Here, we describe a simple, cost effective method for extraction of RNA from human serum as well as subsequent real time PCR analysis of miRNA levels.”
“Prostate cancer has its highest incidence and is becoming a major concern. Many studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine exhibited antitumor responses. Quercetin, a natural polyphenolic compound, has been shown to induce check details apoptosis in many human cancer cell lines. Although numerous

evidences show multiple possible signaling pathways of quercetin in apoptosis, there is no report to address the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in quercetin-induced apoptosis in PC-3 cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of quercetin on the induction of the apoptotic pathway in human prostate cancer PC-3 cells. Cells were treated with quercetin for 24 and 48 h and at various doses (50-200 mu M), and cell

selleck products morphology and viability decreased significantly in dose-dependent manners. Flow cytometric assay indicated that quercetin at 150 mu M caused G0/G1 phase arrest (31.4-49.7%) and sub-G1 phase cells (19.77%) for 36 h treatment and this effect is a time-dependent manner. Western blotting analysis indicated that quercetin induces the G0/G1 phase arrest via decreasing the levels of CDK2, cyclins E, and D proteins. Quercetin also stimulated the protein expression of ATF, GRP78, and GADD153 which is a hall marker of ER stress. Furthermore, PC-3 cells after incubation with quercetin for 48 h showed an apoptotic cell death and DNA damage which are confirmed by DAPI and Comet assays, leading to decrease the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein and level of Delta psi(m), and increase the proapoptotic Bax protein and the activations of caspase-3, Selleckchem Panobinostat -8, and -9. Moreover, quercetin promoted the trafficking of AIF protein released from mitochondria to nuclei. These data suggest that quercetin may induce apoptosis

by direct activation of caspase cascade through mitochondrial pathway and ER stress in PC-3 cells. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 29: 428-439, 2014.”
“Two additional vibration modes at 250 and 529 cm(-1) were observed in hydrogenated Zn0.98Mn0.05O nanopowders. The number of oxygen vacancies was increased by hydrogenation, which induced the mode at 250 cm(-1). The additional vibration mode at 529 cm(-1) was due to the increase of the number of subsititutional Mn atoms occupying Zn sites, which resulted that some new lattice defects were introduced or intrinsic host-lattice defects became activated/intensified. The room-temperature ferromagnetism was observed in the hydrogenated Zn0.98Mn0.05O nanopowders prepared at high temperature (T=700 degrees C), which originated from the lattice defects such as oxygen vacancies and Zn interstitials. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.