electrotaxis-studies-lung-cancer-cells-using-multichannel-dual

Electrotaxis Studies of Lung Cancer Cells using a Multichannel Dual-electric-field Microfluidic Chip

The behavior of directional cell migration under a direct current electric-field (dcEF) is referred to as electrotaxis. The significant role of ...

designing-microfluidic-devices-for-studying-cellular-responses-under

Designing Microfluidic Devices for Studying Cellular Responses Under Single or Coexisting Chemical/Electrical/Shear Stress Stimuli

Microfluidic devices are capable of creating a precise and controllable cellular micro-environment of pH, temperature, salt concentration, and other ...

Academia Sinica

This study is aimed at investigating the in vivo antitumor activity of a novel cell-impermeable glucuronide prodrug, 9-aminocamptothecin glucuronide (9ACG), and elucidating the synergistically antitumor effects of antiangiogenesis therapy by targeting the tumor microenvironment.

Antiangiogenesis targeting tumor microenvironment synergizes glucuronide prodrug antitumor activity.

Minocycline exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects distinct from its antimicrobial function. In this study we investigated the effect of this drug on chemotherapy-induced gut damage. Body weight loss results, diarrhea scores, and villi measurements showed that minocycline attenuated the severity of intestinal mucositis induced by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Minocycline repressed the expression of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and iNOS, decreased the apoptotic index, and inhibited poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) activity in the mouse small intestine. In vitro experiments showed that minocycline suppressed the upregulation of PARP-1 activity in enterocyte IEC-6 cells treated with 5-FU. In addition, minocycline treatment appeared to enhance the antitumor effects of 5-FU in tumor CT-26 xenograft mice. Our results indicate that minocycline protects mice from gut injury induced by 5-FU and enhances the antitumor effects of 5-FU in xenograft mice. These observations suggest that minocycline treatment may benefit patients undergoing standard cancer chemotherapy by alleviating chemical-associated intestinal mucositis.

Minocycline attenuates 5-fluorouracil-induced small intestinal mucositis in mouse model.

Label-free detection of rare cells in biological samples is an important and highly demanded task for clinical applications and various fields of research, such as detection of circulating tumor cells for cancer therapy and stem cells studies. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) as a label-free method is a promising technology for detection of rare cells for diagnosis or research applications. Short detection depth of SPR (400 nm) provides a sensitive method with minimum interference of non-targets in the biological samples. In this work, we developed a novel microfluidic chip integrated with gold nanoslit SPR platform for highly efficient immunomagnetic capturing and detection of rare cells in human blood. Our method offers simple yet efficient detection of target cells with high purity. The approach for detection consists of two steps. Target cells are firs captured on functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with specific antibody I. The suspension containing the captured cells (MNPs-cells) is then introduced into a microfluidic chip integrated with a gold nanoslit film. MNPs-cells bind with the second specific antibody immobilized on the surface of the gold nanoslit and are therefore captured on the sensor active area. The cell binding on the gold nanoslit was monitored by the wavelength shift of the SPR spectrum generated by the gold nanoslits.

Label-free detection of rare cell in human blood using gold nano slit surface plasmon resonance.

Cell migration is an essential process involved in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Electric fields (EFs) are one of the many physical and chemical factors known to affect cell migration, a phenomenon termed electrotaxis or galvanotaxis. In this paper, a microfluidics chip was developed to study the migration of cells under different electrical and chemical stimuli. This chip is capable of providing four different strengths of EFs in combination with two different chemicals via one simple set of agar salt bridges and Ag/AgCl electrodes. NIH 3T3 fibroblasts were seeded inside this chip to study their migration and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in response to different EF strengths and the presence of β-lapachone. We found that both the EF and β-lapachone level increased the cell migration rate and the production of ROS in an EF-strength-dependent manner. A strong linear correlation between the cell migration rate and the amount of intracellular ROS suggests that ROS are an intermediate product by which EF and β-lapachone enhance cell migration. Moreover, an anti-oxidant, α-tocopherol, was found to quench the production of ROS, resulting in a decrease in the migration rate.

Hsien-San Hou

Research Center for Applied Sciences

Academia Sinica

Electrotaxis Studies of Lung Cancer Cells using a Multichannel Dual-electric-field Microfluidic Chip

Designing Microfluidic Devices for Studying Cellular Responses Under Single or Coexisting Chemical/Electrical/Shear Stress Stimuli