Anemarrhenae asphodeloides rhizoma Extract Enriched in Mangiferin Protects PC12 Cells against a Neurotoxic Agent-3-Nitropropionic Acid.

The rhizome of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a brain function-improving herb, is a promising source of neuroprotective substances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective action of xanthones from A. asphodeloides rhizomes on the PC12 cell line exposed to the neurotoxic agent-3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP). The xanthone-enriched fraction of the ethanolic extract of A. asphodeloides (abbreviated from now on as XF, for the Xanthone Fraction), rich in polyphenolic xanthone glycosides, in concentrations from 5 to 100 µg/mL, and 3-NP in concentrations from 2.5 to 15 mM, were examined. After 8, 16, 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure of cells to various combinations of 3-NP and XF, the MTT viability assay was performed and morphological changes were estimated by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The obtained results showed a significant increase in the number of cells surviving after treatment with XF with exposure to neurotoxic 3-NP and decreased morphological changes in PC12 cells in a dose and time dependent manner. The most effective protective action was observed when PC12 cells were pre-incubated with the XF. This effect may contribute to the traditional indications of this herb for neurological and cognitive complaints. However, a significant cytotoxicity observed at higher XF concentrations (over 10 µg/mL) and longer incubation time (48 h) requires caution in future research and thorough investigation into potential adverse effects.

The Dephosphorylation of p70S6 (Thr389) Kinase as a Marker of L-Glutamate-Induced Excitotoxicity Related to Diabetes Disturbances-an Unconventional In Vitro Model.

Excitotoxicity is a modern clinical condition included in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. It is connected with diabetic disturbance, and it is still being analyzed in the context of the participation of the PI3K/mTOR pathway. A very important protein belonging to this pathway is p70S6K, whose activation promotes the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes by the induction of insulin resistance. The study model was based on a PC12 cell line, derived from the pheochromocytoma of a rat adrenal medulla, cultured in RPMI 1640. The three reagents were used in different concentrations to create the model of excitotoxicity related to diabetes disturbances: L-glutamate (2.5 mM; 10 mM), glucose (150 mM; 200 mM), and insulin (0.093 mM; 0.371 mM). The aim of our study was to examine and evaluate the levels of phosphorylation of proteins involved in signal transduction controlled by MAPK, PI3K/Akt, and mTOR signaling pathways in L-glutamate-induced excitotoxicity with comorbid hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia imitating diabetic disturbances in in vitro conditions on PC12 cells. The results we obtained demonstrated the increased phosphorylation of p70S6K in Thr389 residue in almost all combinations of reagents, except for those including the highest concentration of L-glutamate, in which dephosphorylation was confirmed. This confirms the inhibition of mTOR kinase and suggests that p70S6K (Thr389) plays a functional role in the regulation of the signaling pathway in excitotoxicity related to diabetic disturbances.

Ex vivo model for the assessment of the cytotoxicity of biological materialfrom patients with carbohydrate metabolism disturbances.

BACKGROUND: Carbohydrate metabolism disturbances have long been considered the cause of civilisation diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, or cardiovascular diseases. Currently an increasing number of theses also link impaired glucose and/or insulin metabolism to neurodegenerative diseases, calling them neurometabolic diseases. AIM OF THE STUDY: Aim of the study was to assess the cytotoxic influence of multicompound biological material (blood serum) from people with different carbohydrate metabolism disturbances to the viability of PC12 cell line. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Undifferentiated PC12 cell line were incubated for 48 hours in standard conditions with the addition of human serum from individuals with diffrent (low and high) levels of hyperglycaemia (LGL and HGL) and hyperinsulinaemia (LIL and HIL). The cytotoxicity was estimated by the MTT test, and the viability percentage (SP%) was calculated in relation to control samples (cells incubated only with RPMI). RESULTS: The obtained results indicate cytotoxic activity and decreased viability of the PC12 cells after 48 hours of incubation with human serum with different degrees of hyperglycaemia and insulinaemia. Cell viability increased slightly with the increase in glucose level but decreased with the increase in insulin concentration in individual groups, but without statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Blood serum, as multicompound biological material, influences negatively PC12 cell line but in a variety of ways. Increasing hyperinsulinaemia has a higher cytotoxic effect on the cells than hyperglycaemia, which probably results from the fact that it is compensated by other components of biological material; however, further studies are necessary to obtain more detailed characteristics of these processes.

Adverse effect of the disturbances of glycemia and insulimemia on model PC12 cells - preliminary report.

BACKGROUND: One of the most important worldwide health problems of the 21st century is an increasing incidence of diabetes and insulin resistance. Morover, it is indicated that both these disturbances are connected with an increased incidence of Alzheimer's Disease. The literature data indicate that not only disturbed glucose concentration, especially hyperglycemia, is a crucial factor of the development of dementia but those data also emphasize that hyperphysiological concentrations of insulin and insulin resistance of brain tissue is an increasingly significant factor. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of glucose and insulin concentration reached in human carbohydrate metabolism disorders such as i.e. impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes state as well as averageand high degree hyperinsulinemia, on the survival of PC12 cell line. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Because of the close association indicated between diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases, in the experiment we used PC12 cell line derived from a transplantable rat pheochromocytoma, commonly used as an neurotoxicity and neuroprotection model. These cells were incubated in RPMI 1640 with addition of fetal bovine serum, horse serum, antibiotics and appropriate concentrations of glucose(from 84 to 240 mg/mL) and insulin(0.5 to 7 mg/mL) at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% of CO2for 24 h and 48 h. Cell viability was expressed as a percentage of survival (PS [%]) against the negative control after MTT assay execution. RESULTS: The highest mortality was demonstrated for PC12 lines incubated for 24 h with the glucose level reflecting the condition of diabetes mellitus (DM), while after an incubation period of 48 h, the highest mortality was demonstrated for the incubation with insulin concentration corresponding to high levels of hyperinsulinemia (HH). Conclutions. The results suggest the greater susceptibility of PC12 cells to extended hyperinsulinaemia incubation than hyperglycemia,which indicates the increasing importance of insulin disorders in the induction of cell death.The results demonstrated in our experiment are particularly important for the development of a study model for testing the substances with hypoglycaemic, hypoinsulinemic and neuroprotective action.

[The biochemical carcinogenesis of selected heavy metals in bladder cancer]. / Biochemiczna kancerogeneza wybranych metali ciezkich w raku pecherza moczowego.

Bladder cancer takes the second place in the classification of morbidity of urinary system cancers. Many chemical factors take part in cancerogenesis. It is suggested that exposure to heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, nickel and cadmium as well as its metabolites may trigger the bladder cancer through inducing excessive reactive oxygen species production and oxidative stress formation which are responsible for DNA damage. In patients with bladder cancer is observed the disorder of processes regulated by p-53, including apoptosis. There are many patients with bladder cancer with confirmed absence of retinoblastoma protein, which is responsible of holding on the process of coming up the cells with mutation into synthesis, where the replication process undergoes. It is mentioned that excessive expression of proto-oncogenes may also cause the bladder cancer. The article concerns biochemical effects of exposure to chosen heavy metals and their potential role in bladder cancer progression.