Search

The proliferation and migration of Schwann cells (SCs) are key events in the process of peripheral nerve repair. This is required to promote the growth of SCs and is a challenge during the treatment of peripheral nerve injury. Baicalin is a natural herb-derived flavonoid compound, which has been reported to possess neuroprotective effects on rats with permanent brain ischemia and neuronal differentiation of neural stem cells. The association of baicalin with neuroprotection leads to the suggestion that baicalin may exert effects on the growth of SCs. In the present study, the effects of baicalin on SCs of RSC96 were investigated. RSC96 SCs were treated with various concentrations of baicalin (0, 5, 10 or 20 μM) for 2, 4 and 6 days. Cell attachment, viability and gene expression were monitored via the MTT assay and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The gene expression levels of several neurotrophic factors, such as glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and ciliary neurotrophic factor, which are considered important factors in the process of never cell regeneration, were detected. The results indicated that baicalin was able to promote the viability of RSC96 SCs in a dose-dependent manner and the concentration of 20 μM of baicalin exhibited the greatest cell viability and gene expression of the studied neurotrophic factors. The present findings suggested that baicalin likely affects SCs metabolism, through modulating the expression of neurotrophic factors. To conclude, the present study indicates that baicalin may be potential therapeutic agent for treating peripheral nerve regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug therapy is one of the typical treatments for post-injury inflammation of cartilage. Traditional Chinese herbs have potential as treatments, as their long history of clinical application has demonstrated they are effective and induce minimal side effects. Baicalin is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been used to treat inflammation, fever, ulcers and cancer for hundreds of years. Previous studies have demonstrated that baicalin may decrease levels of interleukin-1β and suppress the expression of type-I collagen, thus attenuating cartilage degeneration. In the present study, the effect of baicalin on chondrocytes was assessed by examining the morphology, proliferation, extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis and cartilage-specific gene expression of chondrocytes. The results indicated that baicalin may promote the proliferation of articular chondrocytes, secretion of cartilage ECM and collagen type II, aggrecan and SRY box (Sox) 9 gene upregulation. The expression of collagen I, a marker of chondrocyte dedifferentiation, was downregulated by baicalin; therefore, baicalin may maintain the phenotype of chondrocytes. Within the recommended concentrations of baicalin ranging from 0.625-6.25 µmol/l cell proliferation was increased and a 1.25 µmol/l dose of baicalin exerted the most positive effect on articular chondrocytes. The results of the present study may therefore indicate that baicalin may be used as a novel agent promoting the repair of articular cartilage damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nerve regeneration remains a challenge to the treatment of peripheral nerve injury. Andrographolide (Andro) is the main active constituent of Andrographis paniculata, which has been applied in the treatment of several diseases, including inflammation, in ancient China. Andro has been reported to facilitate the reduction of edema and to exert analgesic effects in the treatment of various diseases. These findings suggest that Andro may be considered a promising anti-inflammatory agent that may suppress destruction and accelerate proliferation of Schwann cells following peripheral nerve injury. In the present study, the effects of Andro on RSC96 cells were investigated in vitro. The RSC96 cell line is a spontaneously immortalized rat Schwann cell line, which was originally derived from a long-term culture of rat primary Schwann cells. RSC96 cells were treated with a range of 0 to 50 μM Andro prior to the MTT assay. Cell proliferation, morphology, synthesis and nerve-specific gene expression were performed to detect the effect of Andro on RSC96 cells. The results of the present study demonstrated that the recommended doses of Andro ranged between 0.78 and 12.5 μM, among which the most obvious response was observed when used at 3.125 μM (P<0.05). DNA content was improved in Andro groups compared with the control group (P<0.05). In addition, Andro was able to promote the gene expression of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, and the specific Schwann cell marker S100β (P<0.05). The results of a viability assay, hematoxylin-eosin staining, and immunohistochemistry were also improved in Andro groups. These results indicated that Andro may accelerate proliferation of RSC96 cells in vitro, whilst maintaining the Schwann cell phenotype; therefore, the present study may provide valuable evidence for the further exploration of the effects of Andro on peripheral nerves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study is intended to investigate the effects of plants or plant-derived antioxidants on prevention of osteoporosis through the maintenance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at a favorable level. Materials and Methods: In this study, a novel antioxidant, namely 3,4,5-Trihydroxy-N-[4-(5-hydroxy-6-methoxy-pyrimidin-4-ylsulfamoyl)-phenyl]-benzamide (ZXHA-TC) was synthesized from gallic acid and sulfadimoxine. Its effect on osteoblast metabolism was investigated via the detection of cell proliferation, cell viability, production of ROS, and expression of osteogenic-specific genes including runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteocalcin (OCN), alpha-1 type I collagen (COL1A1), and osteogenic-related proteins after treatment for 