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Objective: The aim of this in vitro study is to evaluate the effect of antioxidant lycopene on human osteoblasts. Material and method: The human osteoblast cell line (CRL-11372) was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC Manassas, Va) and grown in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS), penicillin (100 U/ml), and streptomycin (100 mg/ ml) at 37 °C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 and 95% air. The effective dose of lycopene was determined by MTT assay and a real-time cell analysis (RTCA) system. Proliferative effects were analyzed by in vitro wound healing model. Gene expressions of type 1 collagen (COL1A1), osteocalcin (OCN), and growth differentiation factor-5 (GDF-5) were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) at 72 h. Statistical differences between test groups were analyzed with a one-way ANOVA test. Results: MTT assay showed that the doses between 10−5 and 1 µmol of lycopene had dose-dependent proliferative effects. The doses between 10−5 and 10−1 µmol were most effective at 72 h. Lycopene accelerates the healing rate by increasing osteoblast proliferation. Conclusion: Results suggested that lycopene had proliferative effects on human osteoblasts, which may help to increase bone regeneration, and thus, it can be useful in tissue engineering procedures. Clinical relevance: By the help of antioxidants like lycopene capacity, velocity and quality of new bone forming may be increased in periodontal and dental implant treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To evaluate the cytotoxicity and mineralization effects of iRoot BP in human dental pulp cells ( hDPCs) and to compare them with those of white mineral trioxide aggregate (WMTA). Methodology hDPCs were exposed to prepared dilutions (1 : 1-1 : 10) of the test materials. Cell viability was evaluated using the XTT assay after incubation periods of 24, 48 or 72 h. The expression of mineralization-related genes (bone morphogenic protein, osteonectin, bone sialoprotein, osteopontin, dentine sialophosphoprotein and collagen type 1) and heme oxygenase 1 was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction ( qRT-PCR) at 24 and 72 h. Statistical differences between test materials were analysed with the Mann-Whitney test. Results The 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 dilutions of iRoot BP were associated with higher cell viability after 24 h ( P < 0.05). Only the 1 : 1 dilution of iRoot BP had higher cell viability after 48 h ( P < 0.05), and there was no difference between iRoot BP and WMTA after 72 h ( P > 0.05). Although somewhat variable, according to the gene expression results, iRoot BP had a mineralization potential similar to that of WMTA. WMTA revealed a higher heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) mRNA level than iRoot BP ( P < 0.001). Conclusions iRoot BP and WMTA were biocompatible and facilitated odontoblastic differentiation of hDPCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiogenesis is the process of generating new blood vessels from preexisting vessels and is considered essential in many pathological conditions. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effect of aspartame on angiogenesis in vivo chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and wound-healing models as well as in vitro 2,3-bis-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT) and tube formation assays. In CAM assay, aspartame increased angiogenesis in a concentration-dependent manner. Compared with the control group, aspartame has significantly increased vessel proliferation (p < 0.001). In addition, in vivo rat model of skin wound-healing study showed that aspartame group had better healing than control group, and this was statistically significant at p < 0.05. There was a slight proliferative effect of aspartame on human umbilical vein endothelial cells on XTT assay in vitro, but it was not statistically significant; and there was no antiangiogenic effect of aspartame on tube formation assay in vitro. These results provide evidence that aspartame induces angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo; so regular use may have undesirable effect on susceptible cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Radiotherapy is used for the treatment of malignant tumours, and may be used as the primary therapy. It is also common to combine radiotherapy with surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or some combination of them. Even if the tumour is treated intensively, women diagnosed with breast cancer may develop a recurrence. Most recurrences may be in the form of distant metastases, development of multi-drug resistance phenotype or both together. This study demonstrated that some of the multi-drug resistant cancer cells may also become radioresistant. Materials and Methods: Chemoresistance in paclitaxel (MCF-7/Pac), docetaxel (MCF-7/Doc), vincristine (MCF-7/Vinc), doxorubicin (MCF-7/Dox) and zoledronic acid (MCF-7/Zol) resistant MCF-7 cells were demonstrated by XTT assay. MDR1 gene expression was detected by real-time PCR in human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Drug resistant and sensitive cells were exposed to gamma-radiation and development of radioresistance was investigated. Results: Results have indicated that paclitaxel, docetaxel, vincristine, doxorubicin and zoledronic acidDSselected cells gained varying degrees of resistance to their selective drugs when compared with original MCF-7/S. MCF-7/Pac, MCF-7/Doc, MCF-7/Vinc and MCF-7/Dox cells have all acquired MDR1 expression. Among the resistant sub-lines, MCF-7/Pac and MCF-7/Doc cells were significantly cross-resistant to irradiation compared to the sensitive cells. Conclusion: MCF-7/Pac and MCF-7/Doc cell lines were found radioresistant to gamma-radiation. On the contrary, doxorubicin, vincristine and zoledronic acid resistant cancer cells were still sensitive to radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) has been used as a marker of gene expression and a single cell marker in living organisms in cell biology studies. The important areas that GFP is used are expression levels of different genes in different organisms by inserting GFP in these genes and as a marker in living cells. In this study, we tried to optimize transfection of mesenchymal stem cells, (MSCs) used for regeneration of damaged tissues in animals, by GFP containing plasmid vector by which MSCs can be followed in vivo. Material and Methods: To this aim, phM-GFP plasmid vector carrying GFP gene and effectene transfection reagent were used. Result: The data revealed that twice transfection of MSCs resulted in higher expression of GFP for longer times as compared to once transfected MSCs. On the other hand, leaving the chemical transfection agents in the medium induced apoptosis after a while. Conclusion: As a conclusion we suggest the transfection of MSCs twice with 48 hours interval and removal of transfection agents after 8 hours which removed toxic and apoptotic effects of the chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL), cutaneous infiltration is far less common than in T-cell CLL. However, the effect of fludarabine on cutaneous infiltration in patients with B-CLL is uncertain. We describe a 63-year-old man with B-CLL presenting with cutaneous lesions, who was treated successfully with oral fludarabine. Skin biopsy of one of these lesions revealed diffuse infiltration of uniform lymphocytes. Using PCR analysis, the same immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangement was found in lymphocytes in all samples (peripheral blood, bone marrow and skin lesion). The patient received four courses of oral fludarabine. Simultaneously with the normalization of the peripheral blood lymphocytosis, the patient became free of the cutaneous infiltration of CLL after four courses of oral fludarabine. Skin lesions had not recurred by the 12-month follow-up examination. To our knowledge, this is the first case of B-CLL leukaemia cutis treated with oral fludarabine. The introduction of fludarabine may contribute to a better outlook for these patients in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article related to the therapeutic role of bisphosphonates in multiple myeloma by G.J. Morgan and F.E. Davies, which was published in a previous issue of "British Journal of Cancer."