Cell viability and dopamine secretion of 6-hydroxydopamine-treated PC12 cells co-cultured with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Antimalarial effects of the hydroalcoholic extract of Allium paradoxum in vitro and in vivo

Malaria still is the most fatal parasitic disease affecting 50% of the world's population. Although annual deaths attributed to malaria has reduced, crucial importance of its prevention and treatment remains a priority for health care systems and researchers. The worldwide increase in resistance to most common antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine, their unpleasant side effects and low efficiencies persuade researchers to prioritize finding alternative drugs including herbal medication from plant roots. The present study aimed to examine in vitro and in vivo effects of hydroalcoholic extract of herbal medicinal plant, Allium paradoxum, on growth rate in Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium berghei. The cytotoxicity assay was performed for hydroalcoholic extract of A. paradoxum. The 3D7 strain of P. falciparum was cultured. The IC50 assay and enzymatic activity of lactate dehydrogenase were performed. BALB/c mice were infected with P. berghei in vivo. Toxicity and histopathological changes in the tissues of liver and kidney were also examined. The highest efficacy of A. paradoxum extract was observed at 80 μg/mL in P. falciparum culture resulting in 60.43% growth inhibition compared to control groups. The significantly highest parasite growth inhibition with 88.71% was seen in the mice infected with P. berghei when administered with 400 mg/kg extract compared to control groups. No significant changes in the liver and kidney cells were observed between experimental and control groups. The study showed that A. paradoxum extract exhibited significant antimalarial properties in vitro on P. falciparum and in vivo in mice infected with P. berghei. There was no significant toxicity in the liver and kidney of the treated mice.

Curcumin Efficacy in a Serum/Glucose Deprivation-Induced Neuronal PC12 Injury Model

BACKGROUND

Glucose/serum deprivation (GSD), has been used for understanding molecular mechanisms of neuronal damage during ischemia. It has been suggested that curcumin may improve neurodegenerative diseases.

AIM

In this study, the protective effects of curcumin and its underlying mechanisms were investigated in PC12 cells upon GSD-induced stress.

METHODS

PC12 cells were cultured in DMEM overnight and then incubated in GSD condition for either 6 or 12h. GSD-treated cells were pretreated with various concentrations of curcumin (10, 20, and 40 μM) for 5h. The cell viability, apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, oxidative stress, expression of apoptosis-related genes, and IL-6 were determined.

RESULTS

Curcumin increased cell viability and caused an anti-apoptotic effect in PC12 cells exposed for 12h to GSD . Curcumin also increased antioxidant enzyme expression, suppressed lipid peroxidation, and decreased interleukin-6 secretion in PC12 cells subjected to GSD. In addition, pretreatment with curcumin down-regulated pro-apoptotic (Bax), and up-regulated antiapoptotic (Bcl2) mediators.

CONCLUSION

Curcumin mitigates many of the adverse effects of ischemia, and therefore, should be considered as an adjunct therapy in ischemic patients.

Protective effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on PC12 cells apoptosis mediated by TAG1

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore the protection effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) on PC12 cells apoptosis mediated by transient axonal glycoprotein 1 (TAG1).

METHODS

PC12 cells were divided into control group, Aβ25-35 group and BMSCs + Aβ25-35 group. The effects of BMSCs on PC12 cells treated by Aβ25-35 were detected using MTT, Hoechst 33258 and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining methods. The expression levels of TAG1, β-amyloid precursor protein (APP), AICD and p53 were determined by RT-PCR and Western blotting methods. The expression levels of Bax and Bcl-2 were determined by Western blotting method. The activity of Caspase 3 was detected by spectrophotometric method.

