Developing a Sensitive Platform to Measure 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate in Subjects with MTHFR and PON1 Gene Polymorphisms.

Inadequate levels of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) and the T variant of MTHFR C677T have been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of developing mental illness, whereas the PON1 SNP variant provides a protective role. However, reports validating the methodology for plasma 5-MTHF levels in schizophrenia patients are limited. A sensitive LC−MS/MS system using an amide column and calibration curve was determined by dialyzed human plasma, and applied to schizophrenia patients and healthy controls in Taiwan, and the differences between the subgroups were discussed.

Phosphoproteomics and Bioinformatics Analyses Reveal Key Roles of GSK-3 and AKAP4 in Mouse Sperm Capacitation.

Protein phosphorylation can induce signal transduction to change sperm motility patterns during sperm capacitation. However, changes in the phosphorylation of sperm proteins in mice are still incompletely understood. Here, capacitation-related phosphorylation in mouse sperms were firstly investigated by label-free quantitative (LFQ) phosphoproteomics coupled with bioinformatics analysis using ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) methods such as canonical pathway, upstream regulator, and network analysis.

Galangin, a novel dietary flavonoid, attenuates metastatic feature via PKC/ERK signaling pathway in TPA-treated liver cancer HepG2 cells.

Background: Galangin (3,5,7-trihydroxyflavone) is a flavonoid compound found in high concentration in lesser galangal. The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of galangin to inhibit 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced the invasion and metastasis of HepG2 liver cancer cells.

Results: First, using a cell-matrix adhesion assay, immunofluorescence assay, transwell-chamber invasion/migration assay, and wound healing assay, we observed that galangin exerted an inhibitory effect on TPA-induced cell adhesion, morphology/actin cytoskeleton arrangement, invasion and migration.