The development of the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology has revolutionized the world on the establishment of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) across a great variety of animal species. Generation of iPSCs from domesticated animals would provide unrestricted cell resources for the study of embryonic development and cell differentiation of these species, for screening and establishing desired traits for sustainable agricultural production, and as veterinary and preclinical therapeutic tools for animal and human diseases. iPSCs from domesticated animals thus harbor enormous scientific, economical and societal values. Although much progress has been made towards the generation of PSCs from these species, major obstacles remain precluding the exclamation of the establishment of bona fide iPSCs. The most prominent of them remain the inability of these cells to silence exogenous reprogramming factors and the obvious reliance on exogenous factors for their self-renewal, and restricted development potential in vivo. In this review, we summarize the history and current progress in domestic farm animal iPSC generation, with a focus on swine, ruminants (cattle, ovine, and caprine), horses, and avian species (quails and chickens). We also discuss the problems associated with the farm animal iPSCs and potential future directions towards the complete reprogramming of somatic cells from farm animals.
Essential oils and their active components, referred here as plant derived antimicrobials (PDAs), have been used for their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Many reports also document PDAs’ cytotoxic effects on cancerous cells, raising the hope that they could be used for cancer treatments. Due to the lack of specificity, we hypothesize that PDAs are cytotoxic to both cancerous and non-cancerous cells. Trans-cinnamaldehyde (TCA), carvacrol, and eugenol were assessed for their cytotoxicity on cancerous HeLa cells and normal skin fibroblasts (CCD-1123Sk, CCD) by MTT and LDH assays, flow cytometry, and reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). After 24 h of treatment, carvacrol and TCA significantly decreased cell viability (by more than 50%) at 100 µg/ml, whereas eugenol was ineffective up to 400 µg/ml. Cell detachment and significantly increased apoptosis were observed with 100 µg/ml of TCA on both cell types. RT-qPCR for apoptotic genes (BCL2, CASP3 and CASP8) and necrosis genes (MLKL, RIPK1 and RIPK3) did not show significant differences between control and treated cells of both types, with the exception of eugenol-treated HeLa cells in which expression of BCL2, MLKL and RIPK1 was significantly higher than controls. Taken together, we conclude that the three PDAs studied here exhibited similar cytotoxic effects on both cancerous and non-cancerous cells.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.