Search

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. This article shows significant data duplication and overlap with Liu, Weihua et al., Effects of berberine on matrix accumulation and NF-kappa B signal pathway in alloxan-induced diabetic mice with renal injury. European Journal of Pharmacology. 2010 Jul 25; 638(1–3):150-5 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2010.04.033) without adequate referencing. Although there is a slight difference in the methodology section regarding alloxan-induced diabetes models in the two articles, there is a clear overlap between Table 2 of Lan, Tian et al. (2010); and Tables 1 and 2 of Liu, Weihua et al. (2010). The two manuscripts were submitted from the same laboratory in the same year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Berberine (BBR) was previously found to have beneficial effects on renal injury in experimental diabetic rats. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects are not fully understood. Sphingosine kinase–Sphingosine 1-phosphate (SphK–S1P) signaling pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of BBR on renal injury and the activation of SphK–S1P signaling pathway in alloxan-induced diabetic mice with nephropathy. Alloxan-induced diabetic mice were treated orally with BBR (300mg/kg/day) or vehicle for 12weeks. BBR inhibited the increases in fasting blood glucose, kidney/body weight ratio, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and 24-h albuminuria in diabetic mice. It also prevented renal hypertrophy, TGF-β1 synthesis, FN and Col IV accumulation. Moreover, BBR down-regulated the elevated staining, activity and levels of mRNA and protein of SphK1, and S1P production as well. These findings suggest that the inhibitory effect of BBR on the activation of SphK–S1P signaling pathway in diabetic mouse kidney is a novel mechanism by which BBR partly exerts renoprotective effects on DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Astragalus membranaceus is a fundamental herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine and has attracted significant attention due to its anti-inflammatory, and longevity effects. However, its anti-photoaging property remains to be defined. Autophagy plays important roles in regulating cell homeostasis and aging processes. Whether regulation of autophagy could be an efficient way for anti-photoaging is still unclear. Objective To investigate the effects and the possible mechanism of astragaloside on anti-photoaging in UVB-induced photoaging cell model. Methods Primary rat dermal fibroblasts were prepared by repeated exposures to UVB irradiation. The expression levels of cytokines and signal molecules were determined by RT-PCR and western blot. SA-β-gal staining was performed to indicate senescence level. Intracellular reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential were monitored by fluorescent probes DCFH-DA and JC-1. The cell viability was determined using Cell Counting Kit-8. Results Astragaloside increases the expression of collagen-I (Col1) downregulated by UVB. UVB-induced oxidative stress and photoaging could be inhibited by astragaloside. The degradation of Col1 caused by UVB irradiation through activated ERK and p38 signals could be suppressed by astragaloside. Importantly, autophagy was induced by astragaloside. Col1 could be further accumulated by chloroquine but decreased by 3-methyladenine in photoaged cell after treatment of astragaloside. Conclusion Autophagy play essential roles, at least partially, in modulating the formation and degradation of Col1 in photoaging cell model. Astragaloside increases the accumulation of Col1 and protects UVB-induced photoaging cells through not only ERK and p38 inhibition but also autophagy activation, indicating the potential application of astragaloside for anti-photoaging therapy. Highlights • UVB-induced collagen-I reduction, oxidative stress and cytotoxicity could be partially rescued by astragaloside. • UVB-induced ERK and p38 activation could be repressed by astragaloside. • UVB-suppressed autophagy could be reversed by astragaloside. • Astragaloside upregulates UVB-reduced collagen-I by enhancing autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atg4 is essential for autophagosome formation and Atg8 recycle with the function of processing the precursor and the lipidated Atg8-family proteins. Abnormal autophagic activity is involved in a variety of pathophysiological diseases and ATG4B is of interest as a potential therapeutic target due to its key roles in autophagy process. So ATG4B inhibitors are highly needed. FMK-9a is the most potent inhibitor reported so far. In this study, we confirmed FMK-9a could suppress ATG4B activity in vitro and in cells, with an IC50 of 260 nM. Besides, FMK-9a could also attenuate the process of cleavage of pro-LC3 and the delipidation of LC3-PE. Importantly, FMK-9a could induce autophagy both in HeLa and MEF cells regardless of its inhibition on ATG4B activity. Moreover, FMK-9a induced autophagy required FIP200 and ATG5. In conclusion, we demonstrated that ATG4B inhibitor FMK-9a induces autophagy independent on its enzyme inhibition. Thus, FMK-9a may plays multiple roles in autophagy process and cannot simply take it as an ATG4B inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims It is commonly believed that diabetes is an important contributor to heart failure (HF) development. However, the detail effect of diabetogenesis on HF is controversy: both beneficial and harmful roles were reported. In the present study, we aim to explore the unambiguous action of diabetes on chronic HF progression and the underlying mechanism. Methods Diabetes and myocardial infarction (MI) were induced by streptozotocin (STZ) injection and left-sided thoracotomy and left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation, respectively. Pyridoxamine was used as the antagonist of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Adult male SD rats were assigned to 5 groups: Sham; MI; Diabetes (D); Diabetes + MI (DMI) and DMI + pyridoxamine (DMI + P). Animals were sacrificed at the end of 12 weeks. The comparison of LV myocardium was made between border zone from MI or DMI animals and control LV tissues from sham-operated animals. Cardiomyocytes and dendritic cells were prepared from the Sprague–Dawley rats and cocultured in the presence or absence of AGEs. Results DMI group showed highest level of AGEs and inflammatory markers, which were significantly reduced in the presence of pyridoxamine. In vitro experiment disclosed AGEs could stimulate DCs differentiation and promote cytokines production, finally upregulated hypertrophy-related genes expression in cardiocytes. Intervention DCs differentiation was sufficient to improve cardiocytes morphology. Conclusion Our results clearly demonstrate that diabetes would promote chronic HF progression at least in part through stimulating DCs differentiation and series downstream inflammatory responses induced by AGEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac hypertrophy, an adaptive growth process that occurs in response to various pathophysiological stimuli, constitutes an important risk factor for the development of heart failure. