Intranasal Delivery of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Enhances Its Neuroprotective Effects Against Ischemic Brain Injury in Rats.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is a hematopoietic growth factor with strong neuroprotective properties. However, it has limited capacity to cross the blood-brain barrier and thus potentially limiting its protective capacity. Recent studies demonstrated that intranasal drug administration is a promising way in delivering neuroprotective agents to the central nervous system. The current study therefore aimed at determining whether intranasal administration of G-CSF increases its delivery to the brain and its neuroprotective effect against ischemic brain injury. Transient focal cerebral ischemia in rat was induced with middle cerebral artery occlusion. Our resulted showed that intranasal administration is 8-12 times more effective than subcutaneous injection in delivering G-CSF to cerebrospinal fluid and brain parenchyma. Intranasal delivery enhanced the protective effects of G-CSF against ischemic injury in rats, indicated by decreased infarct volume and increased recovery of neurological function. The neuroprotective mechanisms of G-CSF involved enhanced upregulation of HO-1 and reduced calcium overload following ischemia. Intranasal G-CSF application also promoted angiogenesis and neurogenesis following brain ischemia. Taken together, G-CSF is a legitimate neuroprotective agent and intranasal administration of G-CSF is more effective in delivery and neuroprotection and could be a practical approach in clinic.

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Developed as an Alternative Animal Model for Focal Ischemic Stroke.

Thrombotic cerebral ischemia is one of the leading causes of mortality and chronic disability. Animal models provide an essential tool for understanding the complex cellular and molecular pathophysiology of ischemia and for improving treatment and testing novel neuroprotective drugs in the preclinical setting. In this study, we tested zebrafish as a novel model for thrombotic ischemic brain damage. Zebrafish were intraperitoneally injected with Rose Bengal and light exposure was directed onto the optic tectum region of the brain to induce photothrombosis. After full recovery from anesthesia, zebrafish consistently exhibited abnormal swimming patterns, indicating brain injury from the procedure. The staining of 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) 24 h after the treatment showed lack of staining of the exposed area of the brain, which further confirmed the ischemic injury. Application of Activase®-tPA improved viability of the brain. The tPA treatment also reduced the occurrence of moving disability as well as the mortality rate, demonstrating that the zebrafish model not only showed focal ischemic injury but also responded well to tPA therapy. Our results suggest that the current photothrombotic method induced focal ischemia in zebrafish and produced consistent brain damage that can be measured by behavioral changes and quantified by histological staining.

UV irradiation-induced zinc dissociation from commercial zinc oxide sunscreen and its action in human epidermal keratinocytes.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an active ingredient in sunscreen owing to its properties of broadly filtering the ultraviolet (UV) light spectrum and it is used to protect against the carcinogenic and photodamaging effects of solar radiation on the skin. This study investigated the dissociation of zinc (Zn(2+) ) from ZnO in commercial sunscreens under ultraviolet type B light (UVB) irradiation and assessed the cytotoxicity of Zn(2+) accumulation in human epidermal keratinocytes (HEK). Using Zn(2+) fluorescent microscopy, we observed a significant increase in Zn(2+) when ZnO sunscreens were irradiated by UVB light. The amount of Zn(2+) increase was dependent on both the irradiation intensity as well as on the ZnO concentration. A reduction in cell viability as a function of ZnO concentration was observed with cytotoxic assays. In a real-time cytotoxicity assay using propidium iodide, the treatment of UVB-irradiated ZnO sunscreen caused a late- or delayed-type cytotoxicity in HEK. The addition of a Zn(2+) chelator provided a protective effect against cellular death in all assays. Furthermore, Zn(2+) was found to induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HEK. Our data suggest that UVB irradiation produces an increase in Zn(2+) dissociation in ZnO sunscreen and, consequently, the accumulation of free or labile Zn(2+) from sunscreen causes cytotoxicity and oxidative stress.

UVB radiation induces an increase in intracellular zinc in human epidermal keratinocytes.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is known to cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage and apoptotic cell death; however, many details of these malign mechanism have yet to be elucidated. In this study, the exposure of adult human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKa) with UVB (>100 mJ/cm(2)) resulted in the significant increase of intracellular zinc that was released from its storage and was detected by fluorescent zinc indicators. Toxicity testing revealed that UVB-induced zinc release in HEKa is associated with HEKa cell death. Cells that showed elevated intracellular zinc fluorescence upon UVB exposure were also stained by propidium iodide (PI), a traditional viability indicator whose fluorescent signal is as a result of its intercalating with DNA fragments and is unaffected by zinc concentration, showing significant colocalization [Pearson's correlation coefficients r=0.956 (n=6)]. The cytotoxicity of zinc was also determined by an MTT assay after applying the exogenous zinc (ZnCl2) along with its ionophore pyrithione (20 microM) into HEKa culture medium. A significant reduction in cell viability as a function of both zinc concentration and exposure time was observed. The treatments of 1, 10 and 100 microM ZnCl2 with pyrithione demonstrated 2.3, 60 and 84% cell deaths, respectively (control 0.5%) after 30 min. ZnCl2 (100 microM) was also found to induce complete HEKa death after 1 h. Thus, the present study demonstrates that UVB irradiation-induced increased zinc is detrimental to HEKa viability, and zinc may be a necessary step in UVB-induced cell death signaling pathways.

MEK/ERK pathway is aberrantly active in Hodgkin disease: a signaling pathway shared by CD30, CD40, and RANK that regulates cell proliferation and survival.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) (also called extracellular signal-regulated kinase [ERK]) pathway has been implicated in malignant transformation and in the regulation of cellular growth and proliferation of several tumor types, but its expression and function in Hodgkin disease (HD) are unknown. We report here that the active phosphorylated form of MAPK/ERK is aberrantly expressed in cultured and primary HD cells. Inhibition of the upstream MAPK kinase (also called MEK) by the small molecule UO126 inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK and demonstrated a dose- and time-dependent antiproliferative activity in HD cell lines. UO126 modulated the levels of several intracellular proteins including B-cell lymphoma protein 2 (Bcl-2), myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) and caspase 8 homolog FLICE-inhibitory protein (cFLIP), and induced G2M cell-cycle arrest or apoptosis. Furthermore, UO126 potentiated the activity of apoliprotein 2/tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (APO2L/TRAIL) and chemotherapy-induced cell death. Activation of CD30, CD40, and receptor activator of nuclear kappabeta (RANK) receptors in HD cells by their respective ligands increased ERK phosphorylation above the basal level and promoted HD cell survival. UO126 inhibited basal and ligand-induced ERK phosphorylation, and inhibited ligand-induced cell survival of HD cell lines. These findings provide a proof-of-principle that inhibition of the MEK/ERK pathway may have therapeutic value in HD.