Detection of abnormally high amygdalin content in food by an enzyme immunoassay

Amygdalin is a cyanogenic glycoside compound which is commonly found in the pits of many fruits and raw nuts. Although amygdalin itself is not toxic, it can release cyanide (CN) after hydrolysis when the pits and nuts are crushed, moistened and incubated, possibly within the gastrointestinal tract. CN reversibly inhibits cellular oxidizing enzymes and cyanide poisoning generates a range of clinical symptoms. As some pits and nuts may contain unusually high levels of amygdalin such that there is a sufficient amount to induce critical CN poisoning in humans, the detection of abnormal content of amygdalin in those pits and nuts can be a life-saving measure. Although there are various methods to detect amygdalin in food extracts, an enzyme immunoassay has not been developed for this purpose. In this study we immunized New Zealand White rabbits with an amygdalin-KLH (keyhole limpet hemocyanin) conjugate and succeeded in raising anti-sera reactive to amygdalin, proving that amygdalin can behave as a hapten in rabbits. Using this polyclonal antibody, we developed a competition enzyme immunoassay for determination of amygdalin concentration in aqueous solutions. This technique was able to effectively detect abnormally high amygdalin content in various seeds and nuts. In conclusion, we proved that enzyme immunoassay can be used to determine the amount of amygdalin in food extracts, which will allow automated analysis with high throughput.     

Growth inhibition of human cancer cells in vitro by T-type calcium channel blockers

This paper describes the preliminary biological results that novel T-type calcium channel blockers inhibit the growth of human cancer cells by blocking calcium influx into the cell, based on unknown mechanism on the cell cycle responsible for cellular proliferation. Among the selected compounds from compound library, compound 9c (KYS05041) was identified to be nearly equipotent with Cisplatin against some human cancers in the micromolar range.     

Neuroprotective effects of ginseng saponins against L-type Ca2+ channel-mediated cell death in rat cortical neurons

In the present study, we have examined any possible involvement of L-type Ca²⁺ channels in ginseng-mediated neuroprotective actions. Exposure to a 50 mM KCl (high-K) produced neuronal cell death, which was blocked by a selective L-type Ca²⁺ channel blocker in cultured cortical neurons. When cultured cells were co-treated with ginseng total saponin (GTS) and high-K, GTS reduced high-K-induced neuronal death. Using Ca²⁺ imaging techniques, we found that GTS inhibited high-K-mediated acute and long-term [Ca²⁺]_i changes. These GTS-mediated [Ca²⁺]_i changes were diminished by nifedipine. Furthermore, GTS-mediated effects were also diminished by a saturating concentration of Bay K (10 μM). After confirming the protective effect of GTS using a TUNEL assay, we found that ginsenosides Rf and Rg₃ are active components in ginseng-mediated neuroprotection. These results suggest that inhibition of L-type Ca²⁺ channels by ginseng could be one of the mechanisms for ginseng-mediated neuroprotection in cultured rat cortical neurons.     

A simple and rapid strategy for the molecular cloning and monitoring of mouse HtrA2 serine protease

A simple and rapid strategy for molecular cloning using a gel-free and antibiotic selection method is described which allows for the complete elimination of DNA extraction by gel electrophoresis, and thus has several advantages over gel-based cloning methods, including: (i) a cloning efficiency that is approximately 10-times higher due to the prevention of ethidium bromide ultraviolet-induced DNA damage and contamination with ligase inhibitors; (ii) the amount of plasmid DNA required is approximately five times less; and (iii) the cloning time is several hours less. Once the target gene, such as mouse HtrA2 serine protease, was cloned into the pEGFP-N3 plasmid, the integrity of the kanamycin-resistant molecular clone encoding the GFP fusion protein was verified by immunoblot and immunofluorescence assays. In addition, the integrity of the ampicillin-resistant molecular clone was directly evaluated by analyzing the expression and affinity purification of the GST fusion protein and by measuring its enzymatic activity. Therefore, this method is suitable for the routine construction of a plasmid expressing the gene of interest, and the usefulness of this strategy can be demonstrated by monitoring the expression of the target gene in E. coli and mammalian cells. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. G-Y Kim, M-K Nam, and S-S Kim contributed equally to this work.     

Autocatalytic processing of HtrA2/Omi is essential for induction of caspase-dependent cell death through antagonizing XIAP

A mature form of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial serine protease HtrA2/Omi is pivotal in regulating apoptotic cell death; however, the underlying mechanism of the processing event of HtrA2/Omi and its relevant biological function remain to be clarified. Here, we describe that HtrA2/Omi is autocatalytically processed to the 36-kDa protein fragment, which is required for the cytochrome c-dependent caspase activation along with neutralizing XIAP-mediated inhibition of caspases through interaction with XIAP, eventually promoting apoptotic cell death. We have shown that the autocatalytic processing of HtrA2/Omi occurs via an intermolecular event, demonstrated by incubating an in vitro translated HtrA2/Omi (S306A) mutant with the enzymatically active glutathione S-transferase-HtrA2/Omi protein. Using N-terminal amino acid sequencing and mutational analysis, we identified that the autocatalytic cleavage site is the carboxyl side of alanine 133 of HtrA2/Omi, resulting in exposure of an inhibitor of apoptosis protein binding motif in its N terminus. Our study provides evidence that the autocatalytic processing of HtrA2/Omi is crucial for regulating HtrA2/Omi-mediated apoptotic cell death.     

