• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2001

Fumonisins are specific inhibitors of ceramide synthase in sphingolipid metabolism. An alteration in sphingolipid metabolism as a result of fumonisin exposure is related to cell death (Yoo et al., 1992). The objective of this study was to investigate whether elevated free sphinganine levels are related to the sensitivity of cultured cells to fumonisin exposure. Fumonisin $B_1$ elevated the intracellular free sphinganine concentraions in both LLC-$PK_1$ and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. However, CHO cells are resistant to fumonisin cytotoxicity at 50${u}m$, while LLC-$PK_1$ cells are sensitive at concentrations greater than 357M. The intracellular concentration of free sphinganine in LLC-$PK_1$ cells treated at 50${u}m$ fumonisin $B_1$ for 72 h was approximately 1450 pmol/mg protein relative to the 37 pmol observed in the control culture. Under the same conditions, the population of apoptotic cells in the 50${u}m$ fumonisin $B_1$-treated culture was approximately 37% of the total compared to 12% in the control. The caspase III-like activity after 72 h in the 50${\mu}$M fumonisin $B_1$-exposed culture Increased to approximately 50 $pmol/mg$ protein/hr compared to 6 $pmol/mg$ protein/hr in the control. L-cycloserine, a serine palmitoyltransferase inhibitory reduced the fumonisin $B_1$-stimulated caspase III-like activity down to the control level. Under the same culture conditions, the intracellular concentration of free sphinganine after-cycloserine plus fumonisin $B_1$ treatment was 140 pmol/mg protein compared to 1450 $pmol/mg$ protein in fumonisin $B_1$ alone. The intracellular concentration of free sphinganine in CHO cells treated with 50${u}m$ fumonisin $B_1$ for 72 h was al)proximately 460 pmol/mg protein, indicating that the mass amount of elevated free sphinganine in the CHO cells was about 32% of that in LLC-$PK_1$ cells. Adding exogenous sphinganine to the CHO cells along with 50${u}m$ fumonisin $B_1$ treatment for 72 h caused both necrosis and apoptosis. In conclusion, the elevated endogenous sphinganine acts as a contributing factor to the fumonisin-induced cell death.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 2016

This study aimed to investigate the in vivo relevance of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the pharmacokinetics and adverse effect of phenformin. To investigate the involvement of P-gp in the transport of phenformin, a bi-directional transport of phenformin was carried out in LLC-PK1 cells overexpressing P-gp, LLC-PK1-Pgp. Basal to apical transport of phenformin was 3.9-fold greater than apical to basal transport and became saturated with increasing phenformin concentration ($2-75{\mu}M$) in LLC-PK1-Pgp, suggesting the involvement of P-gp in phenformin transport. Intrinsic clearance mediated by P-gp was $1.9{\mu}L/min$ while passive diffusion clearance was $0.31{\mu}L/min$. Thus, P-gp contributed more to phenformin transport than passive diffusion. To investigate the contribution of P-gp on the pharmacokinetics and adverse effect of phenformin, the effects of verapamil, a P-gp inhibitor, on the pharmacokinetics of phenformin were also examined in rats. The plasma concentrations of phenformin were increased following oral administration of phenformin and intravenous verapamil infusion compared with those administerd phenformin alone. Pharmacokinetic parameters such as $C_{max}$ and AUC of phenformin increased and CL/F and Vss/F decreased as a consequence of verapamil treatment. These results suggested that P-gp blockade by verapamil may decrease the phenformin disposition and increase plasma phenformin concentrations. P-gp inhibition by verapamil treatment also increased plasma lactate concentration, which is a crucial adverse event of phenformin. In conclusion, P-gp may play an important role in phenformin transport process and, therefore, contribute to the modulation of pharmacokinetics of phenformin and onset of plasma lactate level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1151-1156
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• 2005

The comparison on antioxidative activity of 13 kinds of vegetables that showed efficient oxygen radical absorbance capacity was carried out under in uitro and cellular model using LLC-$ PK_{1}$ renal epithelial cell, and also the total Phenol contents were analyzed. Beets, eggplant, and kale exerted the strong 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging effect and also these vegetables showed high contents of total phenol, indicating the positive relationship between DPPH radical scavenging effect and total phenol content. In addition, the treatment of 1 mM 2,2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride for 24 hrs to LLC-$PK_{1}$ cell susceptible to oxidative stress led to the decline of cell viability to 68.1$\%$, whereas the cellular oxidative damage was ameliorated by vegetables, especially eggplant and cauliflower, resulting in the elevation of cell viability to higher than 90$\%$ at the concentration of 5 $\mu$g/mL. This study suggests that 13 kinds of vegetables exert antioxidative activity under in uitro and cellular oxidative damage model, in particular among them eggplant showed the most effective antioxidative activity with higher total phenol content.