Objective To investigate the neuroprotective effect of panaxynol on primary cultured cortical neuron against oxidative stress. Methods Viability of panaxynol acted on neuron oxidative stress was monitored by MTT assay and FCM method. Scavenging effects of panaxynol on free radicals were observed in vitro. Effects of panaxynol on SOD activity and GSH-Px, and MDA content in primary neuron injured by H_2O_2 were also determined. Results Panaxynol (2—16 ?mol/L) could dose-dependently protect neuron from oxidative stress induced by H_2O_2; 8 ?mol/L of panaxynol could decrease necrosis and apoptosis rate of neuron significantly (P

The porous foams were prepared by the solvent-casting and particulate-leaching technique using poly(DL-lactide) (PDLLA), poly(DL-lactide)/hydroxyapatite (PDLLA/20wt%HA), and poly(DL-lactide)/beta-tricalcium phosphate(PDLLA/20wt% beta-TCP) respectively. Observations by scanning electron microscopy indicated that the HA and beta-TCP were homogeneously dispersed in the polymer matrix, and the pores of the foams are interconnected, resulting in continuous pore structures. The porosity of PDLLA/HA and PDLLA/beta-TCP foams was lower than that of the pure PDLLA foams, but the compression strength was higher than that of the pure PDLLA foams. The results of the degradation in vitro showed that both HA and beta-TCP had significant inhibitory effects on the degradation of PDLLA, especially the HA. It is expected that the composite foams are of use as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
Biocompatible Materials ; chemistry ; Bone Substitutes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Calcium Phosphates ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Durapatite ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Polyesters ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Porosity ; Tissue Engineering

BACKGROUNDTo isolate and identify the genes related to cancer metastasis by comparison of two cell strains with different metastasis potentials subcloned from human lung giant cell carcinoma cell line.

METHODSSuppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was used to compare the levels of gene expression between the two cell strains and SSH library was constructed. After screening the library by gene chip, the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) with different expressing level were sequenced and blasted with GenBank.

RESULTSSeventy-nine genes were obtained that were expressed much higher in PLA-801D than in PLA-801C, including two full-length cDNA. GenBank Accession numbers of the two cDNA, named MAG-1 and MAG-2, were BC006236 and BC002420, the 8.5 kb MAG-1 gene was composed of four exons and located on the chromosome of 4q21. The MAG-2 gene, which was made up by 9 exons, had a length of 5.2 kb and its location was 2q35. Both sequences had open reading frames (ORF) and promoters before the theoretical transcription start points. Using special software, the secondary structure of theoretical products of the two cDNAs was prognosticated, α-helix was the main proportion, but β-pleated sheet and random coil were also included.

CONCLUSIONSThe expression of MAG-1 and MAG-2 has significant differences in these two cell strains, so they might impact tumor metastasis in some ways that are still uncharted.