Neurogenic differentiation of bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) offers a new hope for patients with many neurological disorders. Several chemical inducers are employed to induce BMMSCs differentiation into nerve cells. In the present study, we compared different inducers [2-mercaptoethanol (BME), tretinoin (ATRA), dimethyl sulfoxide/butylated hydroxyanisole (DMSO/BHA), and indometh...

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have demonstrated a capacity for differentiating into a variety of lineages, including bone, cartilage, or fat, depending on the inducing stimuli and specific growth and factors. It is acknowledged that fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) promotes chondrogenic and inhibits osteogenic differentiation of ASCs, but thorough investigations of its effects on adipogen...

Cyclic nucleotides (cAMP and cGMP) are the main second messengers linked to vasodilatation. They are synthesized by cyclases and degraded by different types of phosphodiesterases (PDE). The effect of PDE inhibition and cyclases stimulation on 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; 1 microM) and histamine (10 microM) contracted arteries was analysed. Stimulation of guanylate cyclase or adenylate cyclase rel...

Cholecystokinin (CCK) release from rat brain slices in vitro is enhanced by agents which elevate intracellular cAMP. Treatment of several CCK expressing tumor cells in culture with agents which increase intracellular cAMP increased secretion of CCK. The possibility that elevation of cAMP also alters potassium-evoked release of CCK from rat brain slices incubated in vitro was also investigated. ...

Differentiation therapy has been proposed as a new approach to selectively engage the process of tumor cell differentiation during chemotherapy of cancer. Our recent in vitro study suggests that such an approach can be extended and utilized for the selection of tumor-derived insulin-producing cells for transplantation. Repeated treatment with streptozotocin selected toxin resistant subpopulatio...

Stimulation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors on neurons activates both cAMP and cGMP signaling pathways. Experiments were carried out to determine which phosphodiesterase (PDE) families are involved in the hydrolysis of the cyclic nucleotides formed via this mechanism, using primary neuronal cultures prepared from rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus. The nonselective PDE inhibitor 3-iso...

  Some of fused dihydrobenzo [4,5]imidazo [1,2-a] pyrmido [5,4-e] pyrmidin-3(4H)-amine  derivatives were synthesized,  theses derivatives derived from 4-amino-2-(4-chloro or bromophenyl) -1,2-dihydropyrimido[1,2-a] benzimidazole-3-carbonitrile (4,5), which prepared by reaction 1H-benzimidazol-2-amine (1) and p-chlorobenzaldehyde p-bromobenzaldehyde (2)  and malononitrile (3)...

Previously, we demonstrated that genistein stimulated Cl(-) secretion in the mouse jejunum (Baker MJ and Hamilton KL, Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 287: C1636-C1645, 2004); however, the mode of action of genistein still remains unclear. Here, we examined the activation of Cl(-) secretion by the modulation of phosphodiesterases (PDEs) by genistein (75 microM) in the mouse jejunum with the Ussing sho...

The hypophysectomized rat has been used as a model to study the effects of growth hormone deficiency on bone. Here, we have investigated the influence of growth hormone administration to hypophysectomized rats (HX) for 6 wk on accumulation of triglycerides in bone marrow and on the differentiation of primary marrow stromal cells into adipocytes under in vitro conditions. We found that hypophyse...