International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Volume 14, Issue 2

Since 2012, International Journal of Molecular Science has instituted an annual award to recognize outstanding papers in the area of chemistry, molecular physics and molecular biology that meet the aims, scope and high standards of this journal [1]....

Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that covers a vast and diverse array of devices and machines derived from engineering, physics, materials science, chemistry and biology. These devices have found applications in biomedical sciences, such a...

Nanoencapsulation of thiamine dilauryl sulfate (TDS), a vitamin B1 derivative, was proved to effectively inhibit the spore germination of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. raphani (F. oxysporum), as well as mycelial growth. The average diameter of nanopartic...

The field of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is advancing rapidly. Currently, it is one of the most popular fields in the biological and medical sciences. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the majority of the human transcriptome has little or...

Chemical examination of the Taiwanese soft coral Sinularia flexibilis led to the isolation of five cembrane-based diterpenoids 1–5, including two new metabolites, 11-acetylsinuflexolide (1) and 11-acetyldihydrosinuflexolide (2). The structures of th...

Staphylococcus aureus is among the main etiologic agents of bovine mastitis. A total of 83 isolates of S. aureus from mammary glands of primiparous heifers were collected in the prepartum, calving and during lactation. For lactating cows, a total of...

In the pulmonary vasculature, mechanical forces such as cyclic stretch induce changes in vascular signaling, tone and remodeling. Nitric oxide is a potent regulator of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), which drives cGMP production, causing vasorelaxat...

In an earlier study, we isolated potamin-1 (PT-1), a 5.6-kDa trypsin-chymotrypsin protease inhibitor, from the tubers of a potato strain (Solanum tuberosum L cv. Gogu Valley). We established that PT-1 strongly inhibits pathogenic microbial strains, b...

Tendon adhesions are one of the most concerning complications after surgical repair of flexor tendon injury. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 2 plays crucial roles in fibroblast proliferation and collagen expression which contributes to th...

Plants are fundamental elements of the human diet, either as direct sources of nutrients or indirectly as feed for animals. During the past few years, the main goal of agriculture has been to increase yield in order to provide the food that is needed...

Tree nuts are rich in macro and micronutrients, phytochemicals, tocopherols and phenolic compounds. The development of nut spreads would potentially increase the food uses of nuts and introduce consumers with a healthier, non-animal breakfast snack f...

Using the comprehensive approach to selecting polymorphisms to date, we sought to examine whether recurrence in colorectal cancer was associated with inherited variation in three genes involved in DNA repair and cell proliferation. Three polymorphism...

We aimed to evaluate the association between the progressive stages of cervical neoplasia and DNA damage in 5-bp classical satellite DNA sequences from chromosome-1 in cervical epithelium and in peripheral blood lymphocytes using DNA breakage detect...

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal that is considered an environmental contaminant. Several sources of human exposure to Cd, including employment in primary metal industries, production of certain batteries, foods, soil and cigarette smoke, are know...

Pancreatic cancer is a fatal disease with a 5-year survival rate below 5%. Most patients are diagnosed at an advanced tumor stage and existence of distant metastases. However, involvement of the central nervous system is rare in pancreatic cancer. We...

This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of the chitosan (CTS) and water-soluble chitosan (WSC) microspheres on plasma lipids in male Sprague-Dawley rats fed with high-fat diets. CTS microspheres and WSC microspheres were prepared by the spr...

Repurposing approved and abandoned non-oncological drugs is an alternative developmental strategy for the identification of anticancer therapeutics that has recently attracted considerable attention. Due to the essential role of the cellular heat sho...

In this work, we investigated the potential role of the small G protein RhoA in ethanol-induced tight junction (TJ) protein disassembly and increased intestinal epithelial barrier (IEB) permeability. Our study used Caco-2 cells as an in vitro IEB mod...

The maintenance of intact genetic information, as well as the deployment of transcription for specific sets of genes, critically rely on a family of proteins interacting with DNA and recognizing specific sequences or features. The mechanisms by which...

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared by bulk polymerization in acetonitrile using 2,4-dinitrophenol, acrylamide, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and benzoyl peroxide, as the template, functional monomer, cross-linker, and initiator, re...

A combined theoretical and experimental study on the structure, infrared, UV-Vis and ¹H NMR data of trans-2-(m-cyanostyryl)pyridine, trans-2-[3-methyl-(m-cyanostyryl)]pyridine and trans-4-(m-cyanostyryl)pyridine is presented. The synthesis was carri...

The F-box domain is a protein structural motif of about 50 amino acids that mediates protein–protein interactions. The F-box protein is one of the four components of the SCF (SKp1, Cullin, F-box protein) complex, which mediates ubiquitination of prot...

Membranes are vital structures for cellular life forms. As thin, hydrophobic films, they provide a physical barrier separating the aqueous cytoplasm from the outside world or from the interiors of other cellular compartments. They maintain a selectiv...

The supramolecular assembly of proteins on surfaces has been investigated via the site-selective incorporation of a supramolecular moiety on proteins. To this end, fluorescent proteins have been site-selectively labeled with ferrocenes, as supramolec...

