Taketoshi Asanuma

The suppression of age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in rat brain by administration of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis)

The protective effects of Rooibos tea (RT), Aspalathus linearis, against damage to the central nervous system (CNS) accompanying aging were examined by both the thiobarbituric acid reaction (TBA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in brains of chronically RT-treated rats. Ad libitum administration of RT was begun with 3-month-old Wistar female rats and continued for 21 months. The contents of TBA reactive substances (TBARS) in the frontal cortex, occipital cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in 24-month-old rats after administration with water were significantly higher than those in young rats (5 weeks old). However, no significant increase of TBARS was observed in RT-administered aged rats. When MR images of the brains of 24-month-old rats with and without RT as well as 5-week-old rats were taken, a decrease of the signal intensity was observed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in MR images of aged rats without RT, whereas little change of the signal intensity was observed in MR images of the same regions of 24-month-old rats treated with RT, whose images were similar to those of young rats. These observations suggested that (1) the age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in the brain was closely related to the morphological changes observed by MRI, and (2) chronic RT-administration prevented age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in several regions of rat brain.

Super paramagnetic iron oxide MRI shows defective Kupffer cell uptake function in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background The pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is incompletely understood. Kupffer cells (KCs), phagocytic liver-resident macrophages, provide a protective barrier against egress of endotoxin from the portal to the systemic circulation. It is not known if KC phagocytic function is impaired in NAFLD. Super-paramagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) magnetic resonance imaging is a comparative technology dependent on KC phagocytic function. Objective To evaluate KC uptake function, in patients and experimental animals with NAFLD, using SPIO. Methods Abdominal CT and histological examination of liver biopsy specimens were used to estimate the degree of steatosis in patients with NAFLD and controls with chronic hepatitis C. SPIO-MRI was then performed in all patients. Normal rats fed a methionine-choline-deficient diet to induce non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the more severe stage of NAFLD, and obese, insulin resistant, Zucker fa/fa rats with steatohepatitis, were also studied with SPIO-MRI and analysed for hepatic uptake of fluorescent microbeads. Immunohistochemical analysis evaluated the numbers of KCs in patients and rat livers. Results Relative signal enhancement (RSE), inversely proportional to KC function, was higher in patients with NAFLD than in controls and with the degree of steatosis on CT. RSE also positively correlated with the degree of steatosis on histology and was similarly higher in rats with induced severe NAFLD (NASH). On immunohistochemistry, defective phagocytic function was the result of reduced phagocytic uptake and not due to reduced KC numbers in rats or patients with NAFLD. Conclusions KC uptake function is significantly impaired in patients with NAFLD and experimental animals with NASH, worsens with the degree of steatosis and is not due to a reduction of KC numbers.

Regulation of Cell Survival and Death Signals Induced by Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress stimulates two opposite signaling pathways leading to cell death and cell survival. Preferential selection of survival signals leads to the protection of cells against damage induced by reactive oxygen species, whereas preferential acceleration of death signals can be used to advantage in tumor therapy with oxidizing agents such as ionizing radiation and anticancer drugs. In vitro and in vivo experiments using cultured mammalian cells and experimental animals showed that ERK was included in survival signals and SAPK and p38 MAPK in death signals in oxidative stress. The activation of SAPK/JNK and subsequent expression of death receptor Fas on the cell surface caused the induction of cell death. The results mean that the acceleration of the activation of SAPK/JNK might lead to the enhancement of cell death by oxidizing agents like ionizing radiation and anticancer drugs. In fact, when cultured mammalian cells were exposed to ionizing radiation with 2-nitroimidazole derivatives having electrophilicity, the lethal effect of ionizing radiation was found to be enhanced together with the activation of SAPK/JNK and the enhancement of Fas expression. The activation of both survival and death signals was suppressed by the antioxidants N-acetylcystein and Trolox, suggesting that both signaling pathways are redox-regulated.

Inhibition of HIF-1α by the anticancer drug TAS106 enhances X-ray-induced apoptosis in vitro and in vivo

In a previous study, we showed that a novel anticancer drug, 1-(3-C-ethynyl-β-D-ribo-pentofuranosyl)cytosine (TAS106, ECyd) increased the antitumour efficacy of X-irradiation. However, its effects on hypoxic cells in tumours remain unclarified. Here, we show that TAS106 enhances the induction of apoptosis in X-irradiated human gastric adenocarcinoma MKN45 and MKN28 cells under hypoxia in vitro. At the same time, the accumulation of HIF-1α observed under hypoxia was shown to be decreased to the level of normoxia in the presence of 0.1 μM TAS106. To study the function of HIF-1α protein in apoptosis of hypoxic cells, we employed an HIF-1α reductive approach using its specific antisense oligodeoxynucleotide. The reduction of HIF-1α gene expression dramatically enhanced X-ray-induced apoptosis in hypoxic cells. In in vivo experiments in which MKN45 cells were transplanted into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, TAS106 (0.5 mg kg−1) suppressed HIF-1α expression and subsequently reduced the area of the hypoxic region in the tumour and enhanced the induction of apoptosis in the hypoxic region when combined with 2 Gy of X-irradiation. These results suggest the possibility that TAS106 acts as a potent radiosensitiser through the inhibition of HIF-1α expression and can be a useful agent against radiotherapy-resistant hypoxic cells in solid tumours.

