OBJECTIVES Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) alpha and beta/delta are essential transcriptional regulators of fatty acid oxidation in the heart. However, little is known about the roles of PPARgamma in the heart. The present study is to investigate in vivo role(s) of PPARgamma in the heart. METHODS A Cre-loxP mediated cardiomyocyte-restricted PPARgamma knockout line was inves...

OBJECTIVE Previous studies have shown that elevated homocysteine (Hcy) levels promote the development of atherosclerotic lesions in atherosclerosis-prone animal models. There is evidence that oxidant stress contributes to Hcy's deleterious effects on the vasculature. The accumulation and adhesion of monocytes to the vascular endothelium is a critical event in the development of atherosclerosis....

NPC-26 is novel mitochondrion-interfering compound. The current study tested its potential effect against colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. We demonstrated that NPC-26 induced potent anti-proliferative and cytotoxic activities against CRC cell lines (HCT-116, DLD-1 and HT-29). Activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling mediated NPC-26-induced CRC cell death. AMPKα1 shRNA knockdown...

OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether differences exist in atherogen-induced migratory behaviors and basal antioxidant enzyme capacity of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from human coronary (CA) and internal mammary (IMA) arteries. METHODS Migration experiments were performed using the Dunn chemotaxis chamber. The prooxidant [NAD(P)H oxidase] and antioxidant [NOS, superoxide dismutase...

It has been known that the inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase is one of the earliest events occurring under hypoxia and this inhibition can lead to neuronal damages. Thus, the cytochrome c oxidase inhibitor sodium cyanide (NaCN) is widely used to produce a model of chemical hypoxia by inhibiting this enzyme. However, the downstream signaling pathways of the inhibition of the cytoc...

Nitric oxide (NO) reacts rapidly with superoxide anion and produces peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)), which is a highly reactive free radical that has been shown to mediate much of the toxicity of NO. ONOO(-) has also been implicated as playing a role in the pathology of various brain disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the actions of ONOO(-) on voltage-activated potassium currents and i...

Massive apoptosis of keratinocytes has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced skin toxicities, but the underlying mechanisms of action are not well understood. The present study investigated the apoptotic effect of doxorubicin (DOX) on HaCaT keratinocytes and determined the underlying mechanisms. Treatment of the cells with DOX induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generati...

In this study, We demonstrated that Bax mitochondrial translocation plays a vital role in the initiation of the mitochondrial signaling pathway upon activation by heat stress. In addition, both p53 mitochondrial translocation and Ca(2+) signal mediated MPTP opening activate Bax mitochondrial translocation. Employing pifithrin-α (a p53 mitochondrial translocation inhibitor) and CsA (a permeabili...

Resistin is a newly discovered adipocyte-derived cytokine that may play an important role in insulin resistance, diabetes, adipogenesis, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. However, it is largely unknown whether resistin impairs endothelial functions by affecting the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) system. In this study, we determined the effect of human recombinant resistin prot...

Objective—The objective of this study was to determine the effects and molecular mechanisms of eotaxin, a newly discovered chemokine (CCL11), on endothelial permeability in the human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs). Methods and Results—Cells were treated with eotaxin, and the monolayer permeability was studied by using a costar transwell system with a Texas Red–labeled dextran tracer...