Author Archives: Metabolism

Showing recovery of cell cycle arrest after HU treatment suggests that homologous chromosomes

Indeed, loss of Sgs1 or BLM activity results in increased mitotic COs and may explain the high levels of SCEs in BS cells. The double depletion of him-6 and top-3 alpha genes in C. elegans led to a massive increase in DSBs and chromosomal abnormalities in germ cells. In addition, over-expressed TOP-3 alpha and HIM-6 proteins showed specific physical interactions in vitro. Based on these genetic and biochemical data, HIM-6 is predicted to participate in the dissolution of dHJs. Our observation that HIM-6 unwound a single HJ may indicate that it is also capable of partially unwinding dHJs. However, to determine whether these in vitro HIM-6 activities may promote NCOs at the expense of COs in vivo, the TOP-3 alpha and HIM-6 complex needs to be further characterized. In addition, a recent study showed that him-6 mutations in combination with mutations in the structure-specific nucleases, mus-81 and slx-1, produce mitotic defects, including embryonic lethality and larval arrest, and suggest an in vivo role for him-6 in processing recombination intermediates. In meiotic recombination, HJs including dHJs can be formed between homologous chromosomes and are initiated by the introduction of programmed DSBs. In yeast, it was been shown that NCOs are formed in an Sgs1-dependent manner. Recently, In C. elegans, an important role for HIM-6 in meiotic recombination was reported. Worms with him-6 and mus-81 mutations exhibited increased recombination intermediates, suggesting that HIM-6 and MUS-81 may limit early production of recombination intermediates in meiosis. In addition, worms with mutations in him-6 and xpf-1, an endonuclease related to MUS-81, displayed pairs of univalents linked by chromatin bridges representing unresolved meiotic HJs and reduced CO recombination. These data suggest that HIM-6 and XPF-1 may promote HJ resolution and processing of meiotic recombination intermediates WY 14643 50892-23-4 leading to CO products. However, exactly how HIM-6 acts with these nucleases remains unclear. Our observations indicated that HIM-6 was able to unwind HJs and D-loops, therefore it is reasonable to speculate that HIM-6 functions to target and/or activate these nucleases at an HJ or a D-loop. Further biochemical studies with HIM-6 and these nucleases will help uncover these roles of HIM-6. Moreover, co-localization with other proteins involved in meiotic recombination, such as XPF-1 and SLX-4, remains to be investigated. When a replication fork is stalled at a DNA lesion on the leading strand, an HJ can be formed through regression of the nascent leading and lagging strands. This type of HJ can be resolved by repair or bypassed. A recent in vivo study showed that human RecQ helicases, WRN and BLM, function in the reactivation of forks after treatment with HU. In addition, BLM localized to repair centers at collapsed replication forks in response to HU. Biochemical studies showed that BLM regresses the stalled replication fork and separates HJ structures. Although in vivo data on the reactivation of forks after HU treatment are not currently available in C. elegans him-6 mutants our observation.

We sought to examine the effectiveness of supported a negative regulatory effect on granulocyte differentiation

Even when tissue-preferential promoters are used to direct transgene expression, off-target and deleterious effects have been observed. The tissue-preferential expression of miRNAs has been exploited to prevent off-target effects in gene therapy studies of mouse models of hemophilia. Unfortunately, the levels of miRNAs Adriamycin identified in primary cells did not correlate well with those detected in the different hematopoietic cell lines. Thus, we cannot extrapolate that miR-125a-5p would be a useful target for restricting transgene expression in primary cells. But for the purpose of testing the hypothesis of exploiting endogenous levels, our data using this miRNA established the potential for developing gene therapy vectors that exploit hematopoietic lineage-preferential miRNA expression. In summary, we have quantified the total RNA and miRNA contents of normal blood hematopoietic cells and identified miRNAs that are DE in a cell-preferential manner. These data can be utilized as a basis for interpretation of miRNA-disease association studies. For example, if a particular miRNA is elevated in acute myelogenous leukemia, but absent or very low in normal granulocytes, this would suggest this miRNA may participate in the pathogenesis of AML. Knowledge of miRNAs DE by blood cell type is also relevant for understanding the systemic effects of blood cell delivered miRNAs. Since all hematopoietic blood cells release microvessicles upon activation, knowledge of these DE miRNAs is expected to be helpful in understanding systemic effects in response to inflammatory and thrombotic stimuli. Lastly, the demonstration that endogenous miRNA levels can be utilized to regulate transgene expression in hematopoietic cell lines suggests an in vitro approach for improving the assessment of gene effects in heterogeneous populations of cultured cells. Considerably more work would be needed to evaluate the value of altering expression vector design for gene therapy of hematological diseases. Furosemide was introduced in the 1960s and is very widely used to treat heart failure and edema. Furosemide and other loop diuretics cause urinary potassium loss, which can lead to potassium depletion and might be expected to increase mortality by mechanisms including ventricular ectopy. On this basis, among others, the 2000 National Council on Potassium in Clinical Practice recommended that potassium supplementation be routinely considered in persons with hypertension receiving a nonpotassium sparing diuretic, and in persons with heart failure even if normokalemic. However, no studies have examined the efficacy or effectiveness of empiric potassium supplementation on reducing the risk of adverse clinical outcomes in users of loop diuretics. As a result of this evidence gap, a 2012 evidence review recommended against the routine use of empiric potassium supplementation in patients receiving loop diuretics, despite the aforementioned practice guidelines. A randomized trial addressing this important question seems unlikely. To provide evidence to help inform this common clinical decision.

