BACKGROUND P-glycoprotein (Pgp), produced by multidrug resistance-1 gene (mdr-1), is a main mechanism developed by cancer cells to guard against anti-cancer drugs. Alterations of DNA methylation of the mdr-1 gene promoter are known to be linked to mdr-1 gene expression and are probably related to intracellular S-adenosyl-methionine. We here used HepG2 cells to determine the role of the methioni...

the vinca alkaloids, vinblastine sulfate and vincristine sulfate (Velban and Oncovin, respectively ; Eli Lilly and Co ., Indianapolis, Ind .), cause hypertrophy of the granular endoplasmic reticulum and annulate lamellae in cultured mammalian cells (7), and the accumulation of large proteinaceous cytoplasmic crystals in tissue culture cells (8), in cells of the central nervous system (9), and i...

Drug-transporting P-glycoproteins are abundantly present in the liver and the intestinal wall. We have now investigated their role in the biliary and intestinal secretion of the anticancer drugs doxorubicin (unlabeled: 5 mg/kg) and vinblastine ((3)H-labeled: 1 mg/kg) i.v. administered to wild-type and mdr1a P-glycoprotein knockout [mdr1a(-/-)] mice. At 90 min after drug administration, levels o...

It is well established that axonal microtubules (MTs) are uniformly oriented with their plus ends distal to the neuronal cell body (Heidemann, S. R., J. M. Landers, and M. A. Hamborg. 1981. J. Cell Biol. 91:661-665). However, the mechanisms by which these MTs achieve their uniform polarity orientation are unknown. Current models for axon growth differ with regard to the contributions of MT asse...

Carotenoid content of microalga, Dunaliella salina was increased using different stress parameters, such as cell division inhibition (vinblastine), nitrogen starvation, high salinity and high irradiation with high temperature. Vinblastine had very little favourable effect. Salinity above 3 M significantly decreased the cell growth rate due to cell death but increased the per cell carotenoid con...

The effect of vinblastine on the mobility of human neutrophils was studied. Chemotactic responsiveness was decreased by approximately 80 to 95%, as measured in Boyden chambers, whereas random mobility, as measured in glass capillary tubes, was approximately doubled. Chemotactic responsiveness could be partially restored after dialysis of the treated cells, which is not compatible with an action...