Determination of oxidant stress in plasma of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and primary osteoarthritis (POA) patients is important in understanding the pathogenesis of these diseases. In this study, we examined the relationship between oxidant stress and inflammation by measuring protein carbonyl content, thiol levels and plasma protein fractions as the oxidation markers and erythrocyte sedimentatio...

BACKGROUND Muscarinic receptors (mAChRs) of the preoptic and anterior hypothalamus areas (POA-AHA) regulate ovulation in an asymmetric manner during the estrous cycle. The aims of the present study were to analyze the effects of a temporal blockade of mAChRs on either side of the POA-AHA performed in diestrus-2 rats on ovulation, the levels of estradiol, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and l...

Pregnant rats were injected with 4 mg of testosterone propionate (TP) from days 15 to 22 of pregnancy or a single dose of 4 mg TP on day 17 or 21 of pregnancy. Female offspring treated with TP or the vehicle prenatally were sacrificed at 90 days of age. The volume of the cluster of intensely stained neurons in the medial preoptic area, the "sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area" (SDN-...

Binding of [3H]naloxone ([3H]NAL) to brain membranes was quantified by Scatchard analysis using two methods of separating bound from free [3H]NAL. In the centrifugation method, membranes that were soluble at 1,000 x g, but sedimented at 20,000 x g, were incubated with [3H]NAL. For filtration, all membranes that sedimented at 20,000 x g were incubated and filtered through glass filter fibers. No...

The preoptic area (POa) of the rostral diencephalon supplies the neocortex and the amygdala with GABAergic neurons in the developing mouse brain. However, the molecular mechanisms that determine the pathway and destinations of POa-derived neurons have not yet been identified. Here we show that Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII)-induced expression of Neuropil...

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is a first-line tuberculosis drug that inhibits the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via an as yet undefined mechanism. An M. tuberculosis laboratory strain that was auxotrophic for pantothenate was found to be insensitive to PZA and to the active form, pyrazinoic acid (POA). To determine whether this phenotype was strain or condition specific, the effect of pantothenate ...

The effect of protection from sheep grazing on indigenous plant species in relatively mesic, strongly modified Poa cita grassland, was examined using paired grazed and ungrazed sites. Ungrazed sites, fenced at times ranging from four to more than 24 years ago, had fewer species, lower indigenous cover and lower tussock density than adjacent grazed sites. The dominance of adventive species, part...

A plant's ability to produce and respond to ethylene is essential for its vegetative growth. We studied whole-shoot ethylene emission and leaf growth responses to applied ethylene in four Poa spp. that differ inherently in leaf elongation rate and whole-plant relative growth rate. Compared with the fast-growing Poa annua and Poa trivialis, the shoots of the slow-growing species Poa alpina and P...