Resulted in the normalization of hyperglycemia and restoration of peripheral insulin sensitivity

Thus acting as a potential antidiabetic agent. Furthermore, PBA may provide health benefits by ameliorating insulin resistance and pancreatic b-cell dysfunction in obese subjects. The ability of endogenous and chemical chaperones to alleviate ER stress in transgenic and obese mice models strongly supports the ER stress-based mechanistic model of T2D and demonstrates the feasibility of targeting ER function for therapeutic goals. In conclusion, our study suggests that ER stress plays a causal role in beta-cell dysfunction in a context of hIAPP overexpression. Furthermore, our results suggest that ameliorating chaperone capacity can be of potential interest for preserving beta-cell function in T2D. Associate learning is the process by which different aspects of information are encoded into memory such that later exposure to one aspect of that same information elicits recall of the other. In neuropsychology, associate learning is often measured by having individuals learn multiple pairs of information, such as, nouns and adjectives, faces and names or objects and colors. Provided the number of pairs to be learned exceeds working memory capacity, associate learning abilities are defined by the extent to which individuals who have learned those pairs can later recall one of the pair after exposure to the other. Because associate learning is important for optimal adaptive behavior in both educational and general life contexts, it is important to understand its development in children. Furthermore, identification of impairment in associate learning in children can assist with the identification or diagnosis of brain disorders. Developmental studies show associate learning improves from childhood through adolescence into young adulthood. However, as most of these studies have measured the ability to form associations between verbal stimuli or easily verbalized visual stimuli, their results might reflect the maturation of language as much as memory. Developmental neuropsychologists emphasize that in order to understand cognitive development, it is important to control the influence of language ability in children. This is because language improves with age and can substantially affect performance on cognitive tasks of higher cognitive VE-822 functions which themselves are not primarily linguistic in nature, such as executive functions or associate learning. This has been demonstrated in verbal paired associate learning where performance on verbal associate learning tasks has been shown to correlate with reading ability while performance on a visual paired associate learning task using abstract, and therefore difficult to verbalize, patterns did not. Another important issue in understanding the development of associate learning arises from current adult neuropsychological models that contend that, in addition to memory encoding and retrieval processes, the ability to learn associations is dependent on executive functions, such as organization, search strategy, and response monitoring. This two-component framework of associate learning is based on data from brain lesion.

