12 research outputs found
Effect of selected miRNAs on the expression of endogenous <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> mRNA.
<p>Selected miRs were transfected in the indicated cell lines and expression of <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> mRNA was measured by RT-qPCR and compared to the expression level of <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> transcript from cells transfected with a negative scrambled pre-miR control considered as 100. (<b>A</b>) miR148b; (<b>B</b>) miR365; (<b>C</b>) miR26a. Differences between the effect on <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> mRNA of specific miR compared to that of the Cy3-labeled negative control were evaluated by performing a <i>Student’s t-test</i> with <i>p</i><0.05*, <i>p</i><0.01**, <i>p</i><0.001***.</p
<i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> mRNA is well conserved among species and is unstable in presence of ActD.
<p>A) Output of the comparative genomic analysis obtained with a dedicated software available at the Vista Genome Browser (<a href="http://genome.lbl.gov/vista/index.shtml" target="_blank">http://genome.lbl.gov/vista/index.shtml</a>, tools for comparative analysis*). Non coding Conserved sequences corresponding to the <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> 3′UTR are shown as light blue peaks, and are shown relative to their position on human chr2 (March 2006, release) compared to the mouse (first track) rat (second track) and chicken (third track) genomes, respectively, the percentage of identity is indicated on the vertical axis. (*Frazer KA, Pachter L, Poliakov A, Rubin EM, Dubchak I. VISTA: computational tools for comparative genomics. Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 Jul 1;32 (Web Server issue):W273-9). B) and C) C2C12 cells were treated with the ActD transcription inhibitor with the doses and for the time points indicated. <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> mRNA was measured by semi-quantitative (B) and quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR, <b>C</b>). Two-tailed student′s t-test was performed. Significant differences in comparison to untreated cells are given as: <i>p</i><0.05*; <i>p</i><0.01**; or <i>p</i><0.001***.</p
Binding site specific mutagenesis prevents the modulation of <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> expression operated by the selected miRs.
<p> Mutagenesis of miRs binding sites was introduced in the two seed sequences predicted for mir148b (A) and mir365 (B), indicated as Seed1 and Seed 2, and in the mir26a seed sequence (C). Site specific mutagenesis was also performed to abolish the first AUUUA element contained in the mir26a pairing region (ATTTA mut), alone or in combination with the mutation of the mir26a seed sequence (double mutant mir26 mut/ATTTA mut). Each pair of bars represents Luciferase activity in the presence of negative control miR (-), considered as 100%, or the specific miR (+). <i>Student’s t-test</i> was applied to evaluate differences between the effect of specific mir compared to that of the negative control for each construct, <i>p</i><0.05*, <i>p</i><0.01**, <i>p</i><0.001***.</p
Effect of the presence of the <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> 3′UTR sequence on reporter gene expression.
<p>A) The whole <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> 3′UTR sequence and both the proximal and the distal derived fragments, carrying the miR binding sites containing module (3′UTR M) and the ARE sequences containing segment (3′UTR A), respectively, were subcloned into the pGL3 Promoter vector downstream the Luciferase coding sequence. B) After transient transfection in the indicated cell lines, reporter activity was measured and normalized against the pRL-SV40 expressing the Renilla Luciferase gene for transfection efficiency. Reporter gene activity of the construct carrying the <i>ACVR1-Alk2</i> 3′UTR (dark grey bars), or the M (pGL3+3′UTR M), and the A (pGL3+3′UTR A) fragments are reported as percentage of the activity obtained with the vector lacking the 3′UTR sequence (pGL3-PV, black bars) considered as 100%. Results are from at least two independent transfection experiments made in triplicate (RLU, Relative Luciferase Units). Two-tailed <i>Student</i>’<i>s t-test</i> was performed and significant differences in comparison to the activity of the pGL3-PV empty vector are given as: <i>p</i><0.05*; <i>p</i><0.01**; or <i>p</i><0.001***.</p
Effect of selected miRs on the expression of the <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> 3′UTR reporter construct.