A novel and comprehensive mouse model of human non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis with the full range of dysmetabolic and histological abnormalities induced by gold thioglucose and a high‐fat diet

Background: The search for effective treatments of non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), now the most common chronic liver disease in affluent countries, is hindered by a lack of animal models having the range of anthropometric and pathophysiological features as human NASH.

Visualization of the protective ability of a free radical trapping compound against rat C6 and F98 gliomas with diffusion tensor fiber tractography

To apply fiber tractography to assess the effect of a possible antiglioma drug, phenyl N‐tert‐butyl nitrone (PBN), on glioma‐affected neuronal fibers. The fiber tractography method was able to differentiate between different tumor types, such as the C6 and F98 rat glioma models.

The effects of α-phenyl-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN) on copper-induced rat fulminant hepatitis with jaundice

In the present study we demonstrated the protective effects of the spin-trapping agent alpha-phenyl-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN) against fulminant hepatitis with jaundice in LEC rats. In LEC rats an excess amount of copper is accumulated in the liver and causes hepatitis with severe jaundice. PBN was subcutaneously administered every 2 d at the concentration of 128 mg/kg, beginning with 13-week-old rats and continuing for 17 weeks. PBN prevented the loss of body weight, reduced death rate, and suppressed the increase in GTP and GOT values reflecting hepatic cell destruction. Ocular inspection also confirmed the suppressive effects of PBN on jaundice. In parallel with these phenomena, the amounts of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in livers of PBN-administered rats were found to be lower than those of non-PBN-administered rats. Little histological changes were observed in PBN-administered rats in comparison with non-PBN-administered rats. The protective effect of PBN on the formation of oxidative damage in liver DNA was observed but not so remarkable as that on lipid peroxidation. From these results, it was concluded that PBN had the liver-protective effects against fulminant hepatitis with jaundice. This suggested that free radicals play an important role in abnormally accumulated copper-induced liver injury and that PBN potentially has therapeutic value for the treatment of hepatitis.

Protection against malonate-induced ischemic brain injury in rat by a cell-permeable peptidic c-Jun N-terminal kinase inhibitor, (L)-HIV-TAT48-57-PP-JBD20, observed by the apparent diffusion coefficient mapping magnetic resonance imaging method

The present experiments were carried out to provide direct in vivo evidence for the involvement of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in the induction of ischemic brain injury. Malonate, which produces lesions similar to those of focal ischemia-reperfusion by a reversible inhibition of succinate dehydrogenase in mitochondria, was injected into the left striatum in the rat brain without or with the simultaneous injection of a cell permeable peptidic JNK inhibitor, (L)-HIV-TAT48-57-PP-JBD20. Two regions of malonate-induced brain injury were visualized as a hyperintense region with surrounding hypointense regions by apparent diffusion coefficient mapping magnetic resonance imaging. The JNK inhibitor significantly counteracted both hyper- and hypointense regions at the early stage of brain injury. Histological examination clarified that the inhibitor suppressed the induction of coagulation necrosis and spongy degeneration at early and late stages.

Diffusion tensor imaging and fiber tractography of C6 rat glioma

To apply diffusion tensor images using 30 noncollinear directions for diffusion‐weighted gradient schemes to characterize diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) features associated with C6 glioma‐bearing rat brains, and ideally visualize fiber tractography datasets.

A Novel Anticancer Ribonucleoside, 1-(3-C-Ethynyl-β-D-ribo-pentofuranosyl)Cytosine, Enhances Radiation-Induced Cell Death in Tumor Cells

Abstract Inanami, O., Iizuka, D., Iwahara, A., Yamamori, T., Kon, Y., Asanuma, T., Matsuda, A., Kashiwakura, I., Kitazato, K. and Kuwabara, M. A Novel Anticancer Ribonucleoside, 1-(3-C-Ethynyl-β-d-ribo-pentofuranosyl)Cytosine, Enhances Radiation-Induced Cell Death in Tumor Cells. Radiat. Res. 162, 635–645 (2004). 1-(3-C-Ethynyl-β-d-ribo-pentofuranosyl)cytosine (ECyd, TAS106) is a newly developed anti-tumor agent that targets RNA synthesis. We report here that a low dose of ECyd induces radiosensitization of caspase-dependent apoptosis and reproductive cell death in cells of the gastric tumor cell lines MKN45 and MKN28 and murine rectum adenocarcinoma Colon26. Flow cytometry demonstrated that TAS106 induced the abrogation of the X-ray-induced G2/M checkpoint. Western blot analysis showed that X rays increased the expression of cyclin B1, phospho-Cdc2 and Wee1, whereas co-treatment with X rays and TAS106 decreased the expression of these cell cycle proteins associated with the G2/M checkpoint. Furthermore, TAS106 was shown to decrease the radiation-induced expression of survivin but not Bcl2 and BclXL regardless of TP53 status and cell type. Overexpression of wild-type survivin in MKN45 cells inhibited the induction of apoptosis induced by co-treatment with X rays and TAS106. These results suggest that TAS106 enhances X-ray-induced cell death through down-regulation of survivin and abrogation of the cell cycle machinery.