MinKyun Na, KiHwan Bae*, Sam Sik Kang, Byung Sun Min, Jae Kuk Yoo, Yuko Kamiryo, Yu-ichiro Senoo, Seiichi Yokoo and Nobuhiko Miwa College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea Jakwang Research Institute, Hansaeng Cosmetics Co., Ltd., Nonsan, Korea Natural Products Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Laboratory of Immunomodulator, Korea Research Instit...

Objective: Echium amoenum Fisch. & C.A. Mey. is used for the treatment of various diseases in traditional medicine. This plant is a major source of anthocyanins with beneficial cardiovascular properties such as anti-atherosclerotic and antihypertensive effects. In the present study, the protective and antioxidant effects of anthocyanin-rich E. amoenum extract were evaluated on human vascular en...

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are ideal cells for cell and gene therapy. However, the low survival of MSCs after transplantation has limited their applications. We aimed to evaluate the expression of cytoprotective genes including NQO1, TXNRD1, HO-1, GCLC following the over expression of Nrf2 in umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs). Methods: 3-5 passages of UC-MSCs were cultured. ...

Inhibitors of calpains, calcium-activated neutral proteases, protect against cell death produced by anoxia and a variety of toxicants both in vitro and in vivo. The problems with known calpain inhibitors are a lack of specificity, low membrane permeability, and/or low potency. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of seven novel dipeptide and tripeptide calpain inhibitors on calpa...

Liver ischemia represents a common clinical problem. In the present study, using an in vitro model of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury, we evaluated the potential cytoprotective effect of the purine metabolites, such as adenosine and inosine, and studied the mode of their pharmacological actions. The human hepatocellular carcinoma-derived cell line HepG2 was subjected to combined oxygen-gluc...

OBJECTIVE The protective mechanisms that maintain periodontal homeostasis in gingivitis and prevent periodontal tissue destruction are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify changes in the salivary proteome during experimental gingivitis. STUDY DESIGN We used oral neutrophil quantification and whole saliva (WS) proteomics to assess changes that occur in the inflammatory and ...

Although it is known that Candida albicans causes endothelial cell injury, in vitro and in vivo, the mechanism by which this process occurs remains unknown. Iron is critical for the induction of injury in many types of host cells. Therefore, we investigated the role of iron in Candida-induced endothelial cell injury. We found that pretreatment of endothelial cells with the iron chelators phenan...

Bile acids are cytoprotective in hepatocytes by activating phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3-K) and its downstream signal AKT. Our aim was to determine whether feeding taurocholate to CCl(4)-treated rats reduces cholangiocyte apoptosis and whether this cytoprotective effect is dependent on PI3-K. Cholangiocyte proliferation, secretion, and apoptosis were determined in cholangiocytes from bile ...