Oroxylin A induces dissociation of hexokinase II from the mitochondria and inhibits glycolysis by SIRT3-mediated deacetylation of cyclophilin D in breast carcinoma

Oroxylin A is a major active component of the Chinese traditional medicinal plant Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, which has been reported as a potential anticancer drug. We demonstrated that, Oroxylin A inhibited the glycolysis and the binding of hexokinase II (HK II) with mitochondria in human breast carcinoma cell lines, which was dependent on sirtuin-3 (SIRT3). The level of SIRT3 in mitochondria was increased by Oroxylin A. Then SIRT3 deacetylated cyclophilin D, diminished its peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase activity and induced its dissociation from the adenine nucleotide translocator. Finally, SIRT3-induced inactivation of cyclophilin D resulted in the detachment of mitochondrial HK II and the inhibition of glycolysis. These results have important implications for the metabolism reprogramming effect and the susceptibility to Oroxylin A-induced mitochondrial cytotoxicity through the regulation of SIRT3 in breast carcinoma.

Excess dietary iodine differentially affects thyroid gene expression in diabetes, thyroiditis-prone versus -resistant BioBreeding (BB) rats

SCOPE

To identify genes involved in the susceptibility to iodine-induced autoimmune thyroiditis.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Diabetes, thyroiditis-prone (BBdp) and -resistant (BBc) rats were fed either a control or a high-iodine diet for 9 wk. Excess iodine intake increased the incidence of insulitis and thyroiditis in BBdp rats. BBdp rats fed the high-iodine diet that did not develop thyroiditis had higher mRNA levels of Fabp4, Cidec, perilipin, Pparγ and Slc36a2 than BBdp rats fed the control diet and BBc rats fed either the control or the high-iodine diet. BBdp rats fed the high-iodine diet that did develop thyroiditis had higher mRNA levels of Cidec, Icam1, Ifitm1, and Slpi than BBdp rats fed the control diet and BBc rats fed either the control or the high-iodine diet. BBdp rats that did develop thyroiditis had lower mRNA levels of Fabp4, perilipin and Slc36a2 but higher mRNA levels of Icam1, Ifitm1 and Slpi than BBdp that did not develop thyroiditis. Excess dietary iodine also increased the protein levels of Fabp4, Cidec and perilipin in BBdp rats.

CONCLUSION

Differential expression of thyroid genes in BBdp versus BBc rats caused by excess dietary iodine may be implicated in autoimmune thyroiditis and insulitis pathogenesis.

Dietary fructooligosaccharides and wheat bran elicit specific and dose-dependent gene expression profiles in the proximal colon epithelia of healthy Fischer 344 rats

Proximal colon epithelial gene responses to diets containing increasing levels of dietary fermentable material (FM) from 2 different sources were measured to determine whether gene expression patterns were independent of the source of FM. Male Fischer 344 rats (10/group) were fed for 6 wk a control diet containing 10% (g/g) cellulose (0% FM); or a 2, 5, or 10% wheat bran (WB) diet (1, 2, 5% FM); or a 2, 5, or 8% fructooligosaccharides (FOS) diet (2, 5, 8% FM). WB and FOS were substituted for cellulose to give a final 10% nondigestible material content including FM. Gene responses were relative to expression in rats fed the control diet. The gene response patterns associated with feeding ∼2% FM (5% WB and 2% FOS) were similar (∼10 gene changes ≥ 1.6-fold; P ≤ 0.01) and involved genes associated with transport (Scnn1g, Mt1a), transcription (Zbtb16, Egr1), immunity (Fkbp5), a gut hormone (Retn1β), and lipid metabolism (Scd2, Insig1). These changes were also similar to those associated with 5% FM but only in rats fed the 10% WB diet. In contrast, the 5% FOS diet (~5% FM) was associated with 68 gene expression changes ≥ 1.6-fold (P ≤ 0.01). The diet with the highest level of fermentation (8% FOS, ~8% FM) was associated with 132 changes ≥ 1.6-fold (P ≤ 0.01), including genes associated with transport, cellular proliferation, oncogene and tumor metastasis, the cell cycle, apoptosis, signal transduction, transcript regulation, immunity, gut hormones, and lipid metabolic processes. These results show that both the amount and source of FM determine proximal colon epithelial gene response patterns in rats.

