Objective: Rosa damascena mill L (R. damascena) is an ornamental plant that has several therapeutic (such as sedative and hypnotic) effects. It also heals depression, grief, nervous stress and tension. In the present study we evaluated antidepressant-like effect of R. damascena using forced swimming test (FST). Material and Methods: Three doses of aqueous extract (15, 60 and 90 mg/kg) was inje...

PURPOSE To evaluate whether anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) neutralizing antibodies injected in the vitreous of rat eyes influence retinal microglia and macrophage activation. To dissociate the effect of anti-VEGF on microglia and macrophages subsequent to its antiangiogenic effect, we chose a model of acute intraocular inflammation. METHODS Lewis rats were challenged with syst...

Background. We investigated the effects of exercise training (ET) on miR-126 levels and skeletal muscle angiogenesis in obese Zucker rats. Results. Zucker rats were randomly assigned to sedentary and swimming-trained groups: lean sedentary (LS) and trained (LTR); obese sedentary (OB) and trained (OBTR). The OB group displayed capillary rarefaction compared with the LS group. In contrast, ET inc...

The vasodilatory effect of VEGF has not been characterized in the setting of hypertension. This study investigated the in vitro vasorelaxant effects of VEGF in organ chambers in the aorta of the adult (12-week-old) spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), young (4-week-old) SHR without hypertension, and age-matched Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats compared with acetylcholine (ACh). Cumulative concentratio...

BACKGROUND The rate of reendothelialization is critical in neointima formation after arterial injury. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent endothelial mitogen, has been advocated for accelerating endothelial repair and preventing intimal hyperplasia after percutaneous coronary interventions. However, the precise mechanism of action of VEGF treatment and the physiologic role of en...

BACKGROUND The overexpression of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) has both pro-tumorigenic and anti-tumorigenic effects. However, the mechanisms of this protein's dual effects are poorly understood, and it remains unclear how Ang-2 cooperates with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In the current study, we investigated the effects of Ang-2 overexpression on nasopharyngeal carcinoma growth in the ...

BACKGROUND Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cancer in Caucasians. Trichoepithelioma (TE) is a benign neoplasm that strongly resembles BCC. Both are hair follicle (HF) tumours. HFs are hypoxic microenvironments, therefore we hypothesized that hypoxia-induced signalling pathways could be involved in BCC and TE as they are in other human malignancies. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1)...

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have been considered to play an important role for tumor progression of cancer. Solid tumors contain heterogeneous distribution of oxygen in their microenvironments. This study investigated the growth signaling of gastric cancer (GC) cells in focus on the interaction with CAFs and GC cells under normoxia and hypoxia. Four diffuse-type GC cell lines, two inte...

AIM o identify the effects of interleukin (IL)-13 on retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and the IL-13 level in aqueous humor of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients. METHODS IL-13 levels in aqueous humor specimens from AMD patients were detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ARPE-19 cells were treated with 10 ng/mL IL-13 for 12, 24, and 48h. The cell prolifera...