Quinazolindione derivatives as potent 5-HT3A receptor antagonists

5-HT_3A receptor antagonists have been used mainly for the treatment of nausea and vomiting. These days, the antagonists are of special interest due to their therapeutic potential to treat other diseases such as depression, psychotic disorder, drug abuse, and irritable bowel syndrome. To discover novel 5-HT_3A receptor antagonists, we screened our in-house small molecule library, resulting in identifying the quinazolindione derivatives as potent 5-HT_3A receptor antagonists. For the purpose of structure–activity relationship study, 24 quinazolindione analogues were biologically evaluated against 5-HT_3A receptor. Among those, KKHT10612 shows the best antagonistic effect against 5-HT_3A receptor with an IC₅₀ value of 0.8 μM which is comparable with that of the reference compound, MDL72222, and selectivity over T-type calcium channel as well.     

Prothrombin kringle-2 activates cultured rat brain microglia

Microglia, the major immune effector cells in the CNS, become activated when the brain suffers injury. In this study, we observed that prothrombin, a zymogen of thrombin, induced NO release and mRNA expression of inducible NO synthase, IL-1beta, and TNF-alpha in rat brain microglia. The effect of prothrombin was independent of the protease activity of thrombin since hirudin, a specific inhibitor of thrombin, did not inhibit prothrombin-induced NO release. Furthermore, factor Xa enhanced the effect of prothrombin on microglial NO release. Kringle-2, a domain of prothrombin distinct from thrombin, mimicked the effect of prothrombin in inducing NO release and mRNA expression of inducible NO synthase, IL-1beta, and TNF-alpha. Prothrombin and kringle-2 both triggered the same intracellular signaling pathways. They both activated mitogen-activated protein kinases and NF-kappaB in a similar pattern. NO release stimulated by either was similarly reduced by inhibitors of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway (PD98059), p38 (SB203580), NF-kappaB (N-acetylcysteine), protein kinase C (Go6976, bisindolylmaleimide, and Ro31-8220), and phospholipase C (D609 and U73122). These results suggest that prothrombin can activate microglia, and that, in addition to thrombin, kringle-2 is a domain of prothrombin independently capable of activating microglia.     

Matrix metalloproteinase-3 is activated by HtrA2/Omi in dopaminergic cells: relevance to Parkinson's disease

Dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra are particularly vulnerable, and their degeneration leads to Parkinson's disease. We have previously reported that matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) activity is involved in dopaminergic neurodegeneration by multiple mechanisms and that this requires activation of MMP-3 from proMMP-3 by an intracellular serine protease. HtrA2/Omi is a mitochondrial serine protease that has been shown in non-dopaminergic cells to translocate into the cytosol where it triggers apoptosis. In the present study we sought to determine whether HtrA2/Omi might cause activation of MMP-3 in dopaminergic neuronal cells using CATH.a cell line. Mitochondrial stress induced by rotenone led to MMP-3 activation and HtrA2/Omi translocation into the cytosol. The MMP-3 activation involved HtrA2/Omi, because both pharmacological inhibition and siRNA-induced knockdown of HtrA2/Omi attenuated the activation induced by rotenone or MPP+. Overexpression of mature HtrA2/Omi, but not mutant HtrA2/Omi, resulted in MMP-3 activity increase and cell death. Addition of recombinant and catalytically active HtrA2/Omi to lysate of untreated cells led to activation of the endogenous MMP-3, and incubation of the HtrA2/Omi with recombinant proMMP-3 caused cleavage of proMMP-3 to a 48kD protein, corresponding to the active form, which was accompanied by an increase in MMP-3 activity. Taken together, the data indicate that HtrA2/Omi, which normally exists in the mitochondria, can cause MMP-3 activation in the cytosol under a cell stress condition, which can ultimately lead to demise of dopaminergic neuronal cells.     

Stage-specific expression of ankyrin and SOCS box protein-4 (Asb-4) during spermatogenesis

Members of the large family of Asb proteins are ubiquitously expressed in mammalian tissues; however, the roles of individual Asb and their function in the developmental testes have not been reported. In this report, we isolated a murine Asb4 from mouse testis. Northern blot analysis revealed that mAsb-4 was expressed only in testes and produced in a stage-specific manner during spermatogenesis. It was expressed in murine testes beginning in the fourth week after birth and extending into adulthood. Pachytene spermatocytes had the highest level of expression. Interestingly, the human homologue of mAsb-4, ASB-4 (hASB-4) was also expressed in human testis. These results suggest that ASB-4 plays pivotal roles in mammalian testis development and spermatogenesis.