A muscle-targeting peptide displayed on AAV2 improves muscle tropism on systemic delivery

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) has become a leading gene transfer vector for striated muscles. However, the AAV vectors also exhibit broad tropisms after systemic delivery. In an attempt to improve muscle tropism, we inserted a 7-amino-acid (ASSLNIA) muscle-targeting peptide (MTP) in the capsids of AAV2 at residue 587 or 588, generating AAV₅₈₇MTP and AAV₅₈₈MTP. In vitro studies showed that both viruses diminished their infectivity on non-muscle cell lines as well as on un-differentiated myoblasts, however, preserved or enhanced their infectivity on differentiated myotubes. AAV₅₈₇MTP, but not AAV₅₈₈MTP, also abolished its heparin-binding capacity and infected myotubes in a heparin-independent manner. Furthermore, in vivo studies by intravenous vector administration in mice showed that AAV₅₈₇MTP enhanced its tropism to various muscles and particularly to the heart (24.3 fold of unmodified AAV2), whereas reduced its tropism to the non-muscle tissues such as the liver, lungs and spleen, etc. This alteration of tissue tropism is not simply due to the loss of heparin-binding, since a mutant AAV2 (AAVHBSMut) containing heparin-binding site mutations lost infectivity on both non-muscle and muscle cells. Furthermore, free MTP peptide, but not the scrambled control peptide, competitively inhibited AAV₅₈₇MTP infection on myotubes. These results suggest that AAV2 could be re-targeted to the striated muscles by a muscle-targeting peptide inserted after residue 587 of the capsids. This proof of principle study showed first evidence of peptide-directed muscle targeting upon systemic administration of AAV vectors.

A canine minidystrophin is functional and therapeutic in mdx mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common and lethal genetic muscle disorder lacking a curative treatment. We wish to use the dystrophin-deficient golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) dog, a canine model of DMD, to investigate adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-mediated minidystrophin gene therapy. The dog model is useful in evaluating vector dose requirement and immunological consequences owing to its large size and outbred nature. In this study, we have cloned and constructed a canine minidystrophin gene vector. Owing to limited availability of the GRMD dogs, here we first examined the functions and therapeutic effects of the canine minidystrophin in the mdx mouse model. We observed efficient minigene expression without cellular immune responses in mdx mice after AAV1-cMinidys vector intramuscular injection. We also observed restoration of the missing dystrophin-associated protein complex (DPC) onto the sarcolemma, including sarcoglycans and dystrobrevin, and a partial restoration of alpha-syntrophin and neural nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). In addition, minidystrophin treatment ameliorated dystrophic pathology, such as fibrosis and myofiber central nucleation (CN). CN remained minimal (<2%) after AAV injection in the neonatal mdx mice and was reduced from more than 75% to about 25% after AAV injection in adult mdx mice. Finally, in vivo cell membrane leakage test with Evans blue dye showed that the canine minidystrophin could effectively protect the myofiber plasma membrane integrity. Our results, thus, demonstrated the functionality and therapeutic potential of the canine minidystrophin and paved its way for further testing in the GRMD dog model.

Development of a recombinant fowlpox virus vector-based vaccine of H5N1 subtype avian influenza

The genetic stability of the recombinant fowlpox virus (named rFPV-HA-NA) was confirmed by serial passage on chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells. The immune efficacy, safety, the minimum immunising dose, the time of immunity induced and the immune duration of the vector-based vaccine was evaluated in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens. The recombinant virus vaccine containing 100 plaque form units (PFU) could induce complete protection against challenge with H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV). The immune efficacy, protecting chickens from clinical signs and death after challenge, was obtained one week after the immunisation with this vaccine. Protective immunity could last for 40 weeks post-immunisation. So the recombinant fowlpox vaccine is a safe and highly effective gene engineering vaccine candidate, and will be used to prevent H5 subtype avian influenza in the future.

[Production of vitamin C precursor--2-keto-L-gulonic acid from D-sorbitol by mixed culture of microorganisms]

Gluconobacter oxydans SCB329 only produce a little amount of 2-Keto-L-gulonic acid(2-KLG) from D-Sorbitol when growing alone; while Gluconobacter sp. SCB110 can transform D-Sorbitol to L-Sorbose and can not produce 2-KLG. 2-Keto-L-gulonic acid, the precursor of L-Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) synthesis, was prepared directly with a high efficiency from D-Sorbitol by mixed culture of microorganism, which comprised Gluconobacter sp. SCB110 and Gluconobacter oxydans SCB329. The fermentation product from the mixed culture broth in the D-Sorbotol-containing medium was identified as 2-Keto-L-gulonic acid by HPLC, elementary analysis and infra-red adsorption spectrum.

