The mammalian urinary bladder exhibits transepithelial Na+ absorption that contributes to Na+ gradients established by the kidney. Electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that electrogenic Na+ absorption across the urinary bladder is mediated in part by amiloride-sensitive Na+ channels situated within the apical membrane of the bladder epithelium. We have used a combination of in situ hy...

PURPOSE To isolate precursors of human corneal endothelial cells (HCECs) in vitro. METHODS HCECs were subjected to a sphere-forming assay in which spheres floated in serum-free medium containing growth factors. To promote differentiation, the isolated sphere colonies were plated in dishes coated with poly-L-lysine (PLL)/laminin or fetal bovine endothelium extracellular matrix. Marker expressi...

PURPOSE To demonstrate the presence of corneal stromal precursors that express neural markers in vitro. METHODS To isolate sphere-forming cells, human corneal stromal cells were subjected to a reaggregation-free neurosphere assay in medium containing methylcellulose gel matrix. To promote differentiation, the isolated sphere colonies were plated in wells with medium containing fetal bovine se...

Notch signaling is involved in the early process of differentiation to determine the fate of stem cells. However, the precise role of Notch in human bone marrow‑derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the involvement of Notch signalling during the course of hBMSC differentiation into cardiomyocytes using hBMSCs, with multilineage different...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Gelam honey on corneal keratocytes proliferative capacity and phenotypic characterization via MTT assay, gene expression and immunocytochemistry. METHODS Corneal keratocytes from New Zealand white rabbits were cultured in basal medium (BM) and serum enriched medium (BMS). Serial dilutions of Gelam honey (GH) were added to both media and c...

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Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/ CCN2) is a 38-kDa secreted protein, a prototypic member of the CCN family, which is up-regulated in many diseases, including atherosclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and diabetic nephropathy. We previously showed that CTGF can cause actin disassembly with concurrent down-regulation of the small GTPase Rho A and proposed an integrated signaling network connecti...

BACKGROUND AND AIM The present study was conducted to examine the effect of activin A on activation of rat pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). METHODS PSCs were prepared from rat pancreas using collagenase digestion and centrifugation with Nycodenz gradient. Activation of PSCs was examined by determining smooth muscle actin expression with western blotting. The presence of activin A receptors i...

The present study aimed to investigate the protective role of curcumin against oxidative stress in rat hepatic stellate cells (HSCs)-T6, and to determine the possible underlying mechanisms. HSC-T6 cells were divided into three groups: Negative control group, oxidant-treated group and curcumin-treated group. Flow cytometry and spectrophotometry were used to measure the production of reactive oxy...

The actin cytoskeleton plays critical roles in numerous cellular events and functions, its spatiotemporal dynamics are maintained regulated by several cofactor proteins. MISP/Caprice is a recently reported actin-bundling protein that also involved the progression of mitosis. In this study, we investigated how actin-regulatory function MISP modulated phosphorylation. A series mutation studies de...