The lack of a rapid and quantitative autophagy assay has substantially hindered the development and implementation of autophagy-targeting therapies for a variety of human diseases. To address this critical issue, we developed a novel autophagy assay using the newly developed Cyto-ID fluorescence dye. We first verified that the Cyto-ID dye specifically labels autophagic compartments with minimal...

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop. Syn. Onobrychis sativa L.) is a bloat-safe forage crop with high levels of tannins, which is renowned for its medicinal qualities in grazing animals. Mutagenesis technique was applied to investigate the influence of gamma irradiation at 30, 60, 90, and 120 Gy on mitotic behavior, in vitro growth factors, phytochemical and nutritional constituents of sainfoi...

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica Cham.) cell cultures produce several benzophenanthridine alkaloids, such as sanguinarine, chelirubine, and macarpine, with potent pharmacological activity. Antisense constructs of genes encoding two enzymes involved in benzophenanthridine alkaloid biosynthesis, the berberine bridge enzyme (BBE) and N-methylcoclaurine 3'-hydroxylase (CYP80B1), were intr...

Inhibitors of kidney urea transporter (UT) proteins have potential use as salt-sparing diuretics ('urearetics') with a different mechanism of action than diuretics that target salt transporters. To study UT inhibition in rats, we screened about 10,000 drugs, natural products and urea analogs for inhibition of rat UT-A1. Drug and natural product screening found nicotine, sanguinarine and an indo...

Epidemic dropsy is a clinical state resulting from use of edible oils adulterated with Argemone mexicana oil. Sanguinarine and dehydrosanguinarine are two major toxic alkaloids of Argemone oil, which cause widespread capillary dilatation, proliferation and increased capillary permeability. Leakage of the protein-rich plasma component into the extracellular compartment leads to the formation of ...