[Pharmacognostical studies on the rhizome and root of Alpinia nigra]

Morphological and histological characters of the rhizome and root of Alpinia nigra (Gaertn.) Burtt, used as the origin of a traditional Chinese medicine, were described and illustrated with line drawing. These studies provide referential information for the identification and quality control.

Apolipoprotein B secretion and atherosclerosis are decreased in mice with phospholipid-transfer protein deficiency

Increased secretion and levels of ApoB-containing lipoproteins (BLp) commonly occur in familial hyperlipidemia, obesity and diabetes. The plasma phospholipid-transfer protein (PLTP) is known to mediate transfer of phospholipids between BLp and HDL during their intravascular metabolism. To address a possible role of PLTP in dyslipidemia and atherogenesis, we bred mice deficient in the gene encoding PLTP (PLTP-deficient mice) using different hyperlipidemic mouse strains. In ApoB-transgenic and ApoE-deficient backgrounds, PLTP deficiency resulted in reduced production and levels of BLp and markedly decreased atherosclerosis. BLp secretion was diminished in hepatocytes from ApoB-transgenic PLTP-deficient mice, a defect that was corrected when PLTP was reintroduced in adenovirus. The studies reveal a major, unexpected role of PLTP in regulating the secretion of BLp and identify PLTP as a therapeutic target.

[Pharmacognostical studies on the root and rhizome of Globba racemosa]

Morphological and histological characters of the root and rhizome of Globba racemosa Smith were described and illustrated with line drawing. These studies provided referential information for the identification and quality control.

[Pharmacognostical studies on the rhizome, root and leaf of Alpinia jianganfeng T.L. Wu]

Morphological and histological characters of the rhizome, root and leaf of Alpinia jianganfeng T.L. Wu used as the origin of a traditional Chinese medicine, were described and illustrated with line drawing. These studies provide referential information for the identification and quality control.

Search for the decay KL --> pi(0)e+e-

We report on a search for the decay KL-->pi(0)e+e- carried out by the KTeV/E799 experiment at Fermilab. This decay is expected to have a significant CP violating contribution and the measurement of its branching ratio could support the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism for CP violation or could point to new physics. Two events were observed in the 1997 data with an expected background of 1.06+/-0.41 events, and we set an upper limit B(KL-->pi(0)e+e-)<5.1 x 10(-10) at the 90% confidence level.

Alterations of prostate biomarker expression and testosterone utilization in human LNCaP prostatic carcinoma cells by garlic-derived S-allylmercaptocysteine

BACKGROUND

This study determined the effects of S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC), a phytoconstituent from garlic, on the expression of androgen-responsive biomarkers, prostate specific antigen (PSA), and prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), in human prostatic carcinoma cells (LNCaP).

METHODS

Secretion of PSA was determined as well as the activity of PSMA measured as a function of its ability to hydrolyze poly-gamma-glutamated folate and N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG). Folate hydrolase capacity was also determined in SAMC-treated cells grown in charcoal stripped fetal calf serum (CS-FCS). In addition, testosterone disappearance was measured from culture media of SAMC-treated LNCaP and PC-3 cells as well as from cell free lysates.

RESULTS

PSA secretions were significantly decreased compared to control values at 1 day (8.4 +/- 2.6 vs. 18.9 +/- 1.7, P < 0.01), 4 days (18.9 +/- 5.3 vs. 73.8 +/- 4. 4, P < 0.001), and 6 days (35.6 +/- 2.1 vs. 96.5 +/- 17.9 ng/10(5) cells, P < 0.01; mean +/- SD). By contrast, PSMA activity measured as either folate hydrolase or NAAG dipeptidase (NAALADase) activity increased in cells treated with SAMC. PSMA-folate hydrolase activity in SAMC-treated cells grown in CS-FCS increased beyond that observed in cells grown in CS-FCS alone. Pre-exposure of LNCaP cells to SAMC resulted in enhanced rate of testosterone disappearance from culture media at 6 hr (P < 0.01) and at 48 hr (P < 0.001) compared to media from cells not previously exposed to SAMC. Results similar to these were also observed in androgen-independent PC-3 cells treated with SAMC. In lysates of SAMC-treated LNCaP cells, the rate of testosterone catabolism was twice that from phosphate buffered saline (PBS)-treated cells. SAMC-treated LNCaP cells grown in media supplemented with testosterone temporarily exhibited enhanced growth over a 2 day period but cell numbers declined later to levels similar to those of SAMC treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

