Butyrate, a short chain fatty acid, exhibits a wide variety of biological effects including the inhibition of cell growth, change of cellular morphology and the induction of apoptosis. Sodium butyrate-induced apoptosis has been reported to associate with the up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax expression, and the down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL expressions. However, in some ca...

background and objectives: achillea is an ancient medicinal herb. the genus comprises about 100 species which are mostly distributed in northern hemisphere and some have been investigated for different biological activities. there are also several reports in iranian traditional medicine (itm) texts about its anti-tumor effect. the cytotoxic activity of the methanol extract of achillea vermicula...

Apoptosis was monitored in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) cultured under mildly acidic, neutral, and alkaline conditions. Within 3 h, 9.0% of the PMNs underwent apoptosis at pH 6.7, as did 12% at pH 7.2, 38% at pH 7.7, and 60% at pH 8.2. Inhibitors of serine proteases, caspase-1, or caspase-3 significantly inhibited PMN apoptosis at pH 8.2, suggesting an involvement by these enzymes.

introduction: evidence suggests that neuronal apoptosis in neurodegenerative diseases is correlated with inflammatory reactions. the beneficial or detrimental role of apoptosis in neuroinflammation is unclear. elucidating this question may be helpful in management of neurodegenerative diseases. since tnf-α is able to induce apoptosis as well as increased viability of the cells by activation of ...

Previous studies have shown that mouse osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells undergo apoptosis when exposed to a mixture of proinflammatory cytokines. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)s are important regulators of osteoblast differentiation. Because regulation of osteoblastic differentiation is poorly understood, we sought to determine if BMP-4-induced differentiation of osteoblastic cells depends on the ...

Hormi-Carver K, Feagins LA, Spechler SJ, Souza RF. All trans-retinoic acid induces apoptosis via p38 and caspase pathways in metaplastic Barrett’s cells. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 292: G18–G27, 2007. First published August 24, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00237.2006.—Retinoids such as all trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) have been used as chemopreventive agents for a number of premalignant c...

Two novel synthetic tetrapeptides, VEID-CHO and DMQD-CHO, could selectively inhibit caspase-6 and caspase-3, respectively. We used these inhibitors to dissect the pathway of caspase activation in Fas-stimulated Jurkat cells and identify the roles of each active caspase in apoptotic processes. Affinity labeling techniques revealed a branched protease cascade in which caspase-8 activates caspase-...

MG132, a proteasome inhibitor, has been shown to induce apoptotic cell death through formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here, we evaluated the effects of MG132 on the growth of endothelial cells, especially calf pulmonary artery endothelial cells (CPAECs). MG132 dose-dependently inhibited the growth of CPAECSs and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) at 24 hours. MG132 also ...