OBJECTIVE Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily involved in the growth and differentiation of many cell types. Although the activation of PPARgamma in human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) inhibits the growth of these cells, the precise mechanism of this effect is unknown. PPARgamma-mediated growth inhibition of VSMCs i...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a nuclear hormone receptor expressed predominantly in adipose tissue, also implicated in energy homeostasis. In this study, we used western blotting and immunofluorescence techniques to demonstrate for the first time that pig spermatozoa express PPARγ. To investigate the functional role of PPARγ in pig sperm, we evaluated its action on...

Our objective was to investigate the mitochondrial dynamics following oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in cultured rat cortical neurons. We documented changes in morphology, protein expression, and DNA levels in mitochondria following OGD and examined the roles of mitochondrial fission [dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), fission protein-1 (Fis1)] and fusion [mitofusin-1 (Mfn1), mitofusin-2 (Mfn2...

The antitumorigenicmechanismof cannabidiol is still controversial. This study investigates the role of COX2 and PPAR-g in cannabidiol’s proapoptotic and tumor-regressive action. In lung cancer cell lines (A549,H460) and primary cells from a patient with lung cancer, cannabidiol elicited decreased viability associated with apoptosis. Apoptotic cell death by cannabidiolwas suppressed byNS-398 (CO...

MMP-1 expression is detected in fluid shear stress (20 dyn/cm(2))-activated and osteoarthritic human chondrocytes, however, the precise mechanisms underlying shear-induced MMP-1 synthesis remain unknown. Using primary chondrocytes and T/C-28a2 chondrocytic cells as model systems, we report that prolonged application of high fluid shear to human chondrocytes induced the synthesis of cyclooxygena...

There is growing evidence that stress-coping mechanisms represent tumor cell vulnerabilities that may function as therapeutically beneficial targets. Recent work has delineated an integrated stress adaptation mechanism that is characterized by the formation of cytoplasmic mRNA and protein foci, termed stress granules (SGs). Here, we demonstrate that SGs are markedly elevated in mutant KRAS cell...

Stroke triggers an inflammatory cascade which contributes to a delayed cerebral damage, thus implying that antiinflammatory strategies might be useful in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke. Since two unrelated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) agonists, the thiazolidinedione rosiglitazone (RSG) and the cyclopentenone prostaglandin 15-deoxy-Delta(12,14)-prostaglan...