Capsaicin induces apoptosis in SCC-4 human tongue cancer cells through mitochondria-dependent and -independent pathways.

Although there have been advances in the fields of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy of tongue cancer, the cure rates are still not substantially satisfactory. Capsaicin (trans-8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is the major pungent ingredient of hot chili pepper and has been reported to have an antitumor effect on many human cancer cell types. The molecular mechanisms of the antitumor effect of capsaicin are not yet completely understood. Herein, we investigated whether capsaicin induces apoptosis in human tongue cancer cells. Capsaicin decreased the percentage of viable cells in a dose-dependent manner in human tongue cancer SCC-4 cells. In addition, capsaicin produced DNA fragmentation, decreased the DNA contents (sub-G1 phase), and induced G0/G1 phase arrest in SCC-4 cells. We demonstrated that capsaicin-induced apoptosis is associated with an increase in reactive oxygen species and Ca²âº generations and a disruption of the mitochondrial transmenbrane potential (ΔΨ(m)). Treatment with capsaicin induced a dramatic increase in caspase-3 and -9 activities, as assessed by flow cytometric methods. A possible mechanism of capsaicin-induced apoptosis is involved in the activation of caspase-3 (one of the apoptosis-executing enzyme). Confocal laser microscope examination also showed that capsaicin induced the releases of AIF, ATF-4, and GADD153 from mitochondria of SCC-4 cells.

Effects of auricular acupuncture on heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood lactic acid for elite basketball athletes.

This study investigated the effects of auricular acupuncture on athletes' recovery abilities after exercise. Subjects were selected from twenty-four male elite university basketball players, randomly divided into two groups: auricular acupuncture group (AAG), and normal control group (NCG), each group containing twelve subjects. Auricular acupuncture was experimented to each AAG athlete while no auricular acupuncture was conducted to each NCG athlete. Each subject in both groups performed a ride on the stationary bike until exhausted. The data of heart rate (HR(max)), oxygen consumption (VO(2 max)), and blood lactic acid were measured at four points of time: during the rest period after warm-ups and at the 5th, 30th and 60th minutes post-exercise, respectively. One-way ANOVA and repeated Scheffé methods were used to test the differences of the data between these two groups. The results showed that both HR(max) and blood lactic acid in AAG were significantly lower than those in NCG at the 30th and 60th minutes post-exercise. This suggests that auricular acupuncture can enhance athletes' recovery abilities after aggressive exercise.

Induction of apoptotic death by curcumin in human tongue squamous cell carcinoma SCC-4 cells is mediated through endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondria-dependent pathways.

Curcumin from the rhizome of the Curcuma longa plant has been noted for its chemo-preventative and chemo-therapy activities, and it inhibits the growth of many types of human cancer cell lines. In this study, the mechanisms of cell death involved in curcumin-induced growth inhibition, including cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis in human tongue cancer SCC-4 cells, were investigated. Herein, we observed that curcumin inhibited cell growth of SCC-4 cells and induced cell death in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment of SCC-4 cells with curcumin caused a moderate and promoted the G(2) /M phase arrest, which was accompanied with decreases in cyclin B/CDK1 and CDC25C protein levels. Moreover, curcumin significantly induced apoptosis of SCC-4 cells with a decrease of the Bcl-2 level, reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ(m) ), and promoted the active forms of caspase-3. Curcumin also promoted the releases of AIF and Endo G from the mitochondria in SCC-4 cells by using confocal laser microscope. Therefore, we suggest that curcumin induced apoptosis through a mitochondria-dependent pathway in SCC-4 cells. In addition, we also found that curcumin-induced apoptosis of SCC-4 cells was partly through endoplasmic reticulum stress. In conclusion, curcumin increased G(2) /M phase arrest and induced apoptosis through ER stress and mitochondria-dependent pathways in SCC-4 cells.

Episodes of injuries and frequent usage of traditional Chinese medicine for Taiwanese elite wrestling athletes.