<p> Relative Luciferase activity obtained after co-transfection of the <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> 3′UTR reporter construct with either a scrambled mir Cy3-conjugated as negative control (Black histograms), or each of the indicated miR (light grey), mir148b (A), mir365 (B) and mir26a (C) or with the corresponding anti-miR (dark grey histograms). The reporter gene activity measured in presence of the Cy3-miR negative control is considered as 100 for each independent experiment, RLU, Relative Luciferase Units. The statistical significance of the effect of miR compared to that obtained with the non targeting negative control was evaluated by <i>Student’s T-test</i> analysis, with <i>p</i><0.05*; <i>p</i><0.01**; or <i>p</i><0.001***.</p
Predicted miR recognition sequences in the 3′UTR of the <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i><b> gene.</b>
<p>For each of the selected miRs, duplexes between miRNA sequences (middle) and wild-type (bottom) 3′UTR or harboring the corresponding mutated seed (top) are shown. Numbers on the left side indicate the matching starting position in the <i>ACVR1/Alk-2</i> 3′UTR, G:U wobble (<b>:</b>) and Watson-Crick pairing (<b>|</b>) are also indicated. miRVS scores rank the efficiency of the predicetd binding sites, good scores are ≤-0.1 <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050958#pone.0050958-Vasudevan1" target="_blank">[33]</a>.</p
Simultaneous ultrasound-assisted water extraction and β-cyclodextrin encapsulation of polyphenols from <i>Mangifera indica</i> stem bark in counteracting TNFα-induced endothelial dysfunction
<div><p>This study proposes an alternative technique to prevent heat degradation induced by classic procedures of bioactive compound extraction, comparing classical maceration/decoction in hot water of polyphenols from Mango (<i>Mangifera indica</i> L.) (MI) with ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) in a water solution of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) at room temperature and testing their biological activity on TNFα-induced endothelial dysfunction. Both extracts counteracted TNFα effects on EAhy926 cells, down-modulating interleukin-6, interleukin-8, cyclooxygenase-2 and intracellular adhesion molecule-1, while increasing endothelial nitric oxide synthase levels. β-CD extract showed higher efficacy in improving endothelial function. These effects were abolished after pre-treatment with the oestrogen receptor inhibitor ICI1182,780. Moreover, the β-CD extract induced Akt activation and completely abolished the TNFα-induced p38MAPK phosphorylation. UAE and β-CD encapsulation provide an efficient extraction protocol that increases polyphenol bioavailability. Polyphenols from MI play a protective role on endothelial cells and may be further considered as oestrogen-like molecules with vascular protective properties.</p></div
Effect of exogenous IGF-1 on doxorubicin-induced apoptosis of H9c2 cells: TUNEL and caspase 3/7 activity.
<p>Frequency of apoptotic cells, as assessed by TUNEL (A; representative microphotographs are shown in B) and fluorescence (AUF) produced by the cleavage of a substrate of activated caspase 3/7 (C), 24 hours after no treatment (Ctr) or incubation of H9c2 cardiomyocytes with doxorubicin (Dox) ± IGF-1 at the indicated concentrations. ***, P <0.001 vs. Ctr. c, P <0.001 vs. Dox 0.1; d, P <0.001 vs. Dox 0.5; e, P <0.01 vs. Dox 0.1; f, P <0.05 vs. Dox 0.5. ¥, P <0.001 vs. Dox 0.1 + IGF-1 100; ¢, P <0.001 vs. Dox 0.1 + IGF-1 100 and Dox 0.5 + IGF-1 100.</p
Doxorubicin stimulates apoptosis and modulates IGF-1R/IGFBP-3 expression in H9c2 cells.
<p>Frequency of apoptotic cells (A) and IGF-1R (B) and IGFBP-3 (C) expression (densitometry of western blot bands) 24 hours after no treatment (Ctr) or incubation of H9c2 cardiomyocytes with 0.1, 0.5, or 1 μM doxorubicin (Dox). A representative western blot for IGF-1R and IGFBP-3 is shown in (D). *, P <0.05 vs. Ctr; **, P <0.01 vs. Ctr; ***, P <0.001 vs. Ctr. a, P <0.01 vs. Dox 0.5; b, P <0.05 vs. Dox 0.1; c, P <0.001 vs. Dox 0.1.</p
Involvement of p53 in the change in IGF-1R /IGFBP-3 levels caused by doxorubicin.
<p>(A) Representative western blot and band densitometry for p53 24 hours after no treatment (Ctr) or incubation of H9c2 cardiomyocytes with 0.1, 0.5, or 1 μM doxorubicin (Dox). (B and C) IGF-1R/IGFBP-3 expression (band densitometry and representative western blot, B) and annexin V/propidium iodide positivity (C) in H9c2 cardiomyocytes untreated or exposed to 1 μM Dox with or without pre-treatment with PFT-α. *, P <0.05 vs. Ctr; ***, P <0.001 vs. Ctr. ^, P <0.01 vs. Dox 1.</p