Cells

In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes remains less efficient than in vivo maturation, partly because conventional culture media cannot fully reproduce the follicular microenvironment. This study evaluated whether human amniotic membrane stem cell-conditioned medium (hAMSC-CM) improves IVM efficiency of mouse cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) recovered from ICR females primed with 0, 5, or 10 IU preg…

Cancer development is a highly complex and dynamic process driven by molecular alterations affecting cellular identity, homeostasis, and interactions with the surrounding environment [...]

Prostate cancer is common in older men, yet mechanisms linking aging to tumor progression remain incompletely defined. Beyond genetic alterations, aging reshapes the prostate microenvironment through cellular senescence, chronic low-grade inflammation, immune dysfunction, stromal remodeling, metabolic stress, and impaired tissue repair, collectively promoting inflammaging. This persistent inflamm…

Mammalian hearts exhibit limited regeneration, whereas zebrafish hearts present a remarkable capacity to regenerate upon injury through cardiomyocyte (CM) proliferation. Thus, understanding genes and especially transcription factors (TFs) enabling zebrafish CM regeneration may open new avenues for human heart repair. Herein, we injured zebrafish hearts by apex resection (AR) and found that the nu…

Disruptions in folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12 metabolism, including nutritional deficiency, folate receptor alpha (FRα) autoantibodies, and MTHFR/DHFR polymorphisms, impair one-carbon metabolism and produce measurable retinal structural, microvascular, and functional changes, offering a non-invasive window into systemic and cerebral metabolic dysfunction, particularly cerebral folate deficie…

Introduction: Mechanical loading has been shown to accelerate bone growth in healthy mice, but if this is the case also in growth suppressed animals with an inflammatory condition remains unexplored. To address this, we explored the potential for mechanical loading to stimulate longitudinal bone growth under conditions of chronic inflammation. Methods: A transgenic mouse model overexpressing huma…

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a progressive cerebrovascular disorder characterized by intracranial arterial stenosis and abnormal collateral vessel formation. The molecular mechanisms by which extracellular vesicle (EV)-derived microRNAs contribute to endothelial dysfunction remain poorly understood. We investigated whether circulating extracellular vesicle-derived microRNAs (EV-miRNAs) contribute to…

Sorafenib is widely used to treat metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC); however, the acquired drug resistance limits its efficacy and application in clinical practice. The receptor tyrosine kinases c-Met and AXL play important roles in cancer progression and are involved in tyrosine kinase inhibitor-induced drug resistance in cancers, but whether these two receptors also contribute to sorafenib-…

Disulfidptosis was originally characterized as a programmed cell death modality reliant on SLC7A11 overexpression, which ultimately induces cytoskeleton collapse. This cell death pattern offers innovative research perspectives and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of drug-resistant tumors with elevated SLC7A11 expression. Nevertheless, the recent identification of non-canonical disulfidpto…

The phenomenon of centromere clustering and its impact are still largely unclear in the eukaryotic supergroup of Amoebozoa. In this review, we highlight the molecular basis for centromere clustering, its relationship to the centrosome, and its role in mitotic spindle organization in Dictyostelium amoebae. Here, the centrosome is anchored to the cytosolic side of the nucleus during interphase and …

Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of death, and nicotine is the primary substance responsible for maintaining use of tobacco products. Preclinical rodent models have shown that neuroimmune signaling is dysregulated by nicotine self-administration (SA) within the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore). Microglia are the resident brain immune cell and prior studies have shown that they play an i…

Engineered mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as promising therapeutic platforms for healthspan-relevant applications. As agents of tissue repair and modulators of biological aging, MSCs have been widely studied for their capacity to enhance regeneration, restore immune homeostasis, and reduce chronic inflammation associated with age-related decline. This review examines emerging bioengin…

Background: Zearalenone (ZEN) exposure poses health risks to both humans and animals. Although evidence indicates that ZEN significantly impairs oocyte developmental competence, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. While it is recognized that prepubertal animals are particularly vulnerable to ZEN and that juvenile in vitro embryo transfer represents a promising strategy for accelerat…

Circulating extracellular vesicle-associated microRNAs (EV-miRNAs) are emerging as promising peripheral biomarkers in multiple sclerosis (MS). This prospective, observational pilot study was conceived as a hypothesis-generating investigation to characterize the expression profile of four candidate EV-miRNAs (miR-223-5p, miR-155-5p, miR-30a-5p, and miR-146a-5p) within an EV-enriched plasma fractio…

Sensorineural hearing loss, caused by irreversible hair cell (HC) loss, remains incurable due to the inability of the mammalian cochlea to regenerate HCs spontaneously. Although the combinatorial modulation of Notch and Wnt signaling robustly reprograms cochlear supporting cells to HCs in vitro, these strategies show limited success in vivo, which suggests that the native cochlear microenvironmen…

Decreased osteoblast differentiation contributes to bone loss induced by mechanical unloading. However, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. We previously found that microtubule actin crosslinking factor 1 (MACF1), a key cytoskeletal protein, plays an important role in regulating osteoblast differentiation, while the role of MACF1 in mechanical unloading suppressing osteoblast differentiati…

Methamphetamine (METH) is a known proinflammatory agent; however, the impacts of inflammasomes on its neurotoxic effects are not fully understood. In the present study, we assessed the impact of prolonged METH administration on the hippocampal inflammasome profile in male and female mice and determined alterations of the inflammasome profile in response to METH. In addition to inflammasome activa…

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are chronic cholestatic liver diseases with limited therapeutic options. First-line therapy for PBC is ursodeoxycholic acid, although up to 40% of patients respond incompletely, and there is no effective therapy for PSC. Newer peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonists, e.g., seladelpar and elafibranor, rec…

Astrocytes, once regarded primarily as structural and metabolic support cells, are now increasingly recognized as active participants in neural information processing. Within respiratory control networks, astrocytes are widely distributed throughout the brainstem and spinal cord, where they engage in bidirectional communication with neurons to regulate breathing. This review summarizes current kn…

Recent advances in oncological therapies have significantly improved cancer survival rates. However, these therapies have also led to an increased risk of cardiovascular alterations. Cardiac troponin, which is well-known for its role in diagnosing myocardial damage, is gaining recognition as a biomarker in the field of cardio-oncology. Despite its clinical value, differential diagnosis remains ch…