No abstract

Mitochondria are key to eukaryotic cell survival and their activity is linked to generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which in turn acts as both an intracellular signal and an effective executioner of cells with regards to cellular senescence. The mitochondrial molecular chaperone tumor necrosis factor receptor associated protein 1 (TRAP1) is often termed the cytoprotective chaperone for its role in cancer cell survival and protection from apoptosis. Here, we hypothesize that TRAP1 serves to modulate mitochondrial activity in stem cell maintenance, survival and differentiation. V C 2013 IUBMB Life, 66(1): [42][43][44][45] 2014

The precipitation kinetics of calcium oxalate was investigated using a novel acidic reaction rate control and pH-monitoring method and a sequence of acid–base, coordination, nucleation, and growth differential equations. The results indicate that the complex formation is remarkably favorable and is diffusion rate-limited. The nucleation reaction is shown to initiate via the molecular assembly of near-zwitterionically polarized complexes. From experimental results, growth and formation of the crystal phase leads to an enthalpically less stabilized state.

Objective Retinoic acid (RA) is known to transition proliferating SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells towards functional neurons. However, the activity of RA is restricted due to its photolability where any findings from prolonged time course observations using microscopy may alter outcomes. The aim of the study was to establish a real-time, long-term (9-day) protocol for the screening of differentiation events using Electrical cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS). Results and discussion A differentiation baseline for SH-SY5Y cells was established. Cells were seeded and exposed to repeated spikes of RA using the xCELLigence real-time cell analyser single plate (RTCA-SP) for real-time monitoring and identification of differentiation activity over a 9 day period in order to be more representative of differentiation over a prolonged timeline. Specific features associated with differentiation (growth inhibition, neurite outgrowths) were confirmed by end-point analysis. RA-induced growth inhibition and assumed phenotypic changes (i.e. neurite outgrowth) were identified by the xCELLigence analysis and further confirmed by end-point metabolic and phenotypic assays. Change in cellular morphology and neurite outgrowth length was identified by end-point fluorescence detection followed by computational analysis. Based on this it was possible to identify SH-SY5Y phenotypic differentiation with distinct phases observed over 9 days using Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) cell index traces providing a path to application in larger scale neurotrophic factor screening using this scalable technology.

Objective Retinoic acid (RA) is known to transition proliferating SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells towards functional neurons. However, the activity of RA is restricted due to its photosensitivity. The aim of the study was to establish a real-time, long-term (9-day) protocol for the screening and identification of novel small molecule compounds that can induce or enhance SH-SY5Y differentiation and subsequently aid in the development of synthetic neurotrophic factors. Results A differentiation baseline for SH-SY5Y cells was established. Cells were seeded and exposed to repeated spikes of RA using the xCELLigence real-time cell analyser single plate (RTCA-SP) for real-time monitoring and identification of differentiation activity over a 9-day period in order to be more representative of differentiation timelines. Conclusion RA-induced growth inhibition was identified by the xCELLigence analysis and confirmed by end-point metabolic and phenotypic analysis. Change in cellular morphology and neurite outgrowth length was identified by end-point fluorescence detection followed by computational analysis. It was possible to confirm SH-SY5Y phenotypic differentiation using the combination of technologies employed.