International journal of molecular medicine
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The volatile anesthetic, sevoflurane, is widely used in surgery. Over the years, there has been a growing interest in the biological effects of sevoflurane on tissue and organ systems and the molecular mechanisms involved. MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) acting as pivotal post‑transcriptional regulators for fine-tuning gene networks are not only expressed intracellularly, but are also secreted into the plasma. ⋯ In the cardiac and skeletal muscles, the expression levels of the muscle-specific miRNAs were upregulated within 2 weeks post-anesthesia, indicating that the expression levels of the muscle-specific miRNAs in the cardiac and skeletal muscles and their plasma levels are substantially inversely correlated following anesthesia. Our data suggest that sevoflurane predominantly affects cardiac and skeletal muscles and suppresses the release of miRNA from these tissues into the circulation. This new information provides novel insight into the molecular mechanisms of action of the anesthetic, sevoflurane.
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Periostin, a secreted extracellular matrix protein, is involved in the wound healing and pathological process of various human cancers. Keloid scars are fibroproliferative tumor-like lesions and develop under local hypoxia. Using suppression subtractive hybridization, in a previous study, we found that periostin is overexpressed in keloids compared with hypertrophic scars. ⋯ The inhibition of periostin by short hairpin RNA decreased the hypoxia-stimulated proliferation, collagen synthesis, migration and invasion of KFs and altered the cell cycle, but did not affect apoptosis; treatment with recombinant human periostin protein reversed these effects. Periostin also activated the αvβ3 integrin-PI3K/Akt pathway in the KFs. These findings suggest that hypoxia initiates hyperplasia of KFs and increases periostin expression under hypoxic conditions; periostin is involved in the pathogenesis of keloids, which indicates that periostin may be a novel therapeutic target for keloids and other fibroproliferative disorders.
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Amyloid precursor protein (APP) and β-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE-1) play important roles in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, using bioinformatics analysis, we demonstrate that miR-384 is a microRNA (miRNA or miR) predicted to potentially target the 3' untranslated regions (3'-UTRs) of both APP and BACE-1. SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with miR-384 mimic oligonucleotide, miR-384 inhibitor oligonucleotide, or a non-specific control siRNA. ⋯ We also found decreased miR-384 expression in the several cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of the patients with DAT. Negative correlations were observed between miR-384 and Aβ42 in the serum and CSF from patients with AD. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that miR-384 may plays a role in the development of AD and may be a potential non-invasive biomarker for the diagnosis of AD.
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After spinal cord injury (SCI), the disruption of blood-spinal cord barrier by activation of the endothelin (ET) system is a critical event leading to leukocyte infiltration, inflammatory response and oxidative stress, contributing to neurological disability. In the present study, we showed that blockade of ET receptor A (ETAR) and/or ET receptor B (ETBR) prevented early inflammatory responses directly via the inhibition of neutrophil and monocyte diapedesis and inflammatory mediator production following traumatic SCI in mice. Long-term neurological improvement, based on a series of tests of locomotor performance, occurred only in the spinal cord‑injured mice following blockade of ETAR and ETBR. ⋯ In addition, hemeoxygenase-1, a protective protease involved in early SCI, was increased in spinal cord‑injured mice following the blockade of ETAR and ETBR, or only ETBR. Matrix metalloproteinase-9, a tissue-destructive protease involved in early damage, was decreased in the injured spinal cord of mice following blockade of ETAR, ETBR or a combination thereof. The findings of the present study therefore suggested an association between ETAR and ETBR in regulating early pathogenesis of SCI and determining the outcomes of long‑term neurological recovery.
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The NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome plays pivotal roles in inflammation and autoimmunity. The NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in response to various signals, including pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). However, its role in inflammation remains unclear. ⋯ In addition, the silencing of NLRP3 with small interfering RNA (siRNA) suppressed the generation of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β (P<0.01), IL-18 (P<0.01), but not IL-33 (P>0.05), along with the decreased mRNA and protein expression of NLRP3 and caspase-1 (P<0.05). However, extracellular potassium at a high concentration and NLRP3 siRNA did not affect the level of apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (CARD) (ASC; P>0.05). Our results suggest that the NLRP3/ASC/caspase-1 axis participates in the regulation of pro-imflammatory cytokine secretion in RAW264.7 cells, particularly the generation of IL-1β and IL-18.