The CD3 ζ chain (CD247), a gene involved in T-cell signaling, has been shown to associate with blood pressure in human genetic studies. To test the functional role of CD247 in hypertension and renal disease, zinc-finger nucleases targeting CD247 were injected into Dahl salt-sensitive (SS/JrHsdMcwi) embryos. The resulting 11-bp frameshift deletion in exon 1 of CD247 led to a predicted premature ...

Reducing prepubertal endogenous estrogens led to increased numbers of Sertoli cells and the associated increased testicular size and testicular sperm production capacity in boars. The increased number of Sertoli cells might be due to a longer time for proliferation; delayed differentiation of Sertoli cells during suppressed endogenous estrogens would be consistent with this hypothesized, prolon...

FcγRIIb is the sole inhibitory FcR for IgG in humans and mice, where it is involved in the negative regulation of Ab production and cellular activation. FcγRIIb-deficient mice show exacerbated disease following the induction of nephrotoxic nephritis (NTN). In this study, we determined the cellular origin of the FcγRIIb-knockout phenotype by inducing NTN in mice with a deficiency of FcγRIIb on e...

Evidence is emerging that neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system are involved in mediating the reinforcing effects of alcohol. Midbrain DA neurons express high levels of α6 subunit-containing nAChRs that modulate DA transmission, implicating their involvement in reward-related behaviors. The present study assessed the role of α6-containing nAC...

Understanding factors affecting social interactions among animals is important for applied animal behavior research. Thus, there a need to elicit statistical models analyze data collected from pairwise behavioral interactions. In this study, we propose treating interaction as dyadic observations and model their analysis. We performed posterior predictive checks of the through different validati...

Abstract Background and Aims Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI) activates HIF in renal pericytes fibroblasts to promote erythropoietin production erythropoiesis. However, the effects of stabilization erythroid lineage are not clear. We aim study lineage-specific on erythropoiesis by preclinical models. Method EporGFP-Cre/+;VhlF/F mice were used achieve HIF. Surface ...

Abstract Tumor-associated myeloid cell populations occupy a major part of the glioblastoma (GBM) tumor microenvironment (TME). The prevailing view is that cells in TME are immunosuppressive and promote GBM progression. However, have functional plasticity to either restrict or support growth. TREM2 has been shown alter landscape cancers arising body plays important roles brain microglial functio...

Abstract Background and Aims Our previous studies have shown that angiogenic growth factors are dysregulated in fibrotic kidneys. In murine models of progressive renal disease, angiopoietin-2 (Angpt2) was upregulated injured tubule epithelial cells. We hypothesize overexpression Angpt2 cells would exacerbate fibrosis inflammation. Method The unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) ischemia-reperf...

BACKGROUND Tumor necrosis factor superfamily ligands provoke a dilated cardiac phenotype signal through a common scaffolding protein termed tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2); however, virtually nothing is known about TRAF2 signaling in the adult mammalian heart. METHODS AND RESULTS We generated multiple founder lines of mice with cardiac-restricted overexpression of T...

RATIONALE Aortic valve disease is a cell-mediated process without effective pharmacotherapy. CNP (C-type natriuretic peptide) inhibits myofibrogenesis and osteogenesis of cultured valve interstitial cells and is downregulated in stenotic aortic valves. However, it is unknown whether CNP signaling regulates aortic valve health in vivo. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to determine whether a ...