TXNIP mediates the differential responses of A549 cells to sodium butyrate and sodium 4-phenylbutyrate treatment.

Sodium butyrate (NaBu) and sodium 4-phenylbutyrate (4PBA) have promising futures in cancer treatment; however, their underlying molecular mechanisms are not clearly understood. Here, we show A549 cell death induced by NaBu and 4PBA are not the same. NaBu treatment induces a significantly higher level of A549 cell death than 4PBA. A gene expression microarray identified more than 5000 transcripts that were altered (>1.5-fold) in NaBu-treated A549 cells, but fewer than 2000 transcripts that were altered in 4PBA. Moreover, more than 100 cell cycle-associated genes were greatly repressed by NaBu, but slightly repressed by 4PBA; few genes were significantly upregulated only in 4PBA-treated cells. Gene expression was further validated by other experiments. Additionally, A549 cells that were treated with these showed changes in glucose consumption, caspase 3/7 activation and histone modifications, as well as enhanced mitochondrial superoxide production. TXNIP was strongly induced by NaBu (30- to 40-fold mRNA) but was only slightly induced by 4PBA (two to fivefold) in A549 cells. TXNIP knockdown by shRNA in A549 cells significantly attenuated caspase 3/7 activation and restored cell viability, while TXNIP overexpression significantly increased caspase 3/7 activation and cell death only in NaBu-treated cells. Moreover, TXNIP also regulated NaBu- but not 4PBA-induced H4K5 acetylation and H3K4 trimethylation, possibly by increasing WDR5 expression. Finally, we demonstrated that 4PBA induced a mitochondrial superoxide-associated cell death, while NaBu did so mainly through a TXNIP-mediated pathway. The above data might benefit the future clinic application.

Biocatalyzed deposition amplification for detection of aflatoxin B1 based on quartz crystal microbalance.

An ultrasensitive piezoelectric method for the detection of the aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) based on the indirect competitive immunoassay and the biocatalyzed deposition amplification has been developed. In this method, the quartz crystal surface was coated with a self-assembled monolayer of 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) for covalently immobilization of the BSA-AFB1 conjugate, which could compete with the free AFB1 for binding to the anti-AFB1 antibody (MsIgG). After the competitive immunoreaction, the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labeled goat anti-mouse IgG (G-Anti-MsIgG) was introduced into the detection cell to combine with the anti-AFB1 antibody on the crystal surface. The enzyme labeled G-Anti-MsIgG as a biocatalyst could accelerate the oxidation of 4-chloro-1-naphthol by H2O2 to yield the insoluble product benzo-4-chlorohexadienone on the surface of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), resulting in a mass increase that was reflected by a decrease in the resonance frequency of the QCM. The proposed approach could allow for the determination of AFB(1) in the concentration range of 0.01-10.0 ng mL(-1). Furthermore, several artificially contaminated milk samples were analyzed with good recoveries obtained, which demonstrated the suitability of the proposed method for detecting AFB1.

Piezoelectric immunosensor with gold nanoparticles enhanced competitive immunoreaction technique for quantification of aflatoxin B1.

A simple, rapid and highly sensitive piezoelectric immunosensor has been proposed and applied to detect aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)). It is unlikely that direct binding of small molecules such like AFB(1) to the piezoelectric sensor surface could result in a satisfactory detection limit and sensitivity. Thus, indirect competitive immunoassay technique had been used for the detection of the target and gold nanoparticles (GNP) been employed as a 'weight label' to the secondary antibody for amplifying the response. This method is proven in its ability to detect AFB(1) down to a level of 0.01 ng mL(-1) in artificially contaminated milk, which is comparable to or even exceeding the sensitivity of microtitre plate ELISA. Furthermore, the frequency responses of the immunoassay are linearly correlated to the logarithm of AFB(1) concentration in the range of 0.1-100 ng mL(-1). The sensor could be regenerated under very mild conditions simply by immersing the sensor into glycine buffer solution to desorb the combined antibody. It is found that the as-renewed sensor could be reused at least 9 runs without obvious loss of sensing sensitivity.

A sensitive immunosensor using colloidal gold as electrochemical label.

A sensitive immunosensor using colloidal gold as electrochemical label is described. In this method, the capture protein was first immobilized on a carbon paste electrode surface through passive adsorption to bind quantitatively with corresponding antigen and colloidal gold labeled antibody to perform a sandwich assay. To detect the amount of the colloidal gold captured on the electrode surface, the colloid was first oxidized electrochemically to produce AuCl(4)(-) ions which were adsorbed strongly on the electrode surface. Adsorptive voltammetry was then employed for the determination of the adsorbed AuCl(4)(-) ions. A linear relationship between reduction wave peak current and the antigen concentration (human IgG) from 10 to 500 ng/ml is obtained with a detection limit of 4.0 ng/ml.