JINYONG HUANG¹, TIANMING TENG¹, BO BIAN¹, YUCHEN XUE¹, LONGFEI HUANG¹, ZHELONG XU², QING YANG^1,*, YUEMIN SUN^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 667-675, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015917

Abstract Zinc is a trace element involved in maintaining cellular structure and function. Although zinc is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), there have been few reports on this association. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between Zip14 and expression of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) associated molecules in hypertrophied hearts of rats. Dahl salt-sensitive rats were fed a high salt diet to establish a left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) rat model. RT-PCR was used to determine Zip14, activating transcription factor (ATF4), ATF6, x-box-binding protein 1 (xBP1), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), immunoglobulin-binding protein (BiP) mRNA expression. Western blotting was used to evaluate… More >

LUCÍA VELOZ^1,2, SANTIAGO A. BOSCH^1,3, GONZALO APARICIO^1,2,*, FLAVIO R. ZOLESSI^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 639-644, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018798

Abstract Cell extrusion is an active mechanism to eliminate non-viable or supernumerary cells in healthy epithelia. It also plays a role in carcinogenesis, both in tumor growth (apical extrusion) and metastasis (basal extrusion). Embryonic tissues like the neuroepithelium, on the other hand, present rates of proliferation comparable to that of carcinomas, without the occurrence of cell extrusion. However, the downregulation or phosphorylation of actin-modulating proteins like MARCKS, causes extensive neuroepithelial apical cell extrusion. As changes in MARCKS proteins phosphorylation and expression have also been correlated to carcinogenesis, we propose here an integrated model for their functions in epithelial integrity. More >

FATIMA CVRČKOVÁ^*, HANA KONRÁDOVÁ

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 645-649, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018114

Abstract The possibility of associative learning in plants is a topic of ongoing controversy. In one published study, growing pea plants were reported to associate two stimuli (airflow and light) and thereafter use one (airflow) as an indicator for the other (light), similar to dogs in Pavlov’s famous experiments. However, this observation could not be independently repeated. Here we examine a possible reason for the failure of a published reproduction attempt, which used substantially different light quality during plant cultivation prior to experimental treatments than in the original study. This could have resulted in dramatically different growth characteristics. While the relevance… More >

RAFAEL SCAF DE MOLON^1,2,*, ERICA DORIGATTI DE AVILA², JONI AUGUSTO CIRELLI², JOAO PAULO STEFFENS³

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 633-638, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018031

Abstract The periodontium comprises all structures surrounding the teeth, including gingiva, root cementum, periodontal ligament and alveolar bone. Those tissues aim to protect and support the teeth and are challenged by a residing microbiota that leads to subclinical inflammation even in physiological conditions. Periodontitis, a prevalent multicausal inflammatory and destructive disease, develops as a result from complex host-parasite interactions. This unique physiologic and pathologic scenario enables the development of research methods which allows conclusions beyond the simple understanding of periodontal homeostasis. The aim of this viewpoint was to explore potential contributions of periodontal research to a wide array of basic science… More >

SERGIU PASCA^1,*, ANCUTA JURJ²

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 579-581, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017926

Abstract Ten eleven translocation (TET) enzymes are composed of three representatives: TET1/2/3 which are involved in the hydroxymethylation of methylated cytosines. Because of the wide array of processes that are governed by these epigenetic marks, there have been a wide range of clinical effects associated with TET alterations. Even though many research groups have focused on analyzing the effect of TET alterations within certain cells, few have taken into consideration the effect of TET in the context of intercellular communication. One important entity through which intercellular communication occurs is represented by exosomes. Thus, in the current viewpoint we discussed the direct… More >

SHADY G. EL-SAWAH^1,*, FAYEZ ALTHOBAITI², HANAN M. RASHWAN¹, ADIL ALDHAHRANI³, MARWA A. ABDEL-DAYEM⁴, EMAN FAYAD², REHAB M. AMEN⁵, EL SHAIMAA SHABANA⁶, EHAB I. EL-HALLOUS⁷

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 745-757, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017853

Abstract Since Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) occurs when β-cells mass is reduced to less than 20% of the normal level due to autoimmune destruction of cells resulting in the inability to secrete insulin, preservation or replenishment of the functional β-cells mass has become a major therapeutic focus for this diabetic type treatment. Thus, this 4-week work plan was designed to determine which mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) type is more appropriate to alleviate pancreatic hazards resulting from diabetes induction; via tracking a comparative study between MSCs derived from adipose tissue (AD-MSCs) and from bone marrow (BM-MSCs) in management of T1DM considering their… More >

BUWEN CAO^1,*, JIAWEI LUO^2,*, SAINAN XIAO¹, KAI ZHAO¹, SHULING YANG¹

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 837-845, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017538

Abstract Identifying associations between microRNAs (miRNAs) and diseases is very important to understand the occurrence and development of human diseases. However, these existing methods suffer from the following limitation: first, some disease-related miRNAs are obtained from the miRNA functional similarity networks consisting of heterogeneous data sources, i.e., disease similarity, protein interaction network, gene expression. Second, little approaches infer disease-related miRNAs depending on the network topological features without the functional similarity of miRNAs. In this paper, we develop a novel model of Integrating Network Topology Similarity and MicroRNA Function Similarity (INTS-MFS). The integrated miRNA similarities are calculated based on miRNA functional similarity… More >

ANTONIO JUÁREZ-MALDONADO^*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 651-654, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017350

Abstract The use of nanomaterials has spread and has been applied in different industries, including agriculture. Here, the possibilities presented by NMs are very varied, from the biostimulation of favorable responses, or the control of pests and diseases, to the monitoring of characteristics of interest with the use of nanosensors. Particularly the biostimulation of agricultural crops with the use of nanomaterials is very relevant, since from this process stress tolerance, higher content of biocompounds, etc., can be induced. Although the positive impacts on crops are clear, there is not enough information to determine the long-term impacts, both on ecosystems and on… More >

LIPING WANG^1,2, ZHOU LUO¹, MINMIN SUN³, QIUYUE YUAN⁴, YINGGANG ZOU⁵, DEYUAN FU^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 595-606, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017337

Abstract This work aimed to improve current prognostic signatures based on clinical stages in identifying high-risk patients of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), to allow patients with a high-risk score for specific treatment decisions. In this study, 396 TNBC samples from TCGA and GEO databases were included in genome-wide transcriptome analysis. The relationship between normalized gene expression values and survival data of patients was determined by Cox proportional hazards models in each dataset. The overlapped genes among all datasets were considered as a potential prognostic signature. The risk score was constructed based on individual genes and validated with three separate data sets… More >

HAKIM MANGHWAR^1,#,*, AMJAD HUSSAIN^2,#

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 623-632, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017316

Abstract Plants are recurrently exposed to myriads of biotic and abiotic stresses leading to several biochemical and physiological variations that cause severe impacts on plant growth and survival. To overcome these challenges, plants activate two primary defense mechanisms, such as structural response (cell wall strengthening and waxy epidermal cuticle development) and metabolic changes, including the synthesis of anti-microbial compounds and proteins, especially the pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. PR proteins are members of a super large family of defense proteins that exhibit antimicrobial activities. Their over-expression in plants provides tolerance to many abiotic and biotic stresses. PR proteins have been classified into 17… More >