2, 4, and 6 days respectively. Results: The results showed that ZXHA-TC has a stimulating effect on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of primary osteoblasts by promoting cell proliferation, cell viability, and the expression of genes BSP and OCN. Productions of bone matrix and mineralization were also increased by ZXHA-TC treatment as a result of up-regulation of COL1A1 and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) at the early stage and down-regulation of both genes subsequently. A range of 6.25x10-3 µg/mL to 6.25x10-1 µg/mL is the recommended dose for ZXHA-TC, within which 6.2x10-2 µg/mL showed the best performance. Conclusion: This study may hold promise for the development of a novel agent for the treatment of osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Articular cartilage is characterized by the lack of blood vessels and has a poor self-healing potential. Limited cell numbers and dedifferentiate of chondrocytes when expanded in vitro are the major obstacles of autologous chondrocyte implantation. Autologous chondrocyte implantation is a cell-based treatment that can be used as a second-line measure to regenerate chondral or osteochondral defects in younger, active patients. There is an urgent need to find an effective chondrogenic protection agent alleviating or inhibiting chondrocyte dedifferentiate. In this study, we explored the effect of taurine (2-aminoethane sulfonic acid) on proliferation and phenotype maintenance of human articular chondrocytes by analyzing the cell proliferation, morphology, viability, and expression of cartilage specific mRNAs and proteins. Primary chondrocytes were isolated from human articular cartilage tissues. Results showed that taurine effectively promoted chondrocyte growth and enhanced accumulation of glycosaminoglycans and collagens in the conditioned media of chondrocytes. Moreover, taurine exposure caused significant increases in the relative expression levels of mRNAs for cartilage specific markers, including aggrecan, collagen type II and SOX9. Aggrecan is a cartilage-specific proteoglycan, and SOX9 is a chondrogenic transcription factor. In contrast, the mRNA expression of collagen type I, a marker for chondrocyte dedifferentiation, was significantly decreased in cells treated with taurine, indicating that taurine inhibits the chondrocyte dedifferentiation. This study reveals that taurine is effective in proliferation promotion and phenotype maintenance of chondrocytes. Thus, taurine may be a useful pro-chondrogenic agent for autologous chondrocyte implantation in the treatment of cartilage repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) to restore defective cartilage, limited cell numbers and dedifferentiation of chondrocytes are the major difficulties. An alternative is the use of growth factors, but their high cost and potential for tumorigenesis are major obstacles. To ensure successful ACI therapy, it is important to find an effective substitute prochondrogenic agent. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), one of the green tea catechins, has been widely investigated in studies of interleukin-1β-induced chondrocytes. In the present study, the effects of EGCG on rabbit articular chondrocytes were investigated through the examination of cell proliferation, morphology, glycosaminoglycan synthesis and cartilage-specific gene expression. The results showed that EGCG could effectively promote chondrocyte growth and enhance the secretion and synthesis of the cartilage extracellular matrix by upregulating expression levels of aggrecan, collagen II and Sox9 genes. Expression of the collagen I gene was downregulated, which showed that EGCG effectively inhibited the dedifferentiation of chondrocytes. Hypertrophy, which may lead to chondrocyte ossification, was also undetectable in the EGCG groups. In conclusion, the recommended dose of EGCG was found to be in the range of 5 to 20 µM, with the most marked response observed with 10 µM. The present study may provide a basis for the development of a novel agent as a substitute for growth factors in the treatment of articular cartilage defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent studies have shown that copy number variation (CNV) in mammalian genomes contributes to phenotypic diversity, including health and disease status. In domestic pigs, CNV has been catalogued by several reports, but the extent of CNV and the phenotypic effects are far from clear. The goal of this study was to identify CNV regions (CNVRs) in pigs based on array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH). Results: Here a custom-made tiling oligo-nucleotide array was used with a median probe spacing of 2506 bp for screening 12 pigs including 3 Chinese native pigs (one Chinese Erhualian, one Tongcheng and one Yangxin pig), 5 European pigs (one Large White, one Pietrain, one White Duroc and two Landrace pigs), 2 synthetic pigs (Chinese new line DIV pigs) and 2 crossbred pigs (Landrace x DIV pigs) with a Duroc pig as the reference. Two hundred and fifty-nine CNVRs across chromosomes 1-18 and X were identified, with an average size of 65.07 kb and a median size of 98.74 kb, covering 16.85 Mb or 0.74% of the whole genome. Concerning copy number status, 93 (35.91%) CNVRs were called as gains, 140 (54.05%) were called as losses and the remaining 26 (10.04%) were called as both gains and losses. Of all detected CNVRs, 171 (66.02%) and 34 (13.13%) CNVRs directly overlapped with Sus scrofa duplicated sequences and pig QTLs, respectively. The CNVRs encompassed 372 full length Ensembl transcripts. Two CNVRs identified by aCGH were validated using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Conclusions: Using 720 K array CGH (aCGH) we described a map of porcine CNVs which facilitated the identification of structural variations for important phenotypes and the assessment of the genetic diversity of pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]