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Publications (4)17.62 Total impact

  • Article: Knockdown of Akt1 promotes Akt2 upregulation and resistance to oxidative-stress-induced apoptosis through control of multiple signaling pathways.
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    ABSTRACT: The Akt signaling pathway plays a key role in promoting the survival of various types of cells from stress-induced apoptosis, and different members of the Akt family display distinct physiological roles. Previous studies have shown that in response to UV irradiation, Akt2 is sensitized to counteract the induced apoptosis. However, in response to oxidative stress such as hydrogen peroxide, it remains to be elucidated what member of the Akt family would be activated to initiate the signaling cascades leading to resistance of the induced apoptosis. In the present study, we present the first evidence that knockdown of Akt1 enhances cell survival under exposure to 50 μM H(2)O(2). This survival is derived from selective upregulation and activation of Akt2 but not Akt3, which initiates 3 major signaling cascades. First, murine double minute 2 (MDM2) is hyperphosphorylated, which promotes p53 degradation and attenuates its Ser-15 phosphorylation, significantly attenuating Bcl-2 homologous antagonist killer (Bak) upregulation. Second, Akt2 activation inactivates glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK-3β) to promote stability of myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein 1 (MCL-1). Finally, Akt2 activation promotes phosphorylation of FOXO3A toward cytosolic export and thus downregulates Bim expression. Overexpression of Bim enhances H(2)O(2)-induced apoptosis. Together, our results demonstrate that among the Akt family members, Akt2 is an essential kinase in counteracting oxidative-stress-induced apoptosis through multiple signaling pathways.
    Antioxidants & Redox Signaling 02/2011; 15(1):1-17. · 8.20 Impact Factor
  • Article: Contrast expression patterns of JNK1 during sex reversal of the rice-field eel.
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    ABSTRACT: The c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family. Their functions in regulating animal development have been well studied in both invertebrates and vertebrates. However, it remains to be determined whether they play a role in sex determination. Here we present first evidence to show that expression of JNK1 displays distinct patterns during sex reversal of rice-field eel. Molecular cloning reveals that JNK1 is well conserved among rice-field eel and other vertebrates. Both quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis demonstrate that JNK1 is highly expressed in the ovary of the female individual and reduced to a substantial degree at the later stage of the intersex. However, when the intersex individual develops into the stage of male, expression of the JNK1 in the testis of the male individual is distinctly downregulated. Associated with the contrast JNK1 expression pattern in female and male gonads, several stem cell marker genes including Nanog, Oct-3/4, and Sox-2 were also differentially expressed in female and male germinal stem cells. Together, these results suggest it is possible that JNK1 plays an important role in sexual reversal of the rice-field eel.
    Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B Molecular and Developmental Evolution 11/2009; 314(3):242-56. · 2.42 Impact Factor
  • Article: Direct enrichment and high performance liquid chromatography analysis of ultra-trace Bisphenol A in water samples with narrowly dispersible Bisphenol A imprinted polymeric microspheres column.
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    ABSTRACT: Direct injection, enrichment and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of ultra-trace Bisphenol A (BPA) in water samples using one narrowly dispersible BPA imprinted polymeric microspheres (MIPM) column in one analysis process was developed. One BPA imprinted MIPM that had the best globular morphology and imprinted efficiency was used as HPLC stationary phase and applied to direct analysis of ultra-trace BPA in water. The optimum direct analysis conditions were: conditioning the MIPM column with water for 10min, injecting 40mL water sample directly, eluting with 70% methanol for 13min and then 100% methanol for 7min. Under the optimum conditions, the MIPM column can simultaneously extract, enrich, separate and determine ultra-trace BPA in one analysis process with UV detector by injection of large volume water samples (40mL). The calibration graph was linear with R(2)>0.998 in the ranges from 0.1-100nmol/L BPA standard solution. The intra- and inter-day RSD are less than 9.5 and 9.6%, respectively. The limit of quantification was 0.1nmol/L. RSD for spiked tap and lake water was less than 8.9% and the recoveries were 96-101.8%. The enrichment factor for BPA was 10,000 as 40mL water sample was directly injected and analyzed.
    Journal of Chromatography 03/2006; 1110(1-2):27-34. · 4.53 Impact Factor
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    Article: CYP2E1-dependent hepatotoxicity and oxidative damage after ethanol administration in human primary hepatocytes.
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    ABSTRACT: To observe the relationship between ethanol-induced oxidative damage in human primary cultured hepatocytes and cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) activity, in order to address if inhibition of CYP2E1 could attenuate ethanol-induced cellular damage. The dose-dependent (25-100 mmol/L) and time-dependent (0-24 h) exposures of primary human cultured hepatocytes to ethanol were carried out. CYP2E1 activity and protein expression were detected by spectrophotometer and Western blot analysis respectively. Hepatotoxicity was investigated by determination of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate transaminase (AST) level in hepatocyte culture supernatants, as well as the intracellular formation of malondialdehyde (MDA). A dose-and time-dependent response between ethanol exposure and CYP2E1 activity in human hepatocytes was demonstrated. Moreover, there was a time-dependent increase of CYP2E1 protein after 100 mmol/L ethanol exposure. Meanwhile, ethanol exposure of hepatocytes caused a time-dependent increase of cellular MDA level, LDH, and AST activities in supernatants. Furthermore, the inhibitor of CYP2E1, diallyl sulfide (DAS) could partly attenuate the increases of MDA, LDH, and AST in human hepatocytes. A positive relationship between ethanol-induced oxidative damage in human primary cultured hepatocytes and CYP2E1 activity was exhibited, and the inhibition of CYP2E1 could partly attenuate ethanol-induced oxidative damage.
    World Journal of Gastroenterology 09/2005; 11(29):4530-5. · 2.47 Impact Factor