The purpose of this study was to determine whether superoxide anion is produced endogenously in the rat aortic adventitia and whether sufficient superoxide anion is produced to interfere with the response of the rat aorta to nitric oxide. Relaxation was measured in rings of the rat thoracic aorta, which were oriented so that the adventitial or luminal surface could be preferentially exposed to ...

Human leukemic HL-60 cells are an established model for studies of differentiation induction. Retinoic acid (RA), 2 x 10(-6) M, was used to induce terminal differentiation, assayed as nitroblue tetrazol reduction (NBT) and expression of monocytic surface antigens, which were detected by monoclonal antibody Leu M3. In addition, transferrin receptor expression and the number of S + G2 + M-phase c...

Aims. In this work we studied cytodifferentiation effects of newly characterized prenyl flavonoid 4'-O-methylkuwanon E (4ME) isolated from white mulberry (Morus alba L.). Main Methods. Cell growth and viability were measured by dye exclusion assay; cell cycle and surface antigen CD11b were monitored by flow cytometry. For the cytodifferentiation of cells the NBT reduction assay was employed. Re...

Cytochrome b558 of pig blood neutrophils was purified from the membranes of resting cells to examine its ability to reconstitute superoxide (O2-)-forming NADPH oxidase activity in a cell-free assay system containing cytosol and fatty acid. The membrane-associated cytochrome b558 was solubilized with a detergent, n-heptyl beta-thioglucoside, and purified by DEAE-Sepharose, heparin-Sepharose, and...

Thiopurine and its derivatives, including azathioprine (AZA), 6mercaptopurine (6-MP), and 6-thioguanine (6-TG) have been used as pro-drugs in cancer treatment and inflammatory bowel disease. However, unlike canonical DNA and RNA bases that mainly absorb UVC (100-280 nm) and UVB (280-320 nm) light, thiopurine bases are strong UVA (320-400 nm, covering 90% solar UV irradiation) chromophores and s...

Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-based relaxor ferroelectrics are extensively investigated for use in transduction applications because of their relatively large electromechanical properties. Integration these materials into devices, however, requires better temperature stability addition to This work demonstrates a novel approach enhance the long-range ferroelectric order as well properties non-ergodic 0.93(Na1...

BACKGROUND Natural products are used in the production of therapeutic drugs due to their wide diversity and excellent adaptability to biological structures. Sesquiterpene lactones are the active constituents of several plants from the Asteraceae family. AIM To assess the in vitro effect of a sesquiterpene lactone (millerenolide). MATERIAL AND METHODS The drug effect was assessed measuring t...

We recently revealed that myeloid master regulator SPI1/PU.1 directly represses metallothionein (MT) 1G through its epigenetic activity of PU.1, but the functions of MT1G in myeloid differentiation remain unknown. To clarify this, we established MT1G-overexpressing acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 (NB4MTOE) cells, and investigated whether MT1G functionally contributes to all-trans retinoic acid...