Differentiation Of Midbrain Cells Research Articles

Bisphenol A inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in micromass cultures of rat embryonic midbrain cells through the JNK, CREB and p53 signaling pathways

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been widely used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic, water bottles and food containers. Previous studies have established that BPA could cause developmental toxicity by inhibiting the proliferation and differentiation of rat embryonic midbrain (MB) cells in vitro. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been well studied yet. In the current study, we examined the proliferation and differentiation of MB cells treated with 10−12–10−4M BPA and found that only 10−4M BPA inhibited proliferation and differentiation. Then, we investigated the cell cycle progression and apoptosis of MB cells; 10−4M BPA caused an explicit S phase and G2/M phase arrest in the cell cycle and increased the percentage of apoptotic cells. Moreover, the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and cyclic-AMP response binding protein (CREB) and the expression of some apoptotic regulatory genes were investigated. BPA (10−4M) reduced the phosphorylation of C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and CREB, and increased the mRNA expression level of Bax and p53. Our findings demonstrated that BPA could cause developmental toxicity through anti-proliferation and pro-apoptosis in MB cells. Multiple signaling pathways, such as the JNK, CREB and p53-mitochondrial apoptosis pathways, participate in these effects.

Comparative studies of embryotoxic action of ethylenethiourea in rat whole embryo and embryonic cell culture

The effects of ethylenethiourea (ETU) were investigated using rat (Wistar-imamichi) embryos cultured from days 11 to 13 of gestation or cultured rat embryonic cells extracted on day 11. Malformations in cultured embryos at the concentration of 30 micrograms/ml of ETU were found in the head and tail, which were severely affected, as well as the limb and face. All embryos exposed to 150 and 300 micrograms/ml of ETU had malformed heads, tails, limbs, and facial configurations. Protein contents of the cultured embryos were decreased dose-dependently at the concentrations ranging from 30 to 300 micrograms/ml. In the histological studies of the cultured embryos with ETU, thinner neuroepithelium in head was observed. In the embryonic cells extracted on day 11 of gestation, ETU dose-dependently inhibited the differentiation of midbrain (MB) cells into neurons and that of limb bud (LB) cells into chondrocytes at the concentrations ranging from 30 to 600 micrograms/ml of ETU. The concentrations of ETU that inhibited the production of differentiated foci by 50% (IC50) were 170 micrograms/ml in LB cells of day 11, and greater than 600 micrograms/ml in LB cells on day 12 of development. Therefore, differentiation of MB cells was more sensitive to ETU than the differentiation of LB cells. These results indicated that there was a reasonable correlation of ETU induced changes in cultured whole embryos and embryonic cells.