Skin pigmentation disorders refer to conditions that affect the color of skin due alterations in production or distribution melanin, pigment responsible for color. The development is a complex process involving various signaling pathways, including melanin synthesis pathway, cyclic AMP and Wnt pathway. Dysregulation these pathways can lead disorders. Phytotherapeutic approaches have been increa...

OBJECTIVE Cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) is a member of the IL-6 family of cytokines and is expressed in various cardiovascular disease states. CT-1 induces cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and protects myocytes from ischemia reperfusion injury. We sought to elucidate CT-1 signaling in cardiac fibroblasts with respect to initiation of protein synthesis. METHODS Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from the ve...

Cardiac hypertrophy involves increased mass (growth) of the heart and a cardinal feature of this condition is increased rates of protein synthesis. Several signaling pathways have been implicated in cardiac hypertrophy including the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and Ras/Raf/MEK/Erk pathways. PI3K lies upstream of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), an important positive regulator o...