Allen, Adrian, and Gunnar Flemström. Gastroduodenal mucus bicarbonate barrier: protection against acid and pepsin. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 288: C1–C19, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00102.2004.—Secretion of bicarbonate into the adherent layer of mucus gel creates a pH gradient with a near-neutral pH at the epithelial surfaces in stomach and duodenum, providing the first line of mucosal protection...

Prostaglandin I(2) (PGI(2)) has been shown to attenuate vascular constriction, hyperpermeability, inflammation, and acute lung injury. However, molecular mechanisms of PGI(2) protective effects on pulmonary endothelial cells (EC) are not well understood. We tested a role of cAMP-activated Epac-Rap1 pathway in the barrier protective effects of PGI(2) analog iloprost in the murine model of ventil...

Magnetic nanoparticles are interesting tools for biomedicine. Before application, critical prerequisites have to be fulfilled. An important issue is the contact and interaction with biological barriers such as the blood-placenta barrier. In order to study these processes in detail, suitable in vitro models are needed. For that purpose a blood-placenta barrier model based on the trophoblast-like...

Intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction and vitamin D (VitD)-deficiency play a critical role in a large number of diseases. The histone deacetylases (HDAC) are associated with a large number of immune diseases. This study tests a hypothesis that the interaction between VitD and HDAC is associated with the regulation of epithelial barrier functions. In this study, human intestinal epithelial c...

Mitochondria synthesize select phospholipids but lack the machinery for synthesis of the most abundant mitochondrial phospholipid, phosphatidylcholine (PC). Although the phospholipid transfer protein Stard7 promotes uptake of PC by mitochondria, the importance of this pathway for mitochondrial and cellular homeostasis represents a significant knowledge gap. Haploinsufficiency for Stard7 is asso...

BACKGROUND Elevated level of reactive carbonyl species, such as methylglyoxal, triggers carbonyl stress and activates a series of inflammatory responses leading to accelerated vascular damage. Edaravone is the active substance of a Japanese medicine, which aids neurological recovery following acute brain ischemia and subsequent cerebral infarction. Our aim was to test whether edaravone can exer...

Lactobacillus fermentum is commonly found in food products, and some strains are known to have beneficial effects on human health. However, our previous research indicated that L. fermentum AGR1487 decreases in vitro intestinal barrier integrity. The hypothesis was that cell surface structures of AGR1487 are responsible for the observed in vitro effect. AGR1487 was compared to another human ora...

Epithelial barrier dysfunction has been implicated as one of the major contributors to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. The increase in intestinal permeability allows the translocation of luminal antigens across the intestinal epithelium, leading to the exacerbation of colitis. Thus, therapies targeted at specifically restoring tight junction barrier function are thought to have ...

Synchronization is essential for the proper functioning of power grids; we investigate the synchronous states and their stability for cyclic power grids. We calculate the number of stable equilibria and investigate both the linear and nonlinear stabilities of the synchronous state. The linear stability analysis shows that the stability of the state, determined by the smallest nonzero eigenvalue...

in this paper, using a one-dimensional simulation model, the reforming process of sour gas, i.e. ch4, co2, and h2s, to the various charged particles and syngas in a dielectric barrier discharge (dbd) reactor is studied. an electric field is applied across the reactor radius, and thus a non-thermal plasma discharge is formed within the reactor. based on the space-time coupled finite element meth...