The Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver (SRBAL) is an innovative treatment option for acute liver failure (ALF). This extracorporeal support device, which provides detoxification and other functions using high-density culture of porcine hepatocyte spheroids, has been reported in three randomized large animal studies. A meta-analysis these preclinical studies was performed to establish effica...

The peptide toxins of poisonous Amanita mushrooms are bicyclic octapeptides (amatoxins) or heptapeptides (phallotoxins). In Amanita bisporigera, alpha-amanitin and phallacidin are synthesized as 35- and 34-amino acid proproteins, respectively, in which the amino acid sequences found in the mature toxins are flanked by conserved amino acid sequences. The presence of invariant Pro residues immedi...

6-Mercaptopurine was found to inhibit the growth of cultured human lymphoma P3HR-1 cells and the incorporation of [3H]-uridine into trichloroacetic acid-precipitable materials of the cells. One of the derivatives of 6-mercaptopurine, 6-mercaptopurine ribonucleoside triphosphate (6-thio-ITP), was found to inhibit in vitro RNA synthesis (both engaged and free enzyme activities) of the isolated nu...

Amatoxins, the lethal constituents of poisonous mushrooms in the genus Amanita, are bicyclic octapeptides. Two genes in A. bisporigera, AMA1 and PHA1, directly encode alpha-amanitin, an amatoxin, and the related bicyclic heptapeptide phallacidin, a phallotoxin, indicating that these compounds are synthesized on ribosomes and not by nonribosomal peptide synthetases. alpha-Amanitin and phallacidi...

Recent genomic data indicate that RNA polymerase II (Pol II) function extends beyond conventional transcription of primarily protein-coding genes. Among the five snRNAs required for pre-mRNA splicing, only the U6 snRNA is synthesized by RNA polymerase III (Pol III). Here we address the question of how Pol II coordinates the expression of spliceosome components, including U6. We used chromatin i...

BACKGROUND Gene activation is thought to occur through a series of temporally defined regulatory steps. However, this process has not been completely evaluated in single living mammalian cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To investigate the timing and coordination of gene activation events, we tracked the recruitment of GCN5 (histone acetyltransferase), RNA polymerase II, Brd2 and Brd4 (ac...

RNA metabolism and content in AKR-2B cells has been studied extensively in the G0/Gi-arrested state and following the stimulation to proliferate. The purpose of the present study was to examine selected parameters of RNA metabolism in a chemically transformed derivative of the AKR-2B cell, AKRMCA, at a G, arrest point and following the stimulation to undergo DMA synthesis. Flow microfluorometri...