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs), based on TiO₂ and assembled using a dye from Beta vulgaris extract (BVE) with Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), are reported. The dye BVE/TEOS increased its UV resistance, rendering an increase in the cell lifetime;...

Fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10) is important as a mesenchymal mediator of epithelial growth and morphogenesis. In this study, the expression and localization of the FGF10 protein were detected by laser scanning confocal microscopy during mouse po...

Eriobotrya japonica leaf is a traditional herbal medicine that contains numerous triterpenes, which have various pharmacological properties. In this study, we investigated the anti-proliferative activity of four triterpenes derived from E. japonica, ...

Although rice resistance plays an important role in controlling the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, not all varieties have the same level of protection against BPH infestation. Understanding the molecular interactions in rice defense res...

Melatonin is a pleiotropic molecule with many cellular and systemic actions, including chronobiotic effects. Beneficial effects are widely documented concerning the treatment of neoplastic diseases in vivo as well as reductions in viability of cultur...

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a critical regulator of many fundamental features in response to upstream cellular signals, such as growth factors, energy, stress and nutrients, controlling cell growth, proliferation and metabolism throug...

Administration of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents is an effective strategy for preventing ultraviolet (UV) irradiation-induced skin damage. Artocarpus communis possesses several pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, anticancer an...

Increased oxidative stress has been associated with the aging process. However, recent studies have revealed that a low-level oxidative stress can even extend the lifespan of organisms. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important signaling molecules,...

Extracellular proteins devoid of signal peptides use nonclassical secretion mechanisms for their export. These mechanisms are independent of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi. Some nonclassically released proteins, particularly fibroblast growth fa...

Pharmacologic inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) putatively enhance radiation toxicity in cancer cells. Although there is considerable information on the molecular interactions of PARP and BRCA1- and BRCA2-deficient cancers, very little...

RNA interference (RNAi) offers a novel tool to manage hemipteran pests. For the success of RNAi based pest control in the field, a robust and systemic RNAi response is a prerequisite. We identified and characterized major genes of the RNAi machinery,...

To better understand the molecular mechanisms of paclitaxel resistance in ovarian carcinoma, we evaluated the expression of miRNAs using miRNA microarray between human ovarian carcinoma SKOV3 cells and paclitaxel resistant SKOV3-TR30 cells. Results s...

Akirin is a recently discovered nuclear factor that plays an important role in innate immune responses. Beyond its role in innate immune responses, Akirin has recently been shown to play an important role in skeletal myogenesis. In this article, we w...

A recent experimental study [1] has demonstrated the alignment of phase separated domains across hundreds of bilayer units in multicomponent stacked lipid bilayers. The origin of this alignment is the interlamellar coupling of laterally phase separat...

Phenylpropanoids, particularly flavonoids have been recently suggested as playing primary antioxidant functions in the responses of plants to a wide range of abiotic stresses. Furthermore, flavonoids are effective endogenous regulators of auxin movem...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is an important member of the FGF gene family. It is widely used in clinical applications for scald and wound healing in order to stimulate cell proliferation. Further it is applied for inhibiting stem cell diff...

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is an important second messenger in cellular signal transduction. H₂O₂-dependent signalling regulates many cellular processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, migration and apoptosis. Nevertheless, H₂O₂ is an oxidant...

Extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) signaling is required for a multitude of physiological and patho-physiological processes. However, the identities of the proteins that ERK phosphorylates to elicit these responses are incompletely known. Us...

The miscibility of carboxymethyl chitosan/polyethylenimine (CMCS/PEI) blends was analyzed by FT-IR, TGA and SEM. Defect-free CMCS/PEI blend membranes were prepared with polysulfone (PSf) ultrafiltration membranes as support layer for the separation o...

R(+)-alpha lipoic acid (RALA) is one of the cofactors for mitochondrial enzymes and, therefore, plays a central role in energy metabolism. RALA is unstable when exposed to low pH or heat, and therefore, it is difficult to use enantiopure RALA as a ph...

A rapid sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for determination of timosaponin AIII (TA-III) in rat plasma, using ginsenoside Re as an internal standard (IS). TA-III and the IS were det...

A β-cyclodextrin (β-Cyd) inclusion complex containing azomethine as a guest was prepared by kneading method with aliquot addition of ethanol. The product was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonan...

The outdated idea that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are only dangerous products of cellular metabolism, causing toxic and mutagenic effects on cellular components, is being replaced by the view that ROS have several important functions in cell signa...

We demonstrate the application of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (“click” reaction) to couple gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) functionalized with low densities of functional ligands. The ligand coverage on the citrate-stabilized Au NPs was adjusted by the...

Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) are considered to mediate the inflammatory reaction of cerebral ischemia injury, and exercise can inhibit the activity of the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway in the peripheral blood of...

The RSK2 protein is a member of the RSK serine-threonine protein kinase family and is encoded by the X-linked rps6ka3 gene in human. Highly heterogeneous loss-of-function mutations affecting this gene are responsible for a severe syndromic form of c...