Wrestling normally places extreme demands on the body and thus may cause various kinds of injuries. An in-depth understanding of the episodes of injured sites, types, timings, and treatment modalities would help participants be aware of wrestling-related injury occurrences so as to develop effective preventive measures. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the gender-specific injuries among elite wrestling athletes. Subjects were selected from the 2009 Taiwanese National Wrestling Sport Championship. Participants were adolescent wrestling athletes, ages 16-18, who must have received at least one bronze medal at national level tournaments in 2008. A total of 118 respondents, 96 males and 22 females, completed and returned the questionnaire in which demographic data and information about the types, sites, and timings of injuries suffered and treatment modalities adopted were elicited. The data were analyzed with independent t-tests. The questionnaire results revealed a significantly higher injury rate for males than for females. The top three injured sites for males were waist (11.1%), ankle joint (10.1%) and finger (9.6%); while for females were ankle joint (13.6%), knee (12.5%) and waist (11.3%). Contusions were the most frequent type of injury: for males (73.5%) and for females (70.6%); followed by tendon inflammation for males (10.7%) and accumulated injuries for females (15.2%). During training and matching periods, the frequency of injuries for males (69.0%) is lower than that for females (81.8%). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with acupuncture and moxibustion was the most common treatment modalities used for males (51.8%) and for females (68.0%); followed by orthopedics: for males (29.5%) and for females (18.0%). The present study contributed as the first effort to reveal the potency of using TCM with acupuncture and moxibustion in wrestling competitions. To prevent possible brain and body injuries in wrestling, safety education, skills and rules, and scoring systems may require further revision. Increased training of wrestling health professionals and advanced research and development of auxiliary training devices and protective equipment for wrestling athletes are also recommended.

Effects of acupuncture stimulation on recovery ability of male elite basketball athletes.

Developing effective methods for helping athletes recover from muscle fatigue is deemed essential, particularly on the eves' important competitions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of acupuncture stimulation on athletes' recovery abilities. Subjects were selected from 30 male elite university basketball players who were randomly assigned to 3 groups: acupuncture group, sham group, and normal (control) group, each containing 10 subjects. Acupuncture was carried out on each athlete in acupuncture group at the Neiguan (PC6) and Zusanli (ST36) acupoints, beginning at 15 min prior to exercise and continuing until exhaustion of the subject. Similar acupuncture was also carried out on each athlete in the sham group but the positions were 1 cm away from the PC6 and ST36 acupoints. No acupuncture was conducted on the athletes in the normal group. During the experiments, each subject performed separate runs on the treadmill. The data of heart rate (HR(max)), oxygen consumption (VO(2max)), and blood lactic acid were measured during the rest period and at 3 recovery points of time (5th, 30th and 60th min) post-exercise. The results showed that the acupuncture group (PC6 and ST36) has significantly lower HR(max), VO(2max) and blood lactic acid than both the sham and normal groups at the 30th min post-exercise. Blood lactic acid of the acupuncture group was also significantly lower than that of the other two groups in the 60th min post-exercise. Our findings have shed some light on the development of effective acupuncture schemes to enhance the recovery ability for elite basketball athletes.

Temporally shifted hemodynamic response model helps to extract acupuncture-induced functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygenation-level dependent activities.

BACKGROUND: The onsets of needling sensation introduced by acupuncture stimulus can vary widely from subject to subject. This should be explicitly accounted for by the model blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) time course used in general linear model (GLM) analysis to obtain more consistent across-subject group results. However, in standard GLM analysis, the model BOLD time course obtained by convolving a canonical hemodynamic response function with an experimental paradigm time course is assumed identical across subjects. Although some added-on properties to the model BOLD time course, such as temporal and dispersion derivatives, may be used to account for different BOLD response onsets, they can only account for the BOLD onset deviations to the extent of less than one repetition time (TR). METHODS: In this study, we explicitly manipulated the onsets of model BOLD time course by shifting it with -2, -1, or 1 TR and used these temporally shifted BOLD model to analyze the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained from three acupuncture fMRI experiments with GLM analysis. One involved acupuncture stimulus on left ST42 acupoint and the other two on left GB40 and left BL64 acupoints. RESULTS: The model BOLD time course with temporal shifts, in addition to temporal and dispersion derivatives, could result in better statistical power of the data analysis in terms of the average correlation coefficients between the used BOLD models and extracted BOLD responses from individual subject data and the T-values of the activation clusters in the grouped random effects. CONCLUSIONS: The GLM analysis with ordinary BOLD model failed to catch the large variability of the onsets of the BOLD responses associated with the acupuncture needling sensation. Shifts in time with more than a TR on model BOLD time course might be required to better extract the acupuncture stimulus-induced BOLD activities from individual fMRI data.