many cell lines, when cultured under proper conditions, can form three dimensionalstructures called multicellular spheroids. these spheroids resemble in vivo tumor models in severalaspects. therefore, studying growth characteristics and behavior of spheroids is beneficial inunderstanding the behavior of tumors under various experimental conditions. in this work, we havestudied the growth proper...

Chromatin modifications are critical for the establishment and maintenance of differentiation programs. G9a, the enzyme responsible for histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation in mammalian euchromatin, exists as two isoforms with differential inclusion of exon 10 (E10) through alternative splicing. We find that the G9a methyltransferase is required for differentiation of the mouse neuronal cell line ...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Dioscorea nipponica (Dioscoreaceae) have been used as traditional medicines for diabetes, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases in Korea. The aim of the study was to isolate the bioactive components from the rhizomes of Dioscorea nipponica and to evaluate their anti-neuroinfalmmatory and neuroprotective activities. MATERIAL AND METHODS The phytochemical in...

Several novel norcamphor derivatives were designed and synthesized as uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists at the phencyclidine (PCP) binding site. Such compounds have potential as ligands for understanding and possibly the treatment of several neurodegenerative disorders and other glutamate-dependent disorders. We examined the toxic effects of the compounds as compared with memantine, an NM...

Background and Purpose Curcumin, a natural antioxidant isolated from Curcuma longa, has been reported to exert neuroprotective effect in animal models of ischemic stroke. However, the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of curcumin treatment on neuronal apoptosis in the periinfarct cortex after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion...

Microtubule binding protein tau has a crucial function in promoting the assembly and stabilization of microtubule. Besides tuning the action potentials, voltage-gated K+ channels (Kv) are important for cell proliferation and appear to play a role in the development of cancer. However, little is known about the possible interaction of tau with Kv channels in various tissues. In the present study...

Bupivacaine, an amide type long-acting local anaesthetic is commonly employed for epidural anesthesia and as well for nerve blockades. However, studies have shown neurotoxicity following local administration of bupivacaine raising concerns over the use of the drug. Compounds that could minimize or inhibit toxic effects of bupivacaine are of high value in operative settings and in pain managemen...

The aims of this work were to compare the effects of methyl mercury chloride and thimerosal on neurite/process outgrowth and microtubule proteins in differentiating mouse N2a neuroblastoma and rat C6 glioma cells. Exposure for 4h to sublethal concentrations of both compounds inhibited neurite outgrowth to a similar extent in both cells lines compared to controls. In the case of N2a cells, this ...

Exposure of susceptible neuroblastoma N2a cells to mouse scrapie prions leads to infection, as evidenced by the continued presence of the scrapie form of the prion protein (PrP(Sc)) and infectivity after 300 or more cell doublings. We find that exposure to phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PIPLC) or to the monoclonal anti-prion protein (PrP) antibody 6H4 not only prevents infection...

conclusions the results of this work demonstrated that the subcellular distribution of pfdn1 was altered in the rabv-infected n2a cells and colocalized with the n protein of rabv in the nbl structures. results confocal microscopy showed that pfdn1 was colocalized with the n protein of rabv in the infected n2a cells and was mainly recruited to the characteristic negri-body-like (nbl) structures ...