Design and synthesis of imidazoline derivatives active on glucose homeostasis in a rat model of type II diabetes.2. Syntheses and biological activities of 1,4-dialkyl-,1,4-dibenzyl and 1-benzyl-4-alkyl-2-(4',5'-dihydro-1' H-imidazol-2'yl)piperazines and isosteric analogues of imidazoline

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The effect of ball milling on properties of sintered manganese-doped alumina

Alumina-based compounds have many technological applications and attract great attention even after decades of investigation, due to their good chemical, electrical, and mechanical properties. A mixture of several alumina modifications (α-, κ-, γ-Al2O3) doped with 1 wt% of Mn2O3 was used for this experiment. The powder was mechanically activated for 60 min in an ethanol medium. After compaction, green bodies were sintered in the temperature range from 1200 to 1400 °C. Microstructures of the obtained specimens were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The influence of morphological changes on electrical and mechanical properties was examined in detail. We have developed a test fixture and corresponding software for measurement of the relative dielectric permittivity and the loss tangent of ceramic specimens. This new method overcomes the problems of dimensions and shape of samples, as well as the problem of applying silver paste. The accuracy is around 2% for ε'r and 0.003 for tanδ. We demonstrate that the mechanical activation (MA) has the dominant influence on lowering the characteristic temperatures and microstructure development, which further leads to increased permittivity and tensile strength.This is the peer reviewed version of the paper: Filipović, S., Obradović, N., Marković, S., Mitrić, M., Balać, I., Đorđević, A., Pavlović, V.B., 2019. The effect of ball milling on properties of sintered manganese-doped alumina. Advanced Powder Technology 30, 2533–2540. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apt.2019.07.033

Acetonic Extract of Buxus sempervirens Induces Cell Cycle Arrest, Apoptosis and Autophagy in Breast Cancer Cells

Plants are an invaluable source of potential new anti-cancer drugs. Here, we investigated the cytotoxic activity of the acetonic extract of Buxus sempervirens on five breast cancer cell lines, MCF7, MCF10CA1a and T47D, three aggressive triple positive breast cancer cell lines, and BT-20 and MDA-MB-435, which are triple negative breast cancer cell lines. As a control, MCF10A, a spontaneously immortalized but non-tumoral cell line has been used. The acetonic extract of Buxus sempervirens showed cytotoxic activity towards all the five studied breast cancer cell lines with an IC50 ranging from 7.74 µg/ml to 12.5 µg/ml. Most importantly, the plant extract was less toxic towards MCF10A with an IC50 of 19.24 µg/ml. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis showed that the plant extract induced cell death and cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase in MCF7, T47D, MCF10CA1a and BT-20 cell lines, concomitant to cyclin D1 downregulation. Application of MCF7 and MCF10CA1a respective IC50 did not show such effects on the control cell line MCF10A. Propidium iodide/Annexin V double staining revealed a pre-apoptotic cell population with extract-treated MCF10CA1a, T47D and BT-20 cells. Transmission electron microscopy analyses indicated the occurrence of autophagy in MCF7 and MCF10CA1a cell lines. Immunofluorescence and Western blot assays confirmed the processing of microtubule-associated protein LC3 in the treated cancer cells. Moreover, we have demonstrated the upregulation of Beclin-1 in these cell lines and downregulation of Survivin and p21. Also, Caspase-3 detection in treated BT-20 and T47D confirmed the occurrence of apoptosis in these cells. Our findings indicate that Buxus sempervirens extract exhibit promising anti-cancer activity by triggering both autophagic cell death and apoptosis, suggesting that this plant may contain potential anti-cancer agents for single or combinatory cancer therapy against breast cancer

Le programme directeur de production à 2 niveaux dans un environnement MRP2 juste à temps

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