-The current studies were performed to determine the contribution of calcium mobilization and voltage-dependent calcium influx to the increase in [Ca2+]i elicited by ATP and UTP. Suspensions of freshly isolated smooth muscle cells were prepared from preglomerular microvessels by enzymatic digestion and loaded with the Ca2+-sensitive dye fura 2. The effect of ATP and UTP on [Ca2+]i was studied o...

Studies were performed to determine the responsiveness of rat juxtamedullary afferent arterioles to receptor-selective P2-purinoceptor agonists. Experiments were performed in vitro using the blood perfused juxtamedullary nephron technique, combined with videomicroscopy. Renal perfusion pressure was set at 110 mmHg and held constant. Basal afferent arteriolar diameter averaged 22.0 ± 0.6 μm ( n ...

Cell stress is implicated in triggering bouts of systemic inflammation in patients with autoinflammatory disorders. Blood monocytes from patients affected by NLRP3-mediated cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS) release greater amounts of IL-1β than monocytes from unaffected subjects. Here we show that stress lowers the threshold of activation; blood monocytes from CAPS patients maintai...

BACKGROUND Urinary problems, including urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia are some of the non-motor symptoms that correlate most with poor quality of life in Parkinson's disease. However, the mechanism behind these symptoms is poorly understood, in particular regarding peripheral bladder pathophysiology following dopamine degeneration. OBJECTIVE In this study, we compared the contractil...

Cerebellar GABAergic inhibitory transmission between interneurons and Purkinje cells (PCs) undergoes a long-lasting enhancement following different stimulations, such as brief depolarization or activation of purinergic receptors of postsynaptic PCs. The underlying mechanisms, however, are not completely understood. Using a peak-scaled non-stationary fluctuation analysis, we therefore aimed at c...