Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptosis plays an important role in a range of neurological disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, spinal cord injury, and diabetic neuropathy. Valproate (VPA), a typical antiepileptic drug, is commonly used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and epilepsy. Recently, VPA has been reported to exert neurotrophic effects and promote neurite outgrowth, but its molecular mechanism is still unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether VPA inhibited ER stress and promoted neuroprotection and neuronal restoration in SH-SY5Y cells and in primary rat cortical neurons, respectively, upon exposure to thapsigargin (TG). In SH-SY5Y cells, cell viability was detected by the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and the expression of ER stress-related apoptotic proteins such as glucose‑regulated protein (GRP78), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), and cleaved caspase-12/-3 were analyzed with Western blot analyses and immunofluorescence assays. To explore the pathway involved in VPA-induced cell proliferation, we also examined p-AKT, GSK3β, p-JNK and MMP-9. Moreover, to detect the effect of VPA in primary cortical neurons, immunofluorescence staining of β-III tubulin and Anti-NeuN was analyzed in primary cultured neurons exposed to TG. Our results demonstrated that VPA administration improved cell viability in cells exposed to TG. In addition, VPA increased the levels of GRP78 and p-AKT and decreased the levels of ATF6, XBP-1, GSK3β, p-JNK and MMP-9. Furthermore, the levels of the ER stress-induced apoptosis response proteins CHOP, cleaved caspase-12 and cleaved caspase-3 were inhibited by VPA treatment. Meanwhile, VPA administration also increased the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax. Moreover, VPA can maintain neurite outgrowth of primary cortical neurons. Collectively, the neurotrophic effect of VPA is related to the inhibition of ER stress-induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells and the maintenance of neuronal growth. Collectively, our results suggested a new approach for the therapeutic function of VPA in neurological disorders and neuroprotection. Full article

Astrocytes have critical roles in immune defense, homeostasis, metabolism, and synaptic remodeling and function in the central nervous system (CNS); however, excessive activation of astrocytes with increased intermediate filaments following neuronal trauma, infection, ischemia, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases results in a pro-inflammatory environment and promotes neuronal death. As an important neurotrophic factor, the secretion of endogenous basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) contributes to the protective effect of neuronal cells, but the mechanism of bFGF in reactive astrogliosis is still unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that exogenous bFGF attenuated astrocyte activation by reducing the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and other markers, including neurocan and vimentin, but not nestin and decreased the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), via the regulation of the upstream toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor κB (TLR4/NFκB) signaling pathway. Our study suggests that the function of bFGF is not only related to the neuroprotective and neurotrophic effect but also involved in the inhibition of excessive astrogliosis and glial scarring after neuronal injury. Full article

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), an important traditional Chinese medicine, is cultured widely for its pharmacological effects, but little is known regarding the genes related to the metabolic regulation of the safflower’s yellow pigment. To investigate genes related to safflor yellow biosynthesis, 454 pyrosequencing of flower RNA at different developmental stages was performed, generating large databases.In this study, we analyzed 454 sequencing data from different flowering stages in safflower. In total, 1,151,324 raw reads and 1,140,594 clean reads were produced, which were assembled into 51,591 unigenes with an average length of 679 bp and a maximum length of 5109 bp. Among the unigenes, 40,139 were in the early group, 39,768 were obtained from the full group and 28,316 were detected in both samples. With the threshold of “log2 ratio ≥ 1”, there were 34,464 differentially expressed genes, of which 18,043 were up-regulated and 16,421 were down-regulated in the early flower library. Based on the annotations of the unigenes, 281 pathways were predicted. We selected 12 putative genes and analyzed their expression levels using quantitative real time-PCR. The results were consistent with the 454 sequencing results. In addition, the expression of chalcone synthase, chalcone isomerase and anthocyanidin synthase, which are involved in safflor yellow biosynthesis and safflower yellow pigment (SYP) content, were analyzed in different flowering periods, indicating that their expression levels were related to SYP synthesis. Moreover, to further confirm the results of the 454 pyrosequencing, full-length cDNA of chalcone isomerase (CHI) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) were cloned from safflower petal by RACE (Rapid-amplification of cDNA ends) method according to fragment of the transcriptome. Full article

The objective of the present study is to determine whether methoxychlor (MXC) exposure in adulthood affects rat Leydig cell regeneration and to compare its effects with estradiol (E2). Adult 90-day-old male Sprague-Dawley rats received ethane dimethane sulfonate (EDS) to eliminate the adult Leydig cell population. Subsequently, rats were randomly assigned to four groups and gavaged with corn oil (control), 0.25 mg/kg E2 and 10 or 100 mg/kg MXC daily from days 5 to 30 post-EDS treatment. The results showed that MXC and E2 reduced serum testosterone levels on day 58 post-EDS treatment. qPCR showed Hsd17b3 mRNA levels were downregulated 7–15 fold by E2 and MXC, indicating that development of the new population of Leydig cells was arrested at the earlier stage. This observation was supported by the results of histochemical staining, which demonstrated that Leydig cells in MXC-treated testis on day 58 post-EDS treatment were mostly progenitor Leydig cells. However, Pdgfb mRNA levels were downregulated, while Lif transcript levels were increased by MXC. In contrast, E2 did not affect gene expression for these growth factors. In conclusion, our findings indicated that both MXC and E2 delayed rat Leydig cell regeneration in the EDS-treated model, presumably acting by different mechanisms. Full article