTOR FERNANDO GAUNA**

BIOCELL, Vol.30, No.3, pp. 439-445, 2006, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2006.30.439

Abstract Chronic stress by immobilization during gestation can alter several mechanisms that maintain homeostasis in adrenal gland. The aim of this work was to quantify the apoptotic index of adrenal cortex during mid-pregnancy and to prove cytological characteristics by electron microscopy. The apoptotic index did not present significant differences between the adrenal cortex areas of control and experimental rats in any of the three ages studied. The day of gestation influenced significantly on the apoptotic index in both groups. This index increased as gestation progressed. It may be concluded that chronic stress by immobilization might induce the increase of apoptotic index… More >

M. F. IZAGUIRRE, M. N. VERGARA, V. H. CASCO.

BIOCELL, Vol.30, No.2, pp. 309-320, 2006, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2006.30.309

Abstract CAS might have a key role in the apoptosis induced by toxins, acting as anti-apoptotic factor, stimulating the cellular proliferation and the cell contact stabilization. To start to elucidate their role in the brain apoptosis of Bufo arenarum induced by cypermethrin (CY), the expression patterns of CAS and several cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) were established.
Bufo arenarum tadpoles of the control and acute bioassay survival at different doses (39, 156, 625 and 2,500 μg CY/L) and times (24, 48, 72 and 96 h) of CY treatment were fixed in Carnoy, embedded in paraffin and sectioned. CAS and CAMs expression… More >

NORA MOHAMAD, ALICIA GUTIÉRREZ, MARIEL NÚÑEZ, CLAUDIA COCCA, GABRIELA MARTÍN*, GRACIELA CRICCO, VANINA MEDINA, ELENA RIVERA, ROSA BERGOC*.

BIOCELL, Vol.29, No.2, pp. 149-161, 2005, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2005.29.149

Abstract Apoptosis or programmed cell death (PCD) is a physiological process characteristic of pluricellular organisms leading to self-destruction of the cell. It is therefore involved in development, homeostasis and host defense. However, a significant difference has been shown between mammalian cell apoptosis and non-mammalian cell apoptosis: mitochondria are implicated only in the former. Execution of PCD includes the release of several proapoptotic proteins from the intermembrane space of mitochondria. They could exert their actions through a caspase dependent as well as a caspase independent way. On the other hand, regulation of PCD is mainly given by the Bcl-2 family members, which… More >