Vascular permeability is a highly coordinated process that integrates vesicular trafficking, complex junctional rearrangements, and refined cytoskeletal dynamics. In response to the extracellular environment, these three cellular activities have been previously assumed to work in parallel to regulate the passage of solutes between the blood and tissues. New developments in the area of vascular ...

Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of migraine and treatment with its exogenous donor glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) represents widely accepted experimental "migraine model". In this study, glyceryl trinitrate was administered intraperitoneally to carps, serum nitrite and nitrate levels were determined, permeability of blood-brain barrier was investigated, and histological cha...

In the present study, we differentiated between short- and long-term effects of vasoactive compounds on human endothelial permeability in an in vitro model. Histamine induced a rapid and transient (<3 minutes) decrease in barrier function, as evidenced by a decreased transendothelial electrical resistance and an increased passage of 22Na ions. This increase in permeability was inhibited complet...

AIM To study the passive and active transport of fluorescein across the blood-retina barrier in early age related maculopathy (ARM) (soft drusen > 63 microm, hyperpigmentation and/or hypopigmentation in patients above 50 years of age). METHODS 15 patients and 10 healthy subjects were included. Morphological changes were graded from 30 degrees fundus photographs using a simplified version of t...

Nuclear pore complexes control the exchange of macromolecules between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. A selective permeability barrier that arises from a supramolecular assembly of intrinsically unfolded nucleoporin domains rich in phenylalanine-glycine dipeptides (FG domains) fills the nuclear pore. There is increasing evidence that selective transport requires cohesive FG domain interactions. ...

The inflammatory mediator thrombin proteolytically activates protease-activated receptor (PAR1) eliciting a transient, but reversible increase in vascular permeability. PAR1-induced dissociation of Galpha subunit from heterotrimeric Gq and G12/G13 proteins is known to signal the increase in endothelial permeability. However, the role of released Gbetagamma is unknown. We now show that impairmen...

BACKGROUND Interleukin (IL) 10 is a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine. Disruption of the IL-10 gene in C57/Black6 mice results in enterocolitis in the presence of intestinal bacteria. This study investigated gut mucosal barrier function sequentially during the development of colitis in this model. METHODS Animals were bred in specific pathogen-free conditions and transferred to conventional h...

Endothelial barrier integrity is essential for vascular homeostasis and increased vascular permeability and has been implicated in many pathological processes, including diabetic retinopathy. Here, we investigated the effect of Rk1, a ginsenoside extracted from sun ginseng, on regulation of endothelial barrier function. In human retinal endothelial cells, Rk1 strongly inhibited permeability ind...

Chronic inflammation in mucosal tissues can influence epithelial barrier function via pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Increased mucosal levels of these cytokines have been observed in mucosal biopsies from patients with a chronic inflammatory condition referred to as inflammatory bowel disease. Paracellular permeability across epithelia...

Several neurological disorders have been linked to inflammatory insults suffered during development. We investigated the effects of neonatal systemic inflammation, induced by LPS injections, on blood-brain barrier permeability, endothelial tight junctions and behaviour of juvenile (P20) and adult rats. LPS-treatment resulted in altered cellular localisation of claudin-5 and changes in ultrastru...