RESULTS

MTT results showed that cell activity decreased after the treatment of 20 μM Aβ25-35 for 48 h (P<0.01) while it increased in BMSCs + Aβ25-35 group (P<0.01). Hoechst 33258 and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining results showed that Aβ25-35 could induce the apoptosis of PC12 cells while the apoptosis of PC12 cells was inhibited in BMSCs + Aβ25-35 group. RT-PCR and Western blotting methods showed that 20 μM Aβ25-35 could increase the expression levels of TAG1, APP, AICD and p53 (P<0.01) while they decreased in BMSCs + Aβ25-35 group (P<0.01). 20 μM Aβ25-35 could increase the expression levels of Bax and decrease the expression levels of Bcl-2 (P<0.01), while the expression levels of Bax decreased and the expression levels of Bcl-2 increase in BMSCs + Aβ25-35 group (P<0.01). 20 μM Aβ25-35 could enhance Caspase 3 activity while it decreased in BMSCs + Aβ25-35 group (P<0.01). Conclusions BMSCs with Aβ25-35 could inhibit the apoptosis of PC12 cells, which maybe related with TAG1/APP/AICD signal pathway.

Differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into neuronal cells on fetal bovine acellular dermal matrix as a tissue engineered nerve scaffold

The purpose of this study was to assess fetal bovine acellular dermal matrix as a scaffold for supporting the differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neural cells following induction with neural differentiation medium. We performed long-term, continuous observation of cell morphology, growth, differentiation, and neuronal development using several microscopy techniques in conjunction with immunohistochemistry. We examined specific neuronal proteins and Nissl bodies involved in the differentiation process in order to determine the neuronal differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. The results show that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells that differentiate on fetal bovine acellular dermal matrix display neuronal morphology with unipolar and bi/multipolar neurite elongations that express neuronal-specific proteins, including βIII tubulin. The bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells grown on fetal bovine acellular dermal matrix and induced for long periods of time with neural differentiation medium differentiated into a multilayered neural network-like structure with long nerve fibers that was composed of several parallel microfibers and neuronal cells, forming a complete neural circuit with dendrite-dendrite to axon-dendrite to dendrite-axon synapses. In addition, growth cones with filopodia were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Paraffin sectioning showed differentiated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells with the typical features of neuronal phenotype, such as a large, round nucleus and a cytoplasm full of Nissl bodies. The data suggest that the biological scaffold fetal bovine acellular dermal matrix is capable of supporting human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into functional neurons and the subsequent formation of tissue engineered nerve.

Neuronal-like differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells induced by striatal extracts from a rat model of Parkinson's disease

A rat model of Parkinson's disease was established by 6-hydroxydopamine injection into the medial forebrain bundle. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) were isolated from the femur and tibia, and were co-cultured with 10% and 60% lesioned or intact striatal extracts. The results showed that when exposed to lesioned striatal extracts, BMSCs developed bipolar or multi-polar morphologies, and there was an increase in the percentage of cells that expressed glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), nestin and neuron-specific enolase (NSE). Moreover, the percentage of NSE-positive cells increased with increasing concentrations of lesioned striatal extracts. However, intact striatal extracts only increased the percentage of GFAP-positive cells. The findings suggest that striatal extracts from Parkinson's disease rats induce BMSCs to differentiate into neuronal-like cells in vitro.

Ceftriaxone blocks the polymerization of α-synuclein and exerts neuroprotective effects in vitro

The β-lactam antibiotic ceftriaxone was suggested as a therapeutic agent in several neurodegenerative disorders, either for its ability to counteract glutamate-mediated toxicity, as in cerebral ischemia, or for its ability to enhance the degradation of misfolded proteins, as in Alexander's disease. Recently, the efficacy of ceftriaxone in neuroprotection of dopaminergic neurons in a rat model of Parkinson's disease was documented. However, which characteristics of ceftriaxone mediate its therapeutic effects remains unclear. Since, at the molecular level, neuronal α-synuclein inclusions and pathological α-synuclein transmission play a leading role in initiation of Parkinson-like neurodegeneration, we thought of investigating, by circular dichroism spectroscopy, the capability of ceftriaxone to interact with α-synuclein. We found that ceftriaxone binds with good affinity to α-synuclein and blocks its in vitro polymerization. Considering this finding, we also documented that ceftriaxone exerts neuroprotective action in an in vitro model of Parkinson's disease. Our data, in addition to the findings on neuroprotective activity of ceftriaxone on Parkinson-like neurodegeneration in vivo, indicates ceftriaxone as a potential agent in treatment of Parkinson's disease.