scholarly journals The Repurposing of Acetylsalicylic Acid as a Photosensitiser to Inactivate the Growth of Cryptococcal Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 404
Author(s):  
Adepemi O. Ogundeji ◽  
Nozethu Mjokane ◽  
Olufemi S. Folorunso ◽  
Carolina H. Pohl ◽  
Martin M. Nyaga ◽  
...  

Photodynamic treatment (PDT) is often successful when used against aerobic microbes, given their natural susceptibility to oxidative damage. To this end, the current study aimed to explore the photodynamic action of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA; aspirin, which is commonly used to treat non-infectious ailments), when administered to respiring cryptococcal cells. The treatment of cryptococcal cells, i.e., exposure to 0.5 or 1 mM of ASA in the presence of ultraviolet light (UVL) for 10 min, resulted in a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in the growth of tested cells when compared to non-treated (non-Rx) cells, i.e., no ASA and no UVL. The treated cells were also characterised by diseased mitochondria, which is crucial for the survival of respiring cells, as observed by a significant (p < 0.05) loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨM) and significant (p < 0.05) accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) when compared to non-Rx cells. Moreover, the photolytic products of acetylsalicylic acid altered the ultrastructural appearance of treated cells as well as limited the expression levels of the capsular-associated gene, CAP64, when compared to non-Rx cells. The results of the study highlight the potential use of ASA as a photosensitiser that is effective for controlling the growth of cryptococcal cells. Potentially, this treatment can also be used as an adjuvant, to complement and support the usage of current anti-microbial agents.

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 1313-1322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manjula Devi Ramamoorthy ◽  
Ashok Kumar ◽  
Mahesh Ayyavu ◽  
Kannan Narayanan Dhiraviam

Background: Reserpine, an indole alkaloid commonly used for hypertension, is found in the roots of Rauwolfia serpentina. Although the root extract has been used for the treatment of cancer, the molecular mechanism of its anti-cancer activity on hormonal independent prostate cancer remains elusive. Methods: we evaluated the cytotoxicity of reserpine and other indole alkaloids, yohimbine and ajmaline on Prostate Cancer cells (PC3) using MTT assay. We investigated the mechanism of apoptosis using a combination of techniques including acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining, high content imaging of Annexin V-FITC staining, flow cytometric quantification of the mitochondrial membrane potential and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and cell cycle analysis. Results: Our results indicate that reserpine inhibits DNA synthesis by arresting the cells at the G2 phase and showed all standard sequential features of apoptosis including, destabilization of mitochondrial membrane potential, reduced production of reactive oxygen species and DNA ladder formation. Our in silico analysis further confirmed that indeed reserpine docks to the catalytic cleft of anti-apoptotic proteins substantiating our results. Conclusion: Collectively, our findings suggest that reserpine can be a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 111 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Canfield ◽  
Danielle Twaroski ◽  
Xiaowen Bai ◽  
Chika Kikuchi ◽  
Zeljko J Bosnjak

Anesthetic Preconditioning (APC) protects the myocardium from ischemia/reperfusion injury. The cardioprotective effects of APC is diminished or even eliminated in individuals with diabetes mellitus and/or hyperglycemia. The development of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation capability has provided us with an in vitro model to study the inefficiency of APC in these individuals.To investigate the underlying mechanisms involved in the attenuation of APC in both diabetic individuals and in hyperglycemia we utilized cardiomyocytes derived from Type 2 diabetic patient and healthy individual iPSCs, (T2DM-iPSCs and N-iPSCs, respectively). Contracting cardiomyocytes were dissociated and selected by the expression of green fluorescent protein under the transcriptional control of myosin light chain-2v. Cardiomyocytes were exposed to varying glucose concentrations (5, 11, and 25 mM). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was measured using a colorimetric cytotoxicity assay kit and read spectrophotometrically. Mitochondrial membrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were measured with confocal microscopy. APC reduced oxidative stress-induced lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in cardiomyocytes derived from both N-iPSCs- and T2DM-iPSCs in 5 and 11 mM glucose concentrations, but not in 25 mM glucose. Baseline membrane potential was similar between non-diabetic- and Type 2 diabetic-derived cardiomyocytes; however 25 mM glucose hyperpolarized the mitochondrial membrane potential. T2DM-iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes had an increase in ROS baseline levels compared to N-iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Additionally, high glucose concentrations increased oxidative stress-induced ROS production compared to lower glucose conditions in both cell lines. Our preliminary data shows that high glucose generates excessive ROS and hyperpolarizes the mitochondrial membrane and may contribute to the inefficiency of diabetic and/or hyperglycemic individuals to be anesthetically preconditioned. By utilizing human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes we can begin to understand the inability of hyperglycemic and diabetic individuals to be anesthetically preconditioned.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Y.-J. Niu ◽  
N.-H. Kim ◽  
X.-S. Cui

