Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta plays an important role in tissue fibrogenesis. We previously demonstrated that reduced glutathione (GSH) supplementation blocked collagen accumulation induced by TGF-beta in NIH-3T3 cells. In the present study, we show that supplementation of GSH restores the collagen degradation rate in TGF-beta-treated NIH-3T3 cells. Restoration of collagen degradation b...

BACKGROUND Erythropoietin (EPO) has potent neuroprotective effects. The short-term delivery of high-dose EPO seemed to improve patients' neuromuscular functions; however, excessive EPO resulted in systematically high hematocrit and thrombotic risk. In our study, we established a cellular material for future in vivo studies of neurodegenerative diseases based on EPO provided regionally at a nont...

Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is the causative agent of a transmissible lung cancer of sheep known as ovine pulmonary carcinoma. Recently, we have found that the expression of the JSRV envelope (Env) is sufficient to transform mouse NIH 3T3 cells in classical transformation assays. To further investigate the mechanisms of JSRV oncogenesis, we generated a series of envelope chimeras between...

Marine Streptomyces are prolific producers of majority of bioactive secondary metabolites which are used in pharmaceutical industry as effective drugs against life threatening diseases. The cytotoxic activity of the pure compound 1, 2- benzene dicarboxylic acid, mono 2- ethylhexyl ester (DMEHE) from marine derived actinomycete Streptomyces sp. VITSJK8 was investigated against mouse embryonic fi...

Using the NIH/3T3 cell transfection assay, activated cellular oncogenes have been detected in around 10% to 20% of human tumors. From a series of DNA preparations from tissues infiltrated with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), 50% (3/6) caused transformation of NIH/3T3 cells. Thus AML appears to be the human tumor with the highest frequency of oncogenes detected by DNA transfection. In each cas...

Two inositol phospholipid-specific phospholipase C (PLC) isozymes (PLC-I and -II) have been purified from bovine brain. When PLC-I or PLC-II was microinjected (100-700 micrograms/ml) into quiescent NIH 3T3 cells, a time- and dose-dependent induction of DNA synthesis occurred, as demonstrated by [3H]thymidine incorporation into nuclear DNA. In addition, approximately to 8 hr after PLC injection,...

Mental retardation, hydrocephalus, and agenesis of the corpus callosum are observed both in fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and in children with mutations in the gene for the cell adhesion molecule L1. We studied the effects of ethanol on cell-cell adhesion in mouse fibroblasts transfected with human L1. L1-transfected fibroblasts exhibited increased cell-cell adhesion compared with wild-type or v...