Journal: Brain : a journal of neurology

Article Title: Connexin43 mimetic peptide reduces vascular leak and retinal ganglion cell death following retinal ischaemia.

doi: 10.1093/brain/awr338

Figure Lengend Snippet: Figure 3 Three hours of hypoxia and 6 h of reperfusion lead to significant endothelial cell death in vitro in rat brain microvascular endothelial cells (RBMVEC; A). Non-specific gap junction blocker carbenoxolone, non-specific hemichannel blocker LaCl3, and connexin43 (Cx43) mimetic peptide protected endothelial cells against hypoxic injury, with the number of viable cells significantly higher than no treatment, while scrambled peptide did not have any protective effects. The number of viable cells was expressed as percentage of the control without hypoxia. Hypoxia and reperfusion also lead to significant propidium iodide dye uptake into primary rat brain microvascular endothelial cells indicating open hemichannels (B). Carbenoxolone, LaCl3 and connexin43 mimetic peptide significantly prevented dye uptake compared to no treatment, indicating hemichannel closure, while scrambled peptide did not have any effect. Stars denote statistical significance when compared to the control group or compared between groups in brackets; P 5 0.05.

Article Snippet: Rat brain microvascular endothelial cells (R840K-05a, Cell Applications) were plated into 24-well plates (1 105 cells/well) in rat brain microvascular endothelial cell growth media (R819K-500, Cell Applications) and allowed to settle for 16 h. Medium was then removed and replaced with Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium/F12 containing 0.5% foetal bovine serum and 1% glutamine.

Techniques: In Vitro, Control

Journal: Science Advances

Article Title: Strontium ions protect hearts against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury

doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe0726

Figure Lengend Snippet: ( A ) The viability of NRCMs measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) in the medium supplemented with different concentrations of Sr ion after OGD injury. ( B ) TUNEL staining (green), cTnT staining (red), and DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining (blue) in NRCMs after OGD injury and quantitative analysis of TUNEL + NRCMs (10 pictures for each group). The corresponding concentrations of Sr ion with the 1/4 to 1/16 dilution ratio for NRCM culture are shown in table S1. ( C to H ) The cell viability and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) (C and D), human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) (E and F), and human umbilical vein smooth muscle cells (HUVSMCs) (G and H) after culturing in the medium supplemented with Sr ions at different concentrations. They were respectively revealed by CCK8 and the immunofluorescence of Ki67, followed by quantitative analysis of Ki67 + after Sr ion treatment for 5 days (HUVECs) or 7 days (HDFs and HUVSMCs). The corresponding concentrations of Sr ion with the dilution ratio of 1 to 1/256 for HUVEC, HDF, and HUVSMC culture are respectively shown in table S1. Experiments were conducted in triplicate. All data are presented as means ± SEM. An unpaired t test was used to compare between any two groups. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare between three or more groups. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, and *** P < 0.001.

Article Snippet: HUVSMCs were purchased from ScienCell company and cultured with smooth muscle cell medium (SMCM; ScienCell, USA) supplemented with 2.5% FBS and 1% smooth muscle cell growth supplement/heparin kit (ScienCell, USA).

Techniques: Cell Counting, TUNEL Assay, Staining, Immunofluorescence