Nitidine Chloride Triggers Autophagy and Apoptosis of Ovarian Cancer Cells through Akt/mTOR Signaling Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the eighth most common cancer with high mortality in women worldwide. Currently, compounds derived from Chinese herbal medicine have provided a new angle for OC treatment. METHODS: In this study, the cell proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer A2780/SKOV3 cells were inhibited after being treated with nitidine chloride (NC) by using MTT and Wound-Healing Assay. Flow cytometry analysis indicated NC-induced apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells, and AO and MDC staining showed that NC treatment induced the appearance of autophagosomes and autophagic lysosomes in ovarian cancer cells. RESULTS: Through the autophagy inhibition experiment of chloroquine, it was proved that NC significantly further promoted apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, NC proved that it could significantly decrease the expression of autophagy-related genes such as Akt, mTOR, P85 S6K, P70 S6K, and 4E-BP1. CONCLUSION: Therefore, we suggest that NC could trigger autophagy and apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells through Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, and NC may potentially be a target for chemotherapy against ovarian cancer.

Amorphous co-doped MoSex effectively enhances photocatalysis in visible light.

Molybdenum selenide has great potential for the degradation of water pollutants, but its performance is limited by the active sites and recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this study, an amorphous co-doped MoSex (Co-MoSex) sample was synthesized by a low-temperature hydrothermal method. Three types of unsaturated Se-Se bonds were found in Co-MoSex by Raman spectroscopy: bridging diselenide, shared diselenide, and terminal diselenide. Photocatalytic experimental results revealed that the degradation rate of Co-MoSex to methylene blue was 96.3%, the degradation rate of amorphous MoSex (a-MoSex) was 61.6%, and the degradation rate of crystalline molybdenum selenide (c-MoSe2) was 23.2%. Furthermore, it was found that the band gap of the Co-MoSex photocatalyst was reduced by 0.15 eV compared to the a-MoSex photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activity of the co-doped MoSex was enhanced by increasing the unsaturated Se atom active sites, reducing the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, and improving light utilization.