Glucocorticoids (GCs) are the most commonly used antiinflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs. Their outstanding therapeutic effects, however, are often accompanied by severe and sometimes irreversible side effects. For this reason, one goal of research in the GC field is the development of new drugs, which show a reduced side-effect profile while maintaining the antiinflammatory and immunosupp...

Background—Steady laminar flow is atheroprotective, in part because of its antiinflammatory effects on vascular endothelial cells (ECs). We studied the activation of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor(PPAR ) in ECs in response to laminar flow and the associated antiinflammatory effect. Methods and Results—Using flow channel with cultured ECs, we found that laminar flow activated the PPA...

BACKGROUND The control of the systemic inflammatory response taking place during cardiac operations depends on adequate antiinflammatory reaction. In this prospective study we tested the hypothesis that cytokine balance during pediatric cardiac surgical procedures would be influenced by the patients' preoperative clinical condition, defined as hypoxemia or heart failure. METHODS Twenty infant...

IL-6 is induced often together with the proinflammatory cytokines TNFalpha and IL-1 in many alarm conditions, and circulating IL-6 plays an important role in the induction of acute phase reactions. However, whether this endogenous IL-6 plays any additional pro- or antiinflammatory roles in local or systemic responses remains unclear. In this study, the role of IL-6 in acute inflammatory respons...

Antiinflammatory compounds are routinely used in veterinary medicine to manage traumatic injuries, provide analgesia, alter glucose metabolism, control allergies, and treat a variety of disease presentations. Historically, steroidal antiinflammatory agents were used to manage the majority of the cases described above; however, these compounds have lost favor in veterinary medicine because of th...

Ongoing studies have developed strategies for identifying key bioactive compounds and chemical profiles in Echinacea with the goal of improving its human health benefits. Antiviral and antiinflammatory-antipain assays have targeted various classes of chemicals responsible for these activities. Analysis of polar fractions of E. purpurea extracts showed the presence of antiviral activity, with ev...

Etodolac (E), is a non-narcotic analgesic and antiinflammatory drug. A biodegradable polymer dextran has been utilized as a carrier for synthesis of etodolac-dextran conjugates (ED) to improve its aqueous solubility and reduce gastrointestinal side effects. An activated moiety, i.e. N-acylimidazole derivative of etodolac (EAI), was condensed with the polysaccharide polymer dextran of different ...

Chemerin is a chemotactic protein that binds to the G protein-coupled receptor, ChemR23. We demonstrate that murine chemerin possesses potent antiinflammatory properties that are absolutely dependent on proteolytic processing. A series of peptides was designed, and only those identical to specific C-terminal chemerin sequences exerted antiinflammatory effects at picomolar concentrations in vitr...

We have recently identified the MAPK phosphatase (MKP)-1 as a novel mediator of the antiinflammatory properties of glucocorticoids (dexamethasone) in the human endothelium. However, nothing is as yet known about the signaling pathways responsible for the up-regulation of MKP-1 by dexamethasone in endothelial cells. Knowledge of the molecular basis of this new alternative way of glucocorticoid a...

Gedunin, a natural limonoid from Meliaceae species, has been previously described as an antiinflammatory compound in experimental models of allergic inflammation. Here, we report the antiinflammatory and antinociceptive effects of gedunin in an acute model of articular inflammation induced by zymosan (500 μg/cavity; intra-articular) in C57BL/6 mice. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) pretreatment with gedu...