Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, a tropical ulcerative skin disease. One of the most intriguing aspects of this disease is the presence of extensive tissue damage in the absence of an acute inflammatory response. We recently purified and characterized a macrolide toxin, mycolactone, from M. ulcerans. Injection of this molecule into guinea pig skin reproduced cell d...

Recent studies of human disease and transgenic animal experiments have clearly demonstrated the importance of desmosomes in normal tissue architecture. Furthermore, desmosomal components are down-regulated in certain types of carcinomas, suggesting a possible role for desmosomes in suppression of invasion and metastasis. However, there is no functional evidence to support such a hypothesis. To ...

Background and aims. Incorporation of nano-particles to orthodontic bonding systems has been considered to prevent enamel demineralization around appliances. This study investigated cytotoxicity of Transbond XT adhesive containing 1 wt% titanium dioxide (TiO2) nano-particles. Materials and methods. Ten composite disks were prepared from each of the conventional and TiO2-containg composites and ...

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs, which regulate the expression of protein coding transcripts through mRNA degradation or translational inhibition. Numerous reports have highlighted the role of miRNAs in regulating cell death pathways including the expression of genes involved in the induction of apoptosis. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a proinflammatory cytokine which can send pro-d...

Modern food habits in humans have increased the frequency of diseases especially colon cancer. The present findings suggest potential efficacy two endemic Strobilanthes species Southern Western Ghats. shoot extract plants showed high radical scavenging activity hydroxyl assay at an half maximal inhibitory concentration 375.24±2.03 and μg/ml against gallic acid for anamallaica virendrakumarana r...

The extent of coordinate control over the multiple initiation events in DNA replication has been investigated in three mammalian cell lines by DNA fiber autoradiography. Quantitative estimates have been obtained of the degree of synchrony among initiations occurring on stretches of DNA. Synchrony decreases markedly with increasing distance between initiation sites in MDBK (bovine) and L929 (mou...

Doxorubicin does not kill L929 cells at concentrations that profoundly reduce clonogenic survival. Instead, the cell and nuclear volume progressively increase for at least 1 week following drug exposure leading to the production of characteristic giant cells. The increase in nuclear volume is due to continued DNA synthesis and increase in chromosome number without entry into mitosis. The implic...

We report on the development of a new array-based screening flat platform with the potential to be used as a high-throughput device based on biomimetic polymeric substrates for combinatorial cell/3D biomaterials screening assays in the context of tissue engineering. Polystyrene was used to produce superhydrophobic surfaces based on the so-called lotus effect. Arrays of hydrophilic regions could...