Endocrine Abstracts

Calbindin-D9k (CaBP-9k), one of the major calcium-binding and calcium-buffering proteins, is important in the physiological functioning of organs. The neuroanatomical localization of CaBP-9k in the rodent brain has not been reported; thus, this study investigated the neuroanatomical distribution of CaBP-9k and the regulation of CaBP-9k expression on steroid hormones in the immature rat brain. To confirm the influence of steroid hormones on CaBP-9k expression, immatu...

Hypoxia causes oxidative stress and is known to affect cardiovascular dysfunction and the programming of cardiovascular disease. Melatonin is the hormone released primarily from the pineal gland and has been proven to be an antioxidant. Melatonin promotes the expression of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase. To confirm the effect of hypoxia on the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) into cardiomyocytes, hypoxia condition induced dur...

Developmental toxicity tests have been made by embryonic stem cell tests at the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods or by embryonic body test in our laboratory. However, no neuronal-specific developmental toxicity test has been made yet. Therefore, this study was carried out using a 46C cell line, mouse embryonic stem cells with an endogenous Sox1-GFP reporter, to exploit the developmental neurotoxicity test. The expression of Sox1, a marker for neural pr...

Mitochondria, which are essential organelles for endocrine health, plays an important role in various physiological functions including hormonal biosynthesis, cell metabolism, proliferation and differentiation. Thus, mitochondrial toxicity can affect a variety of organs, such as liver, heart, muscle, kidney, and central nervous system. Mitochondrial toxicity is recognized as a contributor to drug-induced toxicity of various drugs such as hydroxytamoxifen, valproic acid, acetam...

Ca2+ homeostasis has been reported to play important roles in various cell systems. In central nerves system, the dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis can induce the excitotoxic and neurodegeneration. NCKX3 (Sodium/potassium/calcium exchanger 3), a novel member of the family of K+-dependent Na+/Ca2+ exchangers, is an important component of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. In addition, NCKX3 highly expressed in tha...