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate this cardiac growth response are not completely understood. Here we revealed that ING3 (inhibitor of growth family, member 3), a type II tumor suppressor, plays a critical role in the regulation of cardiac hypertrophy. ING3 expression was present in relatively high abundance in the heart, and was prominently upregulated in hypertrophic agonists angiotensin II (Ang II), phenylephrine (PE), or isoproterenol (ISO)-stimulated cardiomyocytes and in hearts of rat undergoing abdominal aortic constriction (AAC) surgery. In cardiomyocytes, overexpression of ING3 caused an increase in ANP, BNP and β-MHC mRNA levels and cell surface area, while depletion of ING3 attenuated PE-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Mechanistically, we have demonstrated that overexpression of ING3 could inactivate the AMPK and activate the canonical p38 MAPK signaling. Remarkably, AMPK agonist AICAR or p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 abrogated ING3-induced hypertrophic response in cardiomyocytes. In summary, our data disclose a novel role of ING3 as an inducer of pathological cardiac hypertrophy, suggesting that silencing of ING3 may be explored as a potential therapeutic target in preventing cardiac hypertrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Elevated NF-κB activity in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes overexpressing RIP140. [•] RIP140 impacts proinflammatory response of cardiomyocytes via p65-NF-κB pathway. [•] p65-NF-κB is involved in RIP140-induced metabolic dysregulation in cardiomyocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy, although its mechanism of action remains largely unknown. To determine the effect of PPARα activation on endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and explore its molecular mechanisms, we evaluated the interaction of PPARα with nuclear factor of activated T-cells c4 (NFATc4) in nuclei of cardiomyocytes from neonatal rats in primary culture. In ET-1-stimulated cardiomyocytes, data from electrophoretic mobility-shift assays (EMSA) and co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) revealed that fenofibrate (Fen), a PPARα activator, in a concentration-dependent manner, enhanced the association of NFATc4 with PPARα and decreased its interaction with GATA-4, in promoter complexes involved in activation of the rat brain natriuretic peptide (rBNP) gene. Effects of PPARα overexpression were similar to those of its activation by Fen. PPARα depletion by small interfering RNA abolished inhibitory effects of Fen on NFATc4 binding to GATA-4 and the rBNP DNA. Quantitative RT-PCR and confocal microscopy confirmed inhibitory effects of PPARα activation on elevation of rBNP mRNA levels and ET-1-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Our results suggest that activated PPARα can compete with GATA-4 binding to NFATc4, thereby decreasing transactivation of NFATc4, and interfering with ET-1 induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tanshinone II-A (Tan), a bioactive diterpene isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen), possesses anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The present study investigated whether Tan can decrease and stabilize atherosclerotic plaques in Apolipoprotein-E knockout (ApoE−/−) mice maintained on a high cholesterol diet (HCD). Six week-old mice challenged with a HCD were randomly assigned to 4 groups: (a) C57BL/6J; (b) ApoE−/−; (c) ApoE−/− +Tan-30 (30mg/kg/d); (d) ApoE−/− +Tan-10 (10mg/kg/d). After 16weeks of intervention, Tan treated mice showed decreased atherosclerotic lesion size in the aortic sinus and en face aorta. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis revealed that Tan rendered the lesion composition a more stable phenotype as evidenced by reduced necrotic cores, decreased macrophage infiltration, and increased smooth muscle cell and collagen contents. Tan also significantly reduced in situ superoxide anion production, aortic expression of NF-κB and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). In vitro treatment of RAW264.7 macrophages with Tan significantly suppressed oxidized LDL-induced reactive oxygen species production, pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1) expression, and MMP-9 activity. Tan attenuates the development of atherosclerotic lesions and promotes plaque stability in ApoE−/− mice by reducing vascular oxidative stress and inflammatory response. Our findings highlight Tan as a potential therapeutic agent to prevent atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARα, β/δ and γ) are nuclear receptors and PPARγ activation was previously reported to inhibit collagen expression in the heart, but whether PPARβ/δ also regulates collagen expression in the heart remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of PPARβ/δ activation on angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced collagen type I expression in adult rat cardiac fibroblasts. The results showed that PPARβ/δ was expressed at the moderate level in cardiac fibroblasts. GW501516, a selective PPARβ/δ agonist, depressed Ang II-stimulated collagen type I expression and collagen synthesis in cardiac fibroblasts in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, these inhibitory effects of GW501516 were completely reversed by the knockdown of PPARβ/δ via RNA interference. In summary, we find that PPARβ/δ is present in cardiac fibroblasts and PPARβ/δ activation inhibits Ang II-induced collagen type I expression at least in part via decreasing collagen synthesis. PPARβ/δ may be a promising therapeutic target for myocardial fibrosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]