Efficient apoptosis and necrosis induction by proteasome inhibitor: bortezomib in the DLD-1 human colon cancer cell line

The inhibition of the 26S proteasome evokes endoplasmic reticulum stress, which has been shown to be implicated in the antitumoral effects of proteasome inhibitors. The cellular and molecular effects of the proteasome inhibitor—bortezomib—on human colon cancer cells are as yet poorly characterized. Bortezomib selectively induces apoptosis in some cancer cells. However, the nature of its selectivity remains unknown. Previously, we demonstrated that, in contrast to normal fibroblasts, bortezomib treatment evoked strong effect on apoptosis of breast cancer cells incubated in hypoxic and normoxic conditions. The study presented here provides novel information on the cellular effects of bortezomib in DLD-1 colon cancer cells line. We observe twofold higher percentage of apoptotic cells incubated for 48 h with 25 and 50 nmol/l of bortezomib in hypoxic conditions and four-, fivefold increase in normoxic conditions in comparison to control cells, incubated without bortezomib. It is of interest that bortezomib evokes strong effect on necrosis of DLD-1 colon cancer cell line. We observe the sixfold increase in necrosis of DLD-1 cells incubated with 25 or 50 nmol/l of bortezomib for 48 h in hypoxia and fourfold increase in normoxic conditions in comparison to adequate controls. We suggest that bortezomib may be candidates for further evaluation as chemotherapeutic agents for human colon cancer.     

Statistical Analysis of Sleep Spindle Occurrences

Spindles - a hallmark of stage II sleep - are a transient oscillatory phenomenon in the EEG believed to reflect thalamocortical activity contributing to unresponsiveness during sleep. Currently spindles are often classified into two classes: fast spindles, with a frequency of around 14 Hz, occurring in the centro-parietal region; and slow spindles, with a frequency of around 12 Hz, prevalent in the frontal region. Here we aim to establish whether the spindle generation process also exhibits spatial heterogeneity. Electroencephalographic recordings from 20 subjects were automatically scanned to detect spindles and the time occurrences of spindles were used for statistical analysis. Gamma distribution parameters were fit to each inter-spindle interval distribution, and a modified Wald-Wolfowitz lag-1 correlation test was applied. Results indicate that not all spindles are generated by the same statistical process, but this dissociation is not spindle-type specific. Although this dissociation is not topographically specific, a single generator for all spindle types appears unlikely.     

Ethylene and IAA interactions in the inhibition of photoperiodic flower induction of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pharbitis nil</Emphasis>

It has been shown that both IAA and ethylene application inhibit flower induction in the short-day plant Pharbitis nil. However application of IAA has elevated ethylene production in this plant, as well. Strong enhancement of ethylene production is also correlated with the night-break effect, which completely inhibits flowering. In order to determine what the role of IAA and ethylene is in the photoperiodic flower induction in Pharbitis nil, we measured changes in their levels during inductive and non-inductive photoperiods, and the effects of ethylene biosynthesis and action inhibitors on inhibition of flowering by IAA. Our results have shown that the inhibitory effect of IAA on Pharbitis nil flowering is not physiological but is connected with its effect on ethylene biosynthesis.     

Distribution of elements in rabbit liver lobule

The elemental composition of rabbit liver was determined by the PIXE and micro-PIXE methods. The mean concentrations of P, S, Cl, K, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Rb measured by both methods were similar. The latter method also allowed for localization of elements within lobule territory. It has been found that some elements are more prevalent in the veins (Cl, Fe) and others in the liver parenchyma (P, Cu, Zn). Moreover, Zn showed the characteristic intralobular distribution. Some methodological aspects of microbeam application to biological materials were also discussed.     

Microbial transformation of neutral fraction and upgraded neutral fraction of Polish tall oil

Summary Microbial transformations of neutral fraction (NF) and upgraded neutral fraction (UNF) of Polish tall oil byMycobacterium sp. MB 3683 were performed. Final metabolites and yields were compared to bioconversion of pure -sitosterol. Additionally, origin of a new metabolite —5-androsta-3,6,17-trione was proved by transformation of UNF in the presence of labeled -sitosterol.     

Cumulation of mycotoxins in maize cobs infected with<Emphasis Type="Italic">Fusarium gramihearum</Emphasis>

Maize cobs withFusarium ear rot were collected at 1986 season and five infected byFusarium graminearum were analyzed for presence of triohothecenes and zearalenone. Collected material was subsampled forFusarium damaged kernels and corresponding axial stems and healthy looking kernels. All investigated cobs contained deoxynivalenol (DON) (range 18.0–131.5 mg/kg) and zearalenone (ZEA) (range 0.38–2.17 mg/kg), in four cobs 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (15-AcDON) (range 5.2–6.2 mg/kg) was present and two cobs besides three all metabolites contained 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-AcD0N) (range 0.5–0.8 mg/kg).The average of individual toxins amount in axial stems: in mg/kg was equal to: DON — 110.36, ZEA — 4.57, 15-AcD0N — 16.66, and 3-AcD0N — 1.32.Fusarium damaged kernels contained in average the following amount (mg/kg) of: DON 77.00, ZEA 0.98, 15-AcD0N 3.78 and 3-AcD0N 0.06. Healthy looking kernels contained DON 1.96 mg/kg and ZEA 0.07 mg/kg only. Cooccurrence of 3-AcDON and 15-AcDON in two samples was an interesting finding. The amount of DON in total cob was highly correlated (r = 0.94) with percentage ofFusarium damaged kernels in given ear.