These results show that SAMC exhibits differential effects on recognized biomarkers for LNCaP cells similar to those produced by androgen deprivation and strongly suggests that this effect may be mediated, in part, by diminishing the trophic effects of testosterone, likely by converting it to metabolites less reactive toward androgen receptors.

[Analysis of the constituents of essential oil from radix Polygoni multiflori preparata]

The chemical constituents of oil from Radix Polygoni Multiflori Preparata were analyzed by GC-MS-DS.27 constituents were identified.

[The morphological variation in species of Anemarrhena asphodeloides]

In this paper, morphological studies modified the description in some literatures. The features of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge growing in different districts vary. Carefully observation under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showed that surface characters of leaves at the same developing stage, which were collected from cultivated plants formerly growing in different districts, vary greatly but regularly. It was found that the morphology of pollen grains were similar.

[Cloning and expression of a resistant Culex gene in Escherichia coli]

Recombinant plasmid pRLB1 was constructed from detoxifying gene B1 of pesticide resistant Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus and from plasmid pRL439 contained the strong promoter PpsbA. The positive clone was identified by digestion and Southern analysis. Expression of recombinant plasmid containing esterase gene was detected. An engineered bacterium possessing high enzyme activity was obtained and immobilized. It can effectively degrade the specific substrate alpha-naphthyl acetate (alpha-NA) and beta-naphthyl of esterase enzyme. Assays showed that pesticide acetofenate (7504 an organic choride pesticide) was degraded by the immobilized cells within one hour.

[Determination of organic acids of tetraploid Isatis indigotica with high performance capillary electrophoresis]

The content of organic acids, being antiendotoxic activities in vitro, of tetraploid Isatis indigotica Fort. were determined with high performance capillary electrophoresis. The results showed that the contents of organic acids of tetraploid Isatis indigotica Fort. were obviously higher than that of diploid parent. Tetraploid Isatis indigotica Fort. was a new lines with better quality, which had notably value of exploiting and utilizing.

[Determination of sarsasapogenin in Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge by GC]

OBJECTIVE

To determine sarsasapogenin in Anemarrhena asphodeloides.

METHOD

Chloromethane extract (1 microliter) with cholesterol as internal standard was analyzed on HP-1 column, operated at 270 degrees C with N2 as carrier gas and FID.

RESULT

The method was linear within the range of 0.245-2.94 micrograms.microliter-1, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9996. The average recovery was 95.52% +/- 1.77%,

CONCLUSION

The method is reproducible, rapid and sensitive.

[Determination on chemical constituents of Curcuma L. produced in China]

OBJECTIVE

To provide some valuable information for the research on species systematization and quality standardization of Curcuma drugs.

METHODS

Colorimetry, TLC-colorimetry and water vapour distillation were used to determine the contents of curcuminoids, curcumin and essential oils of 34 samples of Curcuma produced in China.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The contents of curcuminoids and curcumin are different upto an extent of over 100 times among the varieties of Curcuma, and those of essential oils to an extent of 6 times. But there is little difference in the samples of the same species from different producing areas. There is also an obvious correlativity between the contents of curcuminoids and essential oils in the varieties of curcuma.

[Research on cause of distinction in antiendotoxic activation of radix isatidis from different cultivated populations]

OBJECTIVE

To research into the cause of distinction in antiendotoxic activation of Radix Isatidis from different cultivated populations.

METHOD

19 samples of Radix Isatidis were gathered. 12 portions of seeds were cultivated in the same field in Shanghai, and the selected and artificially bred autotetraploid seeds were planted in 5 different locations. All the samples were compared through antiendotoxic experiment.

RESULTS

There are some marked distinction among the 19 samples from different populations. The distinction of the 12 samples cultivated in the same field didn't disappear. The activation of autotetraploid from 5 different locations didn't vary on the whole.

CONCLUSION

Germplasm is the main factor to cause activation distinctions of Radix Isatidis, while environment is less important.