Curcumin reduces the invasion and migration abilities of papillary thyroid carcinoma TPC1 cells / 医学研究生学报

Objective Comparatively few studies are reported on the invasion and migration of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) TPC1 cells. This study was to investigate the effects of curcumin on the invasion and migration abilities of TPC1 cells and its possible action mechanisms.MethodsWe treated TPC1 single cell suspension with curcumin at the concentrations of 0 (DMSO solvent), 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 μmol/L. At 24 and 48 hours after exposure, we examined the inhibitory effect of curcumin on the cells by CCK8 assays, detected the migration and invasion abilities of the TPC1 cells by Transwell and wound healing assay, and determined the gene and protein expressions Glut1 and MT1MMP by RTPCR and Western blot, respectively.ResultsThere were statistically significant differences in the cell viability among different groups of the TPC1 cells (P<0.05) as well as in the cell migration ability at 24 hours between any two groups of the cells treated with curcumin at 0 μmol/L (\[0.842±0.096\] mm), 10 μmol/L (\[0.911±0.049\] mm), 20 μmol/L (\[0.926±0.107\] mm) and 40 μmol/L (\[1.076±0.093\] mm) (P<0.05) and at 48 hours (P<0.05). Statistically significant differences were also observed between any two of the 0, 10, 20 and 40 μmol/L groups in the number of migrated cells (196, 142, 57, and 17/100x visual field) (P<0.05) as well in the protein expression of Glut1 (0.786±0.112, 0.518±0.106, 0.359±0.121, and 0.266±0.087) (P<0.05) and the mRNA and protein expressions of MT1MMP (P<0.05).ConclusionCurcumin can inhibit the invasion and migration of thyroid papillary carcinoma TPC1 cells, which may be associated with the decreased expressions of Glut1 and MT1MMP.

Interhemispheric functional connectivity for Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment based on the triple network model / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in interhemispheric functional connectivity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) based on a triple network model consisting of the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and executive control network (ECN). The technique of voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) analysis was applied to explore the aberrant connectivity of all patients. The results showed that: (1) the statistically significant connections of interhemispheric brain regions included DMN-related brain regions (i.e. precuneus, calcarine, fusiform, cuneus, lingual gyrus, temporal inferior gyrus, and hippocampus), SN-related brain regions (i.e. frontoinsular cortex), and ECN-related brain regions (i.e. frontal middle gyrus and frontal inferior); (2) the precuneus and frontal middle gyrus in the AD group exhibited lower VMHC values than those in the aMCI and healthy control (HC) groups, but no significant difference was observed between the aMCI and HC groups; and (3) significant correlations were found between peak VMHC results from the precuneus and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Scale (MOCA) scores and their factor scores in the AD, aMCI, and AD plus aMCI groups, and between the results from the frontal middle gyrus and MOCA factor scores in the aMCI group. These findings indicated that impaired interhemispheric functional connectivity was observed in AD and could be a sensitive neuroimaging biomarker for AD. More specifically, the DMN was inhibited, while the SN and ECN were excited. VMHC results were correlated with MMSE and MOCA scores, highlighting that VMHC could be a sensitive neuroimaging biomarker for AD and the progression from aMCI to AD.

A study on the transdifferentiation of adipose mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocytes / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the possibility of transdifferentiation of adipose mesenchymal stem cells (AMSCs) into hepatocytes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Human omentum adipose tissue was dispersed with collagenase I. Cells collected were cultured in a DMEM-F12 medium containing 2% FBS supplemented with 20 ng/ml HGF, 10 ng/ml FGF4, 1xITS and 0.1 micromol/L dexasmison. The cells of the control group were also cultured in the same kind of medium but without any cytokines serving as a control. The expression of hepatic transcriptional factors such as GATA4 and HNF1 were checked by RT-PCR. At the end of the induction, hepatocyte markers were analysed by flow cytometry, and cytokeratin expressions were examined using cyto-immunofluorescence methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>AMSCs grew like fibroblasts and were passaged easily. Most of the third passaged AMSCs were positive against anti-CD29, anti-CD44 antibodies, but negative for the anti-CD34 and anti-CD45 ones. The hepatic transcriptional factor was expressed gradually to higher levels during the induction time. AFP and Alb positive cells were 30.0% and 17.8% of the total cultured cells, and the rate of cells positive to the two markers was 6.9%. The inducted cells were positive for CK18 and CK19 antibodies at the end of the induction. The cells in the control group were negative when checked by these methods.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>AMSCs could be directed to differentiate into hepatocytes in vitro by a cytokine cocktail with a low concentration FBS culture system.</p>