Spatial navigation is a fundamental capability necessary in everyday life to locate food, social partners, and shelter. It results from two very different strategies: (1) place learning which enables for flexible way finding and (2) response learning that leads to a more rigid "route following." Despite the importance of knockout techniques that are only available in mice, little is known about...

Experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity attenuates the blood pressure increase during high NaCl intake by stimulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)-mediated NO synthesis in the kidney medulla. COX-2(-/-) (C57BL6) an COX-2(+/+) mice were fed a diet with 0.004% (low salt, LS) or 4% (high salt, HS) NaCl for 18 days. Arterial blood press...

Background: NK cells act as one of the most important immunosurveillance mechanisms eliminating cancer cells. recognize Fc portions antibodies binding to surface antigens and release cytotoxic granules cytokines. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is major NK-dependent killing mechanisms, activated for example by therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, such anti-CD20 antibody ritux...

Adoptive transfer of gene modified T cells provides possible immunotherapy for patients with cancers refractory to other treatments. We have previously used the non-viral piggyBac transposon system to gene modify human T cells for potential immunotherapy. However, these previous studies utilized adoptive transfer of modified human T cells to target cancer xenografts in highly immunodeficient (N...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy stored in triglycerides as heat via the uncoupling protein UCP-1 and is a promising target to combat hyperlipidemia and obesity. BAT is densely innervated by the sympathetic nervous system, which increases BAT differentiation and activity upon cold exposure. Recently, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 (BMP7) was identified as an inducer of...

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterized by chronic colonic inflammation, impaired barrier function and gut bacterial dysbiosis. Anthocyanin-containing potatoes have been shown to maintain the intestinal in colitic mice. However, role of microbiota anti-colitic effects anthocyanin-containing not clear. This study evaluated protective efficacy purple- red-fleshed using a DSS-induced murine model...

Murine melanoma B16F0 cells were transfected with SA:DPPC:DOPE (2:1:1 molar ratio) liposomes associated with a plasmid encoding murine IL-12. Stearylamine, a cationic lipid, showed a greater transfection efficiency compared to DOTAP-containing liposomes. The lipid:DNA ratio was 2:1 (w/w). Control groups were mock transfected or transfected with an empty plasmid (pNeo). pNeo or IL-12 transfected...

Abstract Background Genomic instability is a hallmark of various cancers, and DNA repair an essential process for maintaining genomic integrity. Mammalian cells have developed mechanisms in response to damage. Compared the cellular damage, vivo damage (DDR) specific tissues has not been studied extensively. Objective In this study, mice were exposed whole-body gamma (γ)-irradiation evaluate DDR...

ro is the acquisition of protective barrier function in the skin a process involving differentiation of keratinocytes to form a stratum corneum of unique lipid composition and structure. Harlequin Ichthyosis (HI) is a severe hyperkeratotic skin disease caused by mutations in the ABCA12 transport protein and which results in profound barrier defects. In keratinocytes ABCA12 is thought to regulat...