Although the apoptosis induction rate in a cell muscles at the later time points

With all our data taken together we propose a model in which b1/b2-KO mice exhibit an enhanced inflammatory Compound Library response to injury and enhanced myoblast proliferation during regeneration. We believe that b1/b2-KO mice have delayed early regeneration due to the prolonged and enhanced inflammatory response, but once the inflammation subsides, the enhanced myoblast proliferation allows the b1/b2-KO muscles to regenerate rapidly – thus accounting for the rapid ‘catch up’ of muscles between 7 and 10 days post-injury. Further studies using muscle specific knockdown of b-ARs or virally-mediated ‘knock in’ of b-ARs to inflammatory cells of b1/b2-KO mice, or other injury models with a higher inflammatory component would help test this hypothesis. In summary, our findings indicate that b-ARs play an important role in early muscle regeneration, at least in part via a direct effect on myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Manipulation of bAR signaling during these early stages of regeneration may therefore improve the rate, extent and efficacy of the regenerative process, to enhance functional recovery after injury. The tumor suppressor gene p53 is activated in response to various stresses, including ionizing radiation, and acts as a transcription factor to regulate expression of many other genes. The genes regulated by p53 induce multifarious cellular responses, e.g., cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, and programmed cell death. These responses, which correspond to a sequence of biological events leading from p53 gene expression to apoptosis induction, are known as cell fate decision, and contribute to both growth inhibition of tumor cells and genetic homeostasis. However, the cell fate decision mechanism applies unknown criteria to various stress intensities. Because the fluctuation of criteria affects the efficiency of artificial apoptosis induction methods such as cancer radiotherapy, many researchers have attempted to identify the dominant factors of the cell fate decision mechanism. The p53 oscillation was observed at the single-cell level in human breast cancer epithelial MCF7 cells. In IR-sensitive cell lines such as thymus and spleen, oscillatory behavior of p53 was not observed, and the p53 was translocated into mitochondria during 30 minutes after IR-irradiation and directly induced apoptosis. In this study, we focused on the relationship between p53 oscillation and apoptosis induction. The mean amplitude and width of each p53 pulse was constant regardless of IR dose. On the other hand, individual cells exposed to the same IR dose exhibited difference in the number of p53 pulses, and the number of p53 pulses at the single-cell level tended to increase with the IR dose. In contrast, damped oscillation of the p53 level was observed in cell populations of mouse fibroblasts and MCF7 cells in response to IR irradiation, and the amplitudes of oscillations increased with the IR dose. Such oscillations of the p53 level were also observed in mice in vivo, which indicated that oscillations of the p53 level are a general phenomenon in various cell types in higher organisms. An increase in the IR dose effected a change in the fractions of cells that were classified by the number of p53 pulses.

The elevated levels of Aeg1 which plays a novel role in mediating reactive astrogliosis and responses to pathogenic and aging factors

It indicates the astrocytes activation in the D-gal-induced aged brain. Moreover, for the increased levels of Aeg1, it was also consistent with the morphological characteristic of activated astrocytes in the D-gal-administration group. However, Nestin and Aeg1 expression was down-regulated in the D-gal-administration plus Rg1 treatment group, indicating that the reactive astrogliosis induced by D-gal was alleviated by Rg1 treatment. This result further illustrated that Rg1 could protect the age-related NSCs/ NPCs survival and reduce astrogenesis. Cognitive capacity was improved, neurogenesis was restored and reactive astrogliosis was attenuated by ginsenoside Rg1 treatment to D-gal administered rats. We did not elucidate the direct mechanism of Rg1 on these effects in the hippocampus. However, we assumed two possible mechanisms for these effects. One of these is the antioxidant function of Rg1 on the hippocampus, because the oxygen metabolism of D-gal produces many reactive oxygen species and may impair learning and memory directly or indirectly. In addition, ROS can potently inhibit neurogenesis and particularly NSCs/NPCs proliferation. Oxidative damage can also affect glial cells, which are connected to neuronal death or decreases in neuronal proliferation. In the present study, Rg1 treatment protected the hippocampus against oxidative stress by promoting the activities of SOD and GSH-Px, which are important anti-oxidative enzymes to remove the oxidative stress accumulated in aging. On the other hand, as the telomere is highly sensitive to the oxidative stress, the increased telomere length and telomerase activities in the D-gal-administration plus Rg1 treatment group may also be due to the effect of the anti-oxidant function of Rg1. These results suggest that ginsenoiside Rg1 effectively attenuates D-gal-induced oxidative damage in the hippocampus, possibly by eliminating free radicals through activating antioxidant enzymes. It should be noted that the activities of SOD and GSH-Px were remarkably increased in the Rg1 single-treated rats. It confirmed the anti-oxidative effect of ginsenoside Rg1, which was consistent with previous studies. Oxidative stress has been implicated in BAY 73-4506 msds proinflammation, and aging is also associated with inflammation. When chronic inflammation occurs in the aged brain, a variety of neurotoxic products and proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1b, IL-6, and TNF-a are released. In the present study, Rg1 treatment significantly reduced the levels of IL-1b, IL-6, and TNF-a, compared with the D-gal administration group. It suggests that Rg1 can protect the hippocampus from age-induced chronic inflammation. Furthermore, the elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines could also be a consequence of astrocytes activation. Sustained activation of astrocytes releases high amount of NO and proinflammatory cytokines which accumulate in aging process, to exacerbate neuronal impairments. In this study, the attenuated activation status of astrocytes by the Rg1 therapy may be a combined outcome of the anti-inflammation and the neurogenesis-promoting capacity of ginsenoside Rg1.