Perivitelline fluid, extracted from the fertilized eggs of horseshoe crabs, has been reported to play a
vital role in supporting embryogenesis as well as cell proliferation. The present study aims to evaluate the effect
of PVF on the expression of COL1A1 in human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). The cells were grouped into two;
untreated (control) and treated with a single dose of PVF (0.019 mg/ml). Gene expression was quantified for
COL1A1 on day 1, 3 and 7 using reverse transcriptase PCR. The expression of COL1A1 on day 3 of treated
group with PVF was the highest though there was a decline of COL1A1 expression on day 7. Mann Whitney test
was utilized to determine the significance of COL1A1 expression between treated and untreated groups.
Significant difference in the expression of COL1A1 was observed between the treated and untreated groups on
day 3 though there was no significance in the expression on day 7. The present study indicates that PVF may
have the potential to increase cell proliferation in human DPSCs.
Clinacanthus nutans (C. nutans), a well-known ethnopharmacological plant consumed for its medicinal purposes by Southeast Asian communities. C. nutans is said to possess antipyretic, inflammatory, antiedemic as well as analgesic properties and used traditionally in treating various skin ailments, Herpes infection, cancer and diabetes. The young leaves of this C. nutans are consumed in Malaysia for maintaining health. In this study, the proliferative activity of human gingival fibroblast cells (HGF-1, ATCC®CRL-2014™, USA) treated with the ethanol extract obtained from C. nutans leaves at three different concentrations (250, 125 and 62.5 µg/ml) was compared with the untreated cells using alamarBlue assay. The proliferative activity of HGF-1 using alamarBlue assay showed that the cells treated with 62.5 μg/ml of ethanolic extract of C. nutans leaves exhibited increased proliferation compared to the other groups and hence does not exhibit any cytotoxicity on HGF-1.
Perivitelline fluid (PVF) of the horseshoe crab embryo has been reported to possess an important role
during embryogenesis by promoting cell proliferation. This study aims to evaluate the effect of PVF on the
expression of cell cycle regulatory genes from human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) between different cell
passages viz. 4, 5, 6. The cells were treated with a single dose of PVF (26.89 mg/ml) PVF. Gene expression was
quantified for CDKNA2A, PTEN, MDM2 and TP53 genes using reverse transcriptase PCR. CDKN2A and MDM2
expression for treated and untreated DPSCs, expressed a similar pattern of expression. The higher expression of
CDKN2A showed that the treatment increased cell proliferation and prevented cell senescence. DPSCs with PVF
treatment showed increased expression of MDM2 at passage 4 and drastically declined expression at passage 5
and slightly increased at passage 6. TP53 expression of DPSCs treated group showed a higher expression
compared to untreated group. On the other hand, the expression of PTEN in DPSCs treated group started to
increase from passage 5 to 6. However, on the whole, the PTEN expression was higher than the untreated group
in all the passages studied here. The results showed that PVF could enhance cell cycle regulatory gene
expression in DPSCs as indicated by the higher expression of all the genes considered in this study at different
cell passages in the treated group compared to the untreated group. Mann Whitney test was utilized to determine
the significance of cell cycle regulatory genes expression between treated and untreated group. Significant
difference in expression of genes between the treated and untreated groups were found at all passages except
for CDKN2A gene whereby, its expression was not significantly different at passage 5 though it did express
slightly higher in PVF treated DPSCs.
Discovery of drugs from medicinal plants continues to provide major leads against various
pharmacological targets, particularly in cancer diseases. Hence, there are increasing demands to discover
more therapeutic agents from various species of medicinal plants. Chemical compounds in plants are
important for human beings due to their therapeutic properties. Goniothalamus umbrosus, Typhonium
flagelliforme, Myrmecodia pendens, Strobilanthes crispus and Clinacanthus nutans, are among the herbal
species, which are consumed by cancer patients in order to combat against the growth of cancer cells. The
present review aims to highlight on the anti-cancer properties of the listed Malaysian herbs.
This study aimed to investigate the effects of nanohydroxyapatite-silica-glass ionomer cement (nanoHA-silica-GIC) on the differentiation of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) into odontogenic lineage. DPSCs were cultured in complete Minimum Essential Medium Eagle-Alpha Modification (α-MEM) with or without nanoHA-silica-GIC extract and conventional glass ionomer cement (cGIC) extract. Odontogenic differentiation of DPSCs was evaluated by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for odontogenic markers: dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1), osteocalcin (OCN), osteopontin (OPN), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagen type I (COL1A1), and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) on day 1, 7, 10, 14, and 21, which were normalized to the house keeping gene glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Untreated DPSCs were used as a control throughout the study. The expressions of DSPP and DMP1 were higher on days 7 and 10, that of OCN on day 10, those of OPN and ALP on day 14, and that of RUNX2 on day 1; COL1A1 exhibited a time-dependent increase from day 7 to day 14. Despite the above time-dependent variations, the expressions were comparable at a concentration of 6.25 mg/mL between the nanoHA-silica-GIC and cGIC groups. This offers empirical support that nanoHA-silica-GIC plays a role in the odontogenic differentiation of DPSCs.
Crossover or conversion between the homologous regions of glycophorin A (GYPA) and glycophorin B (GYPB) gives rise to several different hybrid glycophorin genes encoding a number of different glycophorin variant phenotypes which bear low prevalence antigens in the MNS blood group system. GP.Mur is the main glycophorin variant phenotype which causes hemolytic transfusion reaction (HTR) and hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) in East and Southeast Asians. The detection of glycophorin variant phenotypes using serological methods is limited to phenotyping reagents that are not commercially available. Moreover, the red blood cells used for antibody identification are usually of the GP.Mur phenotype. The current Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based methods and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) are available alternatives to phenotyping that allow for the specific detection of glycophorin variant phenotypes. This review highlights the molecular detection method for glycophorins A and B variant phenotypes and their clinical relevance.