Tumor angiogenesis, the formation of new blood capillaries by vascular endothelial cells from existing vessels, is an important mechanism for supplying nutrients, oxygen, growth factors and others to tumor cells. Tumor cells trigger angiogenesis by secreting angiogenic factors, especially vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A), 1) which plays an important role in the regulation of normal and abnormal angiogenesis.2) VEGF-A (commonly known as VEGF) was first reported as a vascular permeability-inducing factor secreted by tumor cells, and referred to as vascular permeability factor (VPF). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are suggested to play an important role in angiogenesis. 10) Furthermore, there is increasing evidence of the involvement of H 2 O 2 in the regulation of angiogenesis.9,11-13) As well, a variety of cell lines derived from human tumors has been shown to produce large amounts of H 2 O 2 .14) Constitutive surveillance for cellular protection against oxidative stress is conferred by intracellular antioxidative agents.15) Excess amounts of ROS are toxic and cause a reduction of intracellular antioxidant levels.16) It has been reported that pretreatment of the heart with exogenous antioxidants improved its condition as a result of reducing ROS production.17) The VEGF-A gene is one that has its expression regulated by ROS, especially by H 2 O 2 . Additional data support that VEGF-A mRNA is up-regulated by H 2 O 2 in a dose-and time-dependent manner. 18,19) Taken together, these suggest that some endogenous as well as exogenous antioxidative agents can be used to regulate VEGF-A gene expression and/or H 2 O 2 production for therapeutic purposes.Electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) has attracted much attention because of its antioxidative potential. Water electrolysis typically produces two forms of water: reduced or alkaline (high pH) water near the cathode and an oxidized or acid (low pH) water near the anode. Applications of oxidized
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause irreversible damage to biological macromolecules, resulting in many diseases. Reduced water (RW) such as hydrogen-rich electrolyzed reduced water and natural reduced waters like Hita Tenryosui water in Japan and Nordenau water in Germany that are known to improve various diseases, could protect a hamster pancreatic beta cell line, HIT-T15 from alloxan-induced cell damage. Alloxan, a diabetogenic compound, is used to induce type 1 diabetes mellitus in animals. Its diabetogenic effect is exerted via the production of ROS. Alloxan-treated HIT-T15 cells exhibited lowered viability, increased intracellular ROS levels, elevated cytosolic free Ca(2+) concentration, DNA fragmentation, decreased intracellular ATP levels and lowering of glucose-stimulated release of insulin. RW completely prevented the generation of alloxan-induced ROS, increase of cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration, decrease of intracellular ATP level, and lowering of glucose-stimulated insulin release, and strongly blocked DNA fragmentation, partially suppressing the lowering of viability of alloxan-treated cells. Intracellular ATP levels and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion were increased by RW to 2-3.5 times and 2-4 times, respectively, suggesting that RW enhances the glucose-sensitivity and glucose response of beta-cells. The protective activity of RW was stable at 4 degrees C for over a month, but was lost by autoclaving. These results suggest that RW protects pancreatic beta-cells from alloxan-induced cell damage by preventing alloxan-derived ROS generation. RW may be useful in preventing alloxan-induced type 1-diabetes mellitus.
Electrolyzed reduced water, which is capable of scavenging reactive oxygen species, is attracting recent attention because it has shown improved efficacy against several types of diseases including diabetes mellitus. Alloxan produces reactive oxygen species and causes type 1 diabetes mellitus in experimental animals by irreversible oxidative damage to insulin-producing b-cells. Here, we showed that electrolyzed reduced water prevented alloxaninduced DNA fragmentation and the production of cells in sub-G1 phase in HIT-T15 pancreatic b-cells. Blood glucose levels in alloxan-induced type 1 diabetes model mice were also significantly suppressed by feeding the mice with electrolyzed reduced water. These results suggest that electrolyzed reduced water can prevent apoptosis of pancreatic b-cells and the development of symptoms in type 1 diabetes model mice by alleviating the alloxan-derived generation of reactive oxygen species.Keywords Electrolyzed reduced water Á Alloxan Á Type 1 diabetes mellitus Á Reactive oxygen species Á HIT-T15 cells
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