• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.544-552
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• 2004

In oriental medicine, Radix Polygalae(RP) has been to treat tremors et al. But the mechanism how to decrease tremors was not known. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of RP on neurodegenerative disease. We used RP to execute the study of this defense mechanism on dopamine-induced cell death in human SH-SY5Y dopaminergic neuroblastoma cells. MTT assay was used to know the cytotoxicity of dopamine and the defense mechanism. As a result of this experiment, dopamine had cytotoxicity in human SH-SY5Y cells, but when it treated with RP, the cell survival rate increased. This suppressed the cell apoptosis, activation of caspase-3 protease, production of ROS, and repair of membrane potential change. In conclusion, RP has the protective effect on dopamine-induced cell death in human SH-SY5Y dopaminergic neuroblastoma cells, so this could be an effective agent on the neurodegenerative disease like Parkinsonism.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 1997

A regulation of differentiation in human neuroblastoma cells remains poorly understood, although it is of great importance in the clinical therapy of neuroblastoma. This study was aimed to elucidate effects of DNA synthesis inhibitors on the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells on the basis of morphological, biochemical and molecular respects. Three DNA synthesis inhibitors, sodium butyrate, hydroxyurea, cytosine arabinoside were used to explore their effects on the cellular morphology, the expression of c-myc and the elevation of choline acetyltransferase activity. They led to the extension or neurite-like processes reflecting differentiation or IMR-32 cells. In addition, the treatment of three DNA synthesis inhibitors resulted in the remarkable increases in the expression of c-myc as well as the stimulation of choline acetyltransferase activity which is involved in the synthesis of acetylcholine in the differentiated cholinergic neurons. Taken together, these results indicate that DNA synthesis inhibitors play an important role in the induction of cellular differentiation in IMR-32 cells. Furthermore these DNA synthesis inhibitors seem to be future useful to give an important clue (for the treatment of neuroblastoma).

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2016

Angelica polymorpha Maxim root extract (APRE) is a popular herbal medicine used for treating stomachache, abdominal pain, stomach ulcers, and rheumatism; however the effect of APRE on cancer cells has not yet been explored. Here, we examined APRE cytotoxicity seen on target neuroblastoma cells (NB) using cell viability assays, DAPI visualization of fragmented DNA, and Western blotting analysis of candidate signaling pathways involved in proliferation and apoptosis. We demonstrated that APRE reduced cell viability in NB to a greater extent than in fibroblast cells. In addition, we found that APRE could inhibit the three classes of MAPK proteins and could also down-regulate the PI3K/AKT/GSK-$3{\beta}$ activity all being relevant for proliferation and survival. APRE could also up-regulate Bax expression and down-regulate Bcl-2 and Mcl-1. With APRE treatment, depolarization of mitochondria membrane potential and activation of caspase-3 was demonstrated in the SH-SY5Y cells. We could not found increased activity of death receptor and caspase-8 as markers of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway for the APRE treated cells. In presence of a caspase-3 siRNA and a pan-caspase inhibitor, APRE could not reduce the viability of NB cells to a significant degree. So we predicted that with APRE, the intrinsic pathway was solely responsible for inducing apoptosis as we also showed that the non-caspase autophagy pathway or ER stress-ROS mediated pathways were not involved. These findings demonstrate that an intrinsic mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway mediates the apoptotic effects of APRE on SH-SY5Y cells, and that APRE shows promise as a novel agent for neuroblastoma therapy.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2007

To verify the inhibitory or protective effects of light-emitting diode(LED) irradiation on apoptotic cell death induced by $CoCl_2$, human SH-SY5Y cells were treated with $CoCl_2$ and LED were used to irradiate the cells. In the cell viability assay, cells were died slowly from $50{\mu}M$ to $250{\mu}M$ and about 50% of cells died after 12 hours at $400{\mu}M$ of $CoCl_2$. The Diff-Quik staining revealed that cells showed condensation of DNA and blebbing of the cell membrane. The DNA fragmentation assay revealed the DNA fragmentation, which is another apoptosis marker, occurred in cells treated with $400{\mu}M$ $CoCl_2$ for 16 hours. In the western blot for HIF-$1{\alpha}$, HIF-$1{\alpha}$ was expressed after 3 hours from induction and peaked maximally at 16 hours. In the cell viability assay of the effects of LED irradiation (at 590 nm for 1 hour 20 minutes), the cells showed more proliferation (about 20%) than the control group. The RPA assay of various apoptosis-related molecules showed that pro-apoptosis molecules such as Bax, Bak, and Bid were upregulated in the $CoCl_2$ treatment group. This means that the apoptotic cell population was increased. However there was some significant changes in LED irradiated cells. In the $CoCl_2$-treated LED irradiation group, those molecules were down-regulated more than in the only $CoCl_2$-treated group. These results have shown that $CoCl_2$ may induce apoptotic cell death in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. And LED irradiation has a positive effect on apoptotic cells by down-regulation of pro-apoptotic molecules.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.113-118
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• 2009

