Dauer larva-derived extracellular vesicles extend the life of Caenorhabditis elegans.

There is growing evidence that extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a functional role in tissue repair and anti-aging by transferring the contents of donor cells to recipient cells. We hypothesized that Dauer (C. elegans), known as "ageless" nematodes, can also secrete extracellular vesicles and influence the lifespan of C.

Partial ablation of the pancreas of Sprague Dawley® rats by focused ultrasound reveals no significant adverse effects on glycometabolism function.

To investigate the safety of focused ultrasound (FUS) partial ablation on the pancreas of Sprague Dawley® (SD) rats by histopathological examination of the outcome and investigation of glycometabolism function changes after local ablation. A total of 135 healthy SD rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=45 of each): FUS ½ group, FUS ¼ group, and control group. Levels of serum amylase was measured using the enzyme dynamics method, fasting blood glucose was measured by the glucose oxidase-peroxidase method, fasting serum insulin was measured by direct chemiluminescence assay, and an ELISA was used to measure fasting serum glucagon immediately after treatment, and at 2h, 3days, 1, 2, 3 and 4weeks, 3 and 6months after FUS ablation.

Lactation-Related MicroRNA Expression in Microvesicles of Human Umbilical Cord Blood.

BACKGROUND The complex process by which lactation is initiated upon neonate delivery remains incompletely understood. Microvesicles (MVs) can transmit microRNAs (miRNAs) into recipient cells to influence cell function, and recent studies have identified miRNAs essential for mammary gland development and lactation. This study aimed to investigate the expression of lactation-related miRNAs in MVs isolated from human umbilical cord blood immediately after delivery.

RNAi-mediated MMP-9 silencing inhibits mouse melanoma cell invasion and migration in vitro and in vivo.

MMP-9 participates in tumour growth, invasion, metastasis and vascularisation. Thus, inhibition of MMP-9 may be involved in the process of tumourigenesis. We have investigated the effect of RNAi-mediated MMP-9 silencing on inhibiting invasion and migration of mouse melanoma cell B16.

Preliminary ex vivo feasibility study on targeted cell surgery by high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has become a new noninvasive surgical modality in medicine. A portion of tissue seated inside a patient's body may experience coagulative necrosis after a few seconds of insonification by high intensity focused ultrasound (US) generated by an extracorporeal focusing US transducer. The region of tissue affected by coagulative necrosis (CN) usually has an ellipsoidal shape when the thermal effect due to US absorption plays the dominant role.

Mouse trophoblastic cells exhibit a dominant invasiveness phenotype over cancer cells.

Invasion process occurs both in mammalian embryo implantation during development and malignant cancer cell metastasis. We investigated the interactions between trophoblasts and metastatic cancer cells and found the phenomenon that mouse trophoblastic cells invaded the monolayer of malignant cancer cells in vitro and appeared the general trait of invasiveness to more than 30 types of malignant cancer cell lines which were derived from different histological origins and with different invasive or metastatic potential. We further investigated the cellular and molecular changes in the process of mouse trophoblastic cells invading human ovarian cancer HO-8910 cells.

Effect of mid-late mouse fetus' microenvironment on the growth of tumor cells after intrauterine transplantation.

Successful intrauterine transplantation (IUT) of stem cells for treatment of fetal defects in some animal models of human diseases has prompted us to study the mechanisms of transplantation, immunological tolerance and embryonic environment. The objective of this study was to determine whether intrauterine transplantation of tumor cells would affect the survival and growth of the tumor cells themselves as well as fetus development. A total of 2 x 10(6) H(22) cells or S(180) cells were transplanted into the amniotic or abdominal cavity of NIH mice on D9-D12 or D13-D18 of gestation.