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April Journal-2009.p65 - Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy

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Current Trends in <strong>Biotechnology</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Pharmacy</strong><br />

Vol. 3 (2) 138-148, <strong>April</strong> 2009. ISSN 0973-8916<br />

Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells<br />

(HUVECs) culture<br />

HUVECs were purchased from<br />

Cambrex Biosciences, Walkersville, USA. The<br />

cells were cultured in 25 cm 3 tissue culture flask<br />

(NUNC, Genetix Biotech Asia, Bangalore, India)<br />

<strong>and</strong> grown using EGM-2 medium <strong>and</strong> endothelial<br />

cell basal medium according to the<br />

manufacturer’s protocol. Incubation was carried<br />

out in a humidified atmosphere <strong>of</strong> 5% CO 2<br />

in air<br />

at 37 0 C. When cells reached confluency, they<br />

were passaged after trypsinization. HUVECs <strong>of</strong><br />

passages 2-5 were used for the experiments.<br />

Animals <strong>and</strong> in vivo tumor generation<br />

Six to eight weeks old mice were<br />

acclimated for one week while caged in groups<br />

<strong>of</strong> five. Mice were housed <strong>and</strong> fed a diet <strong>of</strong> animal<br />

chow <strong>and</strong> water ad libitum throughout the<br />

experiment. All experiments were conducted<br />

according to the guidelines <strong>of</strong> the Committee for<br />

the Purpose <strong>of</strong> Control <strong>and</strong> Supervision <strong>of</strong><br />

Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA),<br />

Government <strong>of</strong> India. EAT cells (5×10 6 cells/<br />

mouse) injected intraperitoneally grow in mice<br />

peritoneum forming an ascites tumor with massive<br />

abdominal swelling. The animals show a dramatic<br />

increase in body weight over the growth period<br />

<strong>and</strong> the animals succumb to the tumor burden<br />

15-16 days after implantation. The number <strong>of</strong> cells<br />

increased over the 14 days <strong>of</strong> growth with<br />

formation <strong>of</strong> 7-8 ml <strong>of</strong> ascites fluid with extensive<br />

neovascularization in the inner lining <strong>of</strong> peritoneal<br />

wall. EAT cells from fully grown tumor bearing<br />

mice were harvested from the peritoneal cavity<br />

<strong>of</strong> mice (19). The ascites fluid was collected in<br />

isotonic saline solution containing 3.8% sodium<br />

citrate. The cells were pelleted by centrifugation<br />

(3000 rpm for 10 min at 4 0 C). Contaminating red<br />

blood corpuscles if any were lysed with 0.8%<br />

ammonium chloride. Cells were resuspended in<br />

0.9% saline. These cells or their aliquots were<br />

used either for transplantation or for further<br />

experiments.<br />

140<br />

Tube formation assay<br />

Tube formation <strong>of</strong> HUVECs was<br />

conducted for the assay <strong>of</strong> in vitro angiogenesis.<br />

The assay was performed as described in earlier<br />

report (20). Briefly, a 96-well plate was coated<br />

with 50µl <strong>of</strong> Matrigel (Becton Dickinson Labware,<br />

Bedford, MA), which was allowed to solidify at<br />

37 0 C for 1 hour. HUVECs (5x 10 3 cells per well)<br />

were seeded on the Matrigel <strong>and</strong> cultured in EGM<br />

medium containing withaferin A (3.5-14µg) for 8<br />

hours. After incubation at 37 0 C <strong>and</strong> 5% CO2, the<br />

enclosed networks <strong>of</strong> complete tubes from five<br />

r<strong>and</strong>omly chosen fields were counted <strong>and</strong><br />

photographed under an Olympus inverted<br />

microscope (CKX40; Olympus, New York, NY)<br />

connected to a digital camera at 40X<br />

magnification.<br />

Chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM)<br />

assay<br />

CAM assay was carried out according<br />

to the detailed procedure as described by Gururaj,<br />

A.E. et al. (21, 22). In brief, fertilized chicken<br />

eggs were incubated at 37 0 C in a humidified<br />

incubator. On the 11th day <strong>of</strong> development, a<br />

rectangular window was made in the egg shell<br />

<strong>and</strong> glass cover slips (6-mm diameter) saturated<br />

with 25ng/ml vascular endothelial growth factor<br />

(VEGF) <strong>and</strong> VEGF + withaferin A (7ìg) was<br />

placed on the CAM <strong>and</strong> the window was closed<br />

using sterile wrap. The windows were opened<br />

after 48h <strong>of</strong> incubation <strong>and</strong> were inspected for<br />

changes in the microvessel density in the area<br />

below the cover slip <strong>and</strong> photographed using a<br />

Nikon digital camera.<br />

In vivo withaferin A treatment inhibits EAT<br />

growth<br />

To determine whether withaferin A<br />

inhibits tumor growth <strong>and</strong> angiogenesis in EAT<br />

cells in vivo, withaferin A (7mg/kg/day/mouse)<br />

<strong>and</strong> vehicle control (0.1% <strong>of</strong> DMSO) was injected<br />

into the EAT bearing mice every alternate day<br />

Sp1 transcription factor

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