Recent studies have implicated a role for tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) in the development of the asthmatic reaction. In this study, we examined the influence of TNFalpha on isotonic contraction of tracheal smooth muscle of the guinea-pig in vitro in response to methacholine. Tracheal rings were incubated with recombinant human (rh)TNFalpha (3x10(-11) M) for 30 min, and concentration-...

SPA-APA Meeting San Francisco 2007 1 Uncuffed versus Cuffed Endotracheal Tubes Markus Weiss, MD, Zurich, Switzerland During the last five decades, uncuffed tracheal tubes were recommended for routine use in children aged below 8 years. Cuffed tracheal tubes in patients younger than 8 years of age were only exceptionally used for special indications. In the last 10 years a change in clinical pra...

Sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS) is a derivate of tanshinone IIA, a lipophilic compound in Salvia miltiorrhiza. This study aimed to investigate the effect of STS on ion transport in mouse tracheal epithelium and the mechanisms underlying it. Short-circuit current (Isc) was measured to evaluate the effect of STS on transepithelial ion transport. Intracellular Ca2+ imaging was performed to o...

BACKGROUND Ciliary beating by respiratory epithelial cells continuously purges pathogens from the lower airways. Here we investigated the effect of the fungal cell wall polysaccharides Galactomannan (GM) and Zymosan (Zym) on the adrenergic activated particle transport velocity (PTV) of tracheal epithelium. METHODS Experiments were performed using tracheae isolated from male C57BL/6J mice. Tra...

PURPOSE The incidence of pain induced withdrawal movement following intravenous injection of rocuronium is high. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was designed to evaluate the effect of pretreatment of remifentanil on the withdrawal movements due to intravenous injection of rocuronium during anesthetic induction. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ninety adult female patients undergo...

The hypothesis that up-regulation of bronchial constrictor endothelin receptors in airway smooth muscle cells may contribute to hyperreactivity during airway inflammation was tested in the present study by quantitative endothelin receptor mRNA analysis and functional responses in ring segments of rat trachea and bronchi. Real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to quan...

We investigated the relationship between promoter methylation and tracheal stem cell activation. We developed a model of rat tracheal epithelium regeneration after 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-induced injury. Using immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, the expression levels of the stem cell pluripotency regulator Oct3/4 and differentiation marker CK14 were measured after 5-FU treatment. The methy...

A bacteria-free supernatant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces the production of neutrophil chemotactic activity in human bronchial epithelial cells in vitro that is due to the potent chemotactic factor, interleukin-8 (IL-8). Because P. aeruginosa supernatant itself is not chemotactic, we hypothesized that intratracheal P. aeruginosa induces the production of neutrophil chemotactic factors, incl...

Dithranol is a potent agent in treating psoriasis but its adverse effects on intact skin have limited its usage. There are many proposed mediators for its adverse effects including prostaglandins, histamine, platelet activating factor and free radicals. In this study we examined the effect of different agents (diazepam, terfenadine, indomethacin and garlic extract) on dithranol-induced skin dam...