In this study, we have shown the transcriptional regulation of the human GD3 synthase (hST8Sia I) induced by valproic acid (VPA) in human neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2)-C cells. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the regulation of hST8Sia I gene expression in VPA-stimulated SK-N-BE(2)-C cells, we characterized the promoter region of the hST8Sia I gene. Functional analysis of the 5'-flanking region of the hST8Sia I gene by the transient expression method showed that the -1146 to -646 region, which contains putative binding sites for transcription factors c-Ets-1, CREB, AP-1 and NF-${\kappa}B$, functions as the VPA-inducible promoter of hST8Sia I in SK-N-BE(2)-C cells. Site-directed mutagenesis and electrophoretic mobility shift assay indicated that the NF-${\kappa}B$ binding site at -731 to -722 was crucial for the VPA-induced expression of hST8Sia I in SK-N-BE(2)-C cells. In addition, the transcriptional activity of hST8Sia I induced by VPA in SK-N-BE(2)-C cells was strongly inhibited by SP600125, which is a c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor, and $G{\ddot{O}}6976$, which is a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, as determined by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) and luciferase assays. These results suggest that VPA markedly modulated transcriptional regulation of hST8Sia I gene expression through PKC/JNK signal pathways in SK-N-BE(2)-C cells.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.350-353
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• 1996

The effects of acid hydrolysis product of Panax ginseng and MeOH extract of Euphorbia humifusa on the growth of human brain tumor cells were evaluated using U-373 MG human astrocytoma and SK-N-MC human neuroblastoma cells as model cellular systems. These plant extracts induced cytotoxicity in both cells in a dose-dependent manner. These cytotoxic effects were significantly inhibited by GSH, an antioxidant, in both cells. BAPTA/AM, an intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ chelator, significantly blocked the cytotoxic effects of these extracts in U-373 cells, but enhanced these effects in SK-N-MC cells. These results suggest that the plant extracts may be a valuable choice for the studies on the treatment of human brain tumors.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.359-359
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• 2016

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.281-286
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• 2002

To understand the cytotoxic mechanism of $MPP^+,$ we examined the involvement of ceramide in $MPP^+-induced$ cytotoxicity to human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. When SH-SY5Y cells were exposed to $MPP^+,\;MPP^+$ induced dose-dependent cytotoxicity accompanied by 2-fold elevation of intracellular ceramide levels in SH-SY5Y cells. Three methods were used to test the hypothesis that the elevated intracellular ceramide is related to $MPP^+-induced$ cytotoxicity: $C_2-ceramide$ was directly applied to cells, sphingomyelinase (SMase) was exogenously added, and oleoylethanolamine (OE) was used to inhibit degradation of ceramide. Furthermore, inhibition of ceramide-activated protein phosphatase (CAPP), the effector of ceramide, using okadaic acid (OA) attenuated cell death but treatment of fumonisin $B_1,$ the ceramide synthase inhibitor, did not alter the cytotoxic effect of $MPP^+.$ Based on these, we suggest that the elevation of intracellular ceramide is one of the important mediators in $MPP^+-induced$ cell death.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2003

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.195-200
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• 2011

Neuronal cell death is a common characteristic feature of a variety of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. However, there have been no effective drugs to successfully prevent neuronal death in those diseases. In the present study, docosyl cafferate (DC), a derivative of caffeic acid, was isolated from Rhus verniciflua and its protective effects on tBHP-induced neuronal cell death were examined in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. Pretreatment of DC significantly attenuated tBHP-induced neuronal cell death in a concentration-dependent manner. DC also significantly suppressed tBHP-induced caspase-3 activation. In addition, DC restored tBHP-induced depletion of intracellular Bcl-2, an anti-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family. Furthermore, DC significantly suppressed tBHP-induced degradation of IKB, which retains $NF-{\kappa}B$ in the cytoplasm, resulting in the suppression of nuclear translocation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ and its subsequent activation. Taken together, the results clearly demonstrate that DC exerts its neuroprotective activity against tBHP-induced oxidative stress through the suppression of nuclear translocation of $NF-{\kappa}B$.