Analysis of High-Dose Ascorbate-Induced Cytotoxicity in Human Glioblastoma Cells and the Role of Dehydroascorbic Acid and Iron.

Several studies have demonstrated, both in vitro and in animal models, the anti-tumor efficacy of high-dose ascorbate treatment against a variety of tumor entities, including glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive primary malignant brain tumor. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of high-dose ascorbate as well as dehydroascorbic acid on human glioblastoma cell lines and to evaluate different treatment conditions for the combined administration of ascorbate with magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe). Intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species and the induction of cell death following ascorbate treatment were also investigated.

The Furan Fatty Acid 9M5 Acts as a Partial Ligand to Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma and Enhances Adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 Preadipocytes.

A food that has been praised for its beneficial effects on overall health is fish, particularly its polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). However, it has recently been suggested that minor fatty acids such as furan fatty acids are needed in combination with DHA and EPA to exert these positive effects of fish and fish oils. Only recently have furan fatty acids become available in quantities that allow the investigation of their biofunctional properties.

α-Tocopherol transfer protein is not required for the discrimination against γ-tocopherol in vivo but protects it from side-chain degradation in vitro.

Scope: The mechanisms underlying the preferential retention of a single compound (α-tocopherol (αT)) of the eight vitamin E compounds in the body are incompletely understood. We hypothesized that vitamin E metabolism and not the hepatic α-tocopherol transfer protein (TTP) is responsible for the discrimination against non-αT congeners.

Methods And Results: TTP knockout and wild-type mice (n = 12/group) were fed equimolar concentrations of αT and γ-tocopherol (γT; 50 mg/kg diet each) alone or together with sesamin (2 g/kg diet) for 6 wk.

Detection of ligand-induced CNTF receptor dimers in living cells by fluorescence cross correlation spectroscopy.

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) signals via a receptor complex consisting of the specific CNTF receptor (CNTFR) and two promiscuous signal transducers, gp130 and leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR). Whereas earlier studies suggested that the signaling complex is a hexamer, more recent analyses strongly support a tetrameric structure. However, all studies so far analyzed the stoichiometry of the CNTF receptor complex in vitro and not in the context of living cells.