Enhanced maturation and proliferation of beta-thalassemia/Hb E erythroid precursor cells in culture

Upon erythroid cell maturation in vivo, beta-thalassemic erythroid cells accumulate unmatched unstable alpha-globin chains that are believed to be a causal factor in such cell destruction. This study showed that beta-thalassemia/Hb E erythroid precursor cells from peripheral blood had accelerated maturation, and could mature to the terminal erythroid stage. During the early period of cell culture, erythroid precursor cells derived from subjects with the more severe form of beta-thalassemia/Hb E had higher rate of erythroid maturation. In addition, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from beta-thalassemia/Hb E subjects had higher erythroid proliferative potential than cells derived from normal controls. Erythroid proportion in the more severe beta-thalassemia/Hb E cases was less than that of the milder cases. Premature apoptosis was not observed during the 15 days of erythroid cell culture from both beta-thalassemia/Hb E and normal subjects.     

Increased smooth muscle actin expression from bone marrow stromal cells under retinoic acid treatment: an attempt for autologous blood vessel tissue engineering

Vascular replacement in vital organs is sometimes necessary for human life for example because of atherosclerosis. Blood vessel tissue engineering is applied for autologous transplantations to avoid graft rejections. Stem cells are used for blood vessel tissue engineering because they are the origin of smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells and fibroblasts. This paper shows that bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) can be induced to differentiate into the early stage of smooth muscle cells by using 0.01 microM retinoic acid. The differentiation of BMSCs to smooth muscle cells was detected by the expression of smooth muscle alpha actin (SM alpha-actin), the earliest smooth muscle cell marker. The SM alpha-actin marker expression was demonstrated using indirect immunofluorescence technique and Western blot analysis. The induction of BMSC to form early stages of smooth muscle cells in this study is appropriate for blood vessel tissue engineering because the early stage smooth muscle cells may be stimulated to develop vascular walls with endothelial cells using a co-culture system.     

Juice of eclipta prostrata inhibits cell migration in vitro and exhibits anti-angiogenic activity in vivo

BACKGROUND: The invasion of cancer cells is critical for metastasis. The effects of Eclipta prostrata, a Thai medicinal plant, on invasion, migration and adhesion of cancer cells were investigated and the anti-angiogenic activity in vivo was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In vitro invasion and migration assays were performed in modified Boyden chambers. In vivo anti-angiogenic activity was determined using the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. RESULTS: E. prostrata juice inhibited cancer invasion and migration, without affecting cell adhesion. Cell migration was inhibited in a variety of cancer cell types and in endothelial cells, with IC50 values of 31-70 microg/ml, much lower than the IC50 values for cytotoxicity of 203-1,217 microg/ml for cancer cells and >4,000 microg/ml for endothelial cells. Fifty percent inhibition of angiogenesis by E. prostrata juice was observed at 200 microg/egg. CONCLUSION: E. prostrata juice inhibited cancer and endothelial cell migration in vitro and also showed in vivo anti-angiogenic activity.