ABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2017/5364010.].
ABSTRACT
Researchers have reported significant effects from Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) in terms of inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis in breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinomas, promyelocytic leukemia, and clear cell ovary carcinomas. Here we report our data indicating that Danshen extracts, especially alcohol extract, significantly inhibited the proliferation of the human oral squamous carcinoma (OSCC) cell lines HSC-3 and OC-2. We also observed that Danshen alcohol extract activated the caspase-3 apoptosis executor by impeding members of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family, but not by regulating the Bcl-2-triggered mitochondrial pathway in OSCC cells. Our data also indicate that the extract exerted promising effects in vivo, with HSC-3 tumor xenograft growth being suppressed by 40% and 69% following treatment with Danshen alcohol extract at 50 and 100 mg/kg, respectively, for 34 days. Combined, our results indicate appreciable anticancer activity and significant potential for Danshen alcohol extract as a natural antioxidant and herbal human oral cancer chemopreventive drug.
ABSTRACT
Developing synthetic methods to produce carbon dots (CDs) using natural biomass or other readily available carbon sources are currently being explored. We describe a simple and green synthetic method for preparing fluorescent CDs by water extraction from heat-treated shrimp eggs (SE-CDs). The SE-CDs appeared spherical with an average size of 3.25 ± 1.06 nm. Elemental analysis indicate that the SE-CDs have functional groups such as C-OH, C-O-C, CO, and C-H on the surface which give rise to a series of emissive traps between π-π* states. SE-CDs also showed a broad emission range with excellent quantum yield of 18.5 ± 2.6%. In addition, when compared with commonly used traditional CdSe and CdTe nanocrystals, SE-CDs were bio-tolerable to cell at high doses (200 µgml(-1)) in MTT assay. Thus, SE-CDs are very promising alternatives to semiconductor-based quantum dots for in vitro and in vivo bioimaging applications.
Subject(s)
Diagnostic Imaging/methods , Animals , Biomass , Carbon/chemistry , HumansABSTRACT
Structure transition cascade: Insulin fibrils undergo a secondary structural transition-from the α-rich to the ß-rich form-upon progressively increasing the incubation time from 0.5 to ten hours. Atomic force microscopy measurements show that the fibril surface chemistry changes from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and the aggregation rate increases fivefold.
