Scutellaria extract decreases the proportion of side population cells in a myeloma cell line by down-regulating the expression of ABCG2 protein.

Background And Aims: Scutellaria is one of the most popular traditional Chinese herbal remedies against various human diseases, including cancer. In this study, we examined the active effects of Scutellaria extract and its main flavonoid constituents on the proportion of side population cells within human multiple myeloma cell line RPMI8226 in vitro and explored the potential molecular mechanisms involved.

Materials And Methods: The contents of flavonoids in ethanolic extract of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi were determined using high performance liquid chromatography.

Reticulon 3 binds the 2C protein of enterovirus 71 and is required for viral replication.

Enterovirus 71 is an enterovirus of the family Picornaviridae. The 2C protein of poliovirus, a relative of enterovirus 71, is essential for viral replication. The poliovirus 2C protein is associated with host membrane vesicles, which form viral replication complexes where viral RNA synthesis takes place.

Phosphorylation of PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK in an early entry step of enterovirus 71.

Viruses have been known to subvert the anti-apoptotic pathways of the host cell in order to delay apoptosis. However, the mechanisms utilized by enterovirus 71 (EV71) to mediate anti-apoptotic activity remained undetermined. We observed that EV71 infection induced an early activation of both phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways.

Heat stress attenuates air bubble-induced acute lung injury: a novel mechanism of diving acclimatization.

Diving acclimatization refers to a reduced susceptibility to acute decompression sickness (DCS) in individuals undergoing repeated compression-decompression cycles. We postulated that mechanisms responsible for the acclimatization are similar to that of a stress preconditioning. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of prior heat shock treatment on air embolism-induced lung injury and on the incidence of DCS in rats.