Essential Oil from Carpesium abrotanoides L.Induces Apoptosis via Activating Mitochondrial Pathway in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

The effects of essential oil from Carpesium abrotanoides L.(CAEO)on the proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatic cancer cells were investigated in this study.MTT assays indicated that CAEO inhibited the proliferation of HCC cells with the IC50 values ranging from 41.28±3.06 to 130.36±20.79μg/mL.Moreover,many obviously nuclear morphological changes of apoptotic cells in CAEO-treated HepG2 cells were detected by Hoechst 33258staining and fluorescence microscopy.Flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis and cell cycle,and noticeable findings showed that CAEO arrested cell-cycle at S and G2/M phases.The decreased Bcl-2/Bax protein ratio and the activation of caspase-3,caspase-9 were also detected by Western blotting.All results suggested that CAEO is a potential agent to fight against liver cancer,and the mitochondria-mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway could be involved in CAEO-mediated apoptosis of human liver carcinoma cells.

Voluntary running delays primary degeneration in rat retinas after partial optic nerve transection

Running is believed to be beneficial for human health. Many studies have focused on the neuroprotective effects of voluntary running on animal models. There were both primary and secondary degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma. However, whether running can delay primary or secondary degeneration or both of them was not clear. Partial optic nerve transection model is a valuable glaucoma model for studying both primary and secondary degeneration because it can separate primary(mainly in the superior retina) from secondary(mainly in the inferior retina) degeneration. Therefore, we compared the survival of retinal ganglion cells between Sprague-Dawley rat runners and non-runners both in the superior and inferior retinas. Excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and apoptosis are involved in the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma. So we also used western immunoblotting to compare the expression of some proteins involved in apoptosis(phospho-c-Jun N-terminal kinases, p-JNKs), oxidative stress(manganese superoxide dismutase, MnSOD) and excitotoxicity(glutamine synthetase) between runners and non-runners after partial optic nerve transection. Results showed that voluntary running delayed the death of retinal ganglion cells vulnerable to primary degeneration but not those to secondary degeneration. In addition, voluntary running decreased the expression of glutamine synthetase, but not the expression of p-JNKs and MnSOD in the superior retina after partial optic nerve transection. These results illustrated that primary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells might be mainly related with excitotoxicity rather than oxidative stress; and the voluntary running could down-regulate excitotoxicity to delay the primary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells after partial optic nerve transection.

Bioactive Study on Mixtures of Epimedin C and Icariin Monomers with Invariant Molarity to Zebrafish Osteoporosis Model

Objective To evaluate the anti-osteoporosis effect of the mixtures of epimedin C and icariin monomers with invariant molarity on zebrafish osteoporosis model. Methods The zebrafishes, fertilized 4 d ago, were exposed in 11 groups of nutrient solutions with prednisolone （25 μmol/L） as well as epimedin C and icariin （15 μmol/L） of various contents. The ratio of epimedin C and icariin in the 11 groups were as follows： A （10：0）, B （9：1）, C （8：2）, D （7：3）, E （6：4）, F （5：5）, G （4：6）, H （3：7）, I （2：8）, J （1：9）, and K （0：10）. Meanwhile, a negative control group with prednisolone （25μmol/L） was prepare as S. The selected zebrafish fetus was put into the 24-hole culture plate, and ensure every 5 zebrafishes in 1 hole and 2 holes as a group. They were placed in incubator at 28.5 oC, and the daily changes of fluid were investigated until they were put to death on day 8 and then fixed. After dyeing with alizarin red, the segmental venter of zebrafish skulls was observed and quantitative analysis of dyed area was conducted. Results Compared with the negative control group S, the integrated optical density （IOD） values of cranial dyed area in all groups increased significantly （P 〈 0.05）; Compared with group S, the IOD value of cranial dyed area in mixtures of epimedium monomers increased significantly （P 〈 0.05）. The mixtures of epimedium monomers were all effective in facilitating zebrafish cranial mineralization and preventing prednisolone from inducing osteoporosis. According to mixtures of A-K groups, zebrafish cranial mineralization gradually decreased with gradually reduced content of epimedin C, with significant difference among groups （P〈 0.05）. Conclusion The higher the content of epimedin C in mixtures with invariant molarity is, the more active the anti-osteoporosis effect of epimedinC to zebrafish osteoporosis model is.