The two major theories of cancer metastasis, the seed and soil hypothesis and the mechanical trapping theory, view tumor cell adhesion to blood vessel endothelia and cancer cell aggregation as corresponding key components of the metastatic process. Here, we demonstrate in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo that metastatic breast and prostate carcinoma cells form multicellular homotypic aggregates at t...

With a spectrofluorometer, the length of the incubation time required in the fluorogenic assay was reduced to 12 h. The threshold emissions for reading the fluorogenic reaction by the spectrofluorometer were 5 and 10 U for lauryl tryptose broth media containing 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-galactoside and 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-glucuronide, respectively. These two kinds of threshold units w...

A glycosidase which attacks corneal keratan sulfate was purified from extracts of Pseudomonas sp. IFO-13309. When corneal keratan sulfate was degraded by the purified enzyme, Sephadex G-50 chromatography indicated the presence of a number of oligosaccharides differing in size and sulfate content. The characterization of two major fractions of the oligosaccharides indicated that the point of enz...

BACKGROUND Phenylazonaphtol-β-D-O-glycosides are alternative substrates for the detection of enzymatic activity of β-glycosidases which are involved in various important processes. These azoic compounds are currently exploited as prodrugs for colonic disease due the presence of β-glycosidase activity in the gut flora and therefore allowing the release of the drug at the specific site. RESULTS...

The effect of cultivation practices on fruit quality and antioxidant capacity in highbush blueberries var. Bluecrop (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) was evaluated from random samples of commercial late harvest fields in New Jersey. Results from this study showed that blueberry fruit grown from organic culture yielded significantly higher sugars (fructose and glucose), malic acid, total phenolics, tota...

The lactose permease of Escherichia coli (LacY), a dynamic polytopic membrane protein, catalyzes galactoside-H+ symport and operates by an alternating access mechanism that exhibits multiple conformations, the distribution of which is altered by sugar binding. We have developed single-domain camelid nanobodies (Nbs) against a mutant in an outward (periplasmic)-open conformation to stabilize thi...

The aim of this work was to obtain information about interactions between polyphenols and β-glucan through linear adsorption equilibrium models. Polyphenolic compounds can interact with various food ingredients such as carbohydrates, proteins and lipids and these interactions can affect polyphenol bioactivities. Interactions can be studied through the adsorption process at a constant temperatur...

The transport of beta-galactosides by isolated membrane preparations from Escherichia coli strains containing a functional y gene is markedly stimulated by the conversion of D-lactate to pyruvate. The addition of D-lactate to these membrane preparations produces a 19-fold increase in the initial rate of uptake and a 10-fold stimulation of the steady-state level of intramembranal lactose or thio...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neuroprotective polypeptide that is thought to be responsible for neuron proliferation, differentiation, and survival. An agent that enhances production of BDNF is expected to be useful for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Here we report that galectin-1, a member of the family of beta-galactoside binding proteins, induces astrocyte diffe...