C-Phycocyanin (CP) is a biliprotein enriched in blue-green algae that is known to possess antioxidant, anti-apoptosis, anti-inflammatory, and radical-scavenging properties in somatic cells. However, the protective effect of CP on porcine embryo developmental competence in vitro remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the effect of CP on the development of porcine early embryos as well as its underlying mechanisms exposing them to H2O2 to induce oxidative stress. The levels of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial membrane potential, apoptosis, DNA damage, and autophagy in the blastocysts were observed by staining with 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCF-DA), 5,5′,6,6’-tetrachloro-1,1′,3,3′-tetraethyl-imidacarbocyanine iodide (JC-1), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated 2′-deoxyuridine 5′-triphosphate (dUTP) nick-end labelling (TUNEL), anti-cytochrome c, and anti-γH2A.X (Ser139), respectively. Colocalization assay of mitochondria and cytochrome c of blastocysts were staining with MitoTracker Red CMXRos and anti-cytochrome c. All data were subjected to one-way ANOVA. Different concentrations of CP (1, 2, 5, 8, 10 µg mL−1) were added to porcine zygote medium 5 (PZM-5, l-glutamine concentration of PZM-3 was modified from 1 to 2 mM) during in vitro culture. The results showed that 5 µg mL−1 CP significantly increased blastocyst formation (62.5 ± 2.1 v. 52.7 ± 2.4; P < 0.05) and hatching rate (10.9 ± 1.9 v. 36.6 ± 5.2; P < 0.05) compared with controls. Blastocyst formation (53.1 ± 2.3 v. 40.1 ± 2.3; P < 0.05) and quality were significantly increased in the 50 µM H2O2 treatment group following 5 µg mL−1 CP addition. C-Phycocyanin prevented the H2O2-induced compromise of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, and generation of reactive oxygen species. Furthermore, apoptosis, DNA damage level, and autophagy in the blastocysts were attenuated by supplementation of CP in the H2O2-induced oxidative injury group compared with that in controls. These results suggest that CP has beneficial effects on the development of porcine parthenotes by attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress.


Zygote ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Yuhan Zhao ◽  
Yongnan Xu ◽  
Yinghua Li ◽  
Qingguo Jin ◽  
Jingyu Sun ◽  
...  

SummaryKaempferol (KAE) is one of the most common dietary flavonols possessing biological activities such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Although previous studies have reported the biological activity of KAE on a variety of cells, it is not clear whether KAE plays a similar role in oocyte and embryo in vitro culture systems. This study investigated the effect of KAE addition to in vitro maturation on the antioxidant capacity of embryos in porcine oocytes after parthenogenetic activation. The effects of kaempferol on oocyte quality in porcine oocytes were studied based on the expression of related genes, reactive oxygen species, glutathione and mitochondrial membrane potential as criteria. The rate of blastocyst formation was significantly higher in oocytes treated with 0.1 µm KAE than in control oocytes. The mRNA level of the apoptosis-related gene Caspase-3 was significantly lower in the blastocysts derived from KAE-treated oocytes than in the control group and the mRNA expression of the embryo development-related genes COX2 and SOX2 was significantly increased in the KAE-treated group compared with that in the control group. Furthermore, the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species was significantly decreased and that of glutathione was significantly increased after KAE treatment. Mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) was increased and the activity of Caspase-3 was significantly decreased in the KAE-treated group compared with that in the control group. Taken together, these results suggested that KAE is beneficial for the improvement of embryo development by inhibiting oxidative stress in porcine oocytes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manman Gu ◽  
Jing Xu ◽  
Chunyang Han ◽  
Youxi Kang ◽  
Tengfei Liu ◽  
...  

Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from several traditional Chinese herbal medicines (TCM), exhibits a strong antimicrobial activity in the treatment of diarrhea. However, it causes human as well as animal toxicity from heavy dosage. The present study was conducted to investigate the cytotoxicity of berberine and its possible trigger mechanisms resulting in cell cycle arrest, DNA damage, ROS (reactive oxygen species) level, mitochondrial membrane potential change, and cell apoptosis in L929 murine fibroblast (L929) cells. The cells were culturedin vitroand treated with different concentrations of berberine for 24 h. The results showed that cell viability was significantly decreased in a subjected dose-dependent state; berberine concentrations were higher than 0.05 mg/mL. Berberine at a concentration above 0.1 mg/mL altered the morphology of L929 cells. Cells at G2/M phase were clear that the level of ROS and cell apoptosis rates increased in 0.1 mg/mL group. Each DNA damage indicator score (DIS) increased in groups where concentration of berberine was above 0.025 mg/mL. The mitochondrial membrane potential counteractive balance mechanics were significantly altered when concentrations of berberine were above 0.005 mg/mL. In all, the present study suggested that berberine at high dosage exhibited cytotoxicity on L929 which was related to resultant: cell cycle arrest; DNA damage; accumulation of intracellular ROS; reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential; and cell apoptosis.


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