In various experimental models, S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) has been shown to reduce liver injury by preventing depletion of glutathione, one of the antioxidant systems that plays a critical role in defence against oxidative stress. On the other hand, alpha-tocopherol may be decreased in liver diseases, and treatment with this vitamin reduces liver injury in CCl(4)-treated rats. Since there is ...

Of the total urinary hydroxyproline in normal subjects and those with skeletal disorders, between 4 and 20% was nondialyzable. In some patients with Paget's disease of bone, hyperparathyroidism with osteitis fibrosa, hyperphosphatasia, and extensive fibrous dysplasia the total urinary hydroxyproline was sufficiently high to permit purification of this polypeptide hydroxyproline by gel filtratio...

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of fibrotic responses in the lung. However, it is not clear whether inhibiting oxidative stress with antioxidants can attenuate fibrotic processes in the lung. The objective of these studies was to test whether the catalytic antioxidant porphyrin manganese (III) tetrakis (4-benzoic acid) porphyrin (MnTBAP) could protect mice against bl...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this research was to detect cervical ripening with a new quantitative ultrasound technique. METHODS Cervices of 13 nonpregnant and 65 timed pregnant (days 15, 17, 19, 20, and 21 of pregnancy) Sprague Dawley rats were scanned ex vivo with a 70-MHz ultrasound transducer. Ultrasound scatterer property estimates (scatterer diameter [SD], acoustic concentration [AC], and s...

The wound healing process and production of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) by peritoneal cells of 7-day and 14-day obstructive jaundice (OJ) and sham-operated rats were investigated. In the study the skin wound breaking strength was measured. In addition such histological and biochemical parameters as fibroblast and endothelial cell proliferation, inflammatory cell infiltration and hy...

Embryonic chick tendon fibroblasts were incubated under conditions which resulted in the intracellular accumulation of radioactively labeled procollagens differing in their hydroxyproline content and in their conformation. When cells were incubated with 1 PM colcemide, fully hydroxylated, triple helical procollagen accumulated intracellularly. Incubation with 100 pg/ml of the proline analogue a...

BACKGROUND Peridural fibrosis (PF) is a normal complication after lumbar surgery. It is a challenge for both surgeons and patients. Rapamycin (RPM), a novel antibiotic with anti-proliferative and immunosuppressive properties, has been shown to be effective in preventing uncontrolled scar proliferation diseases. The object of the present research was to investigate the effects of RPM on inhibiti...

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) monooxygenases epoxidize the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) docosahexaenoic acid into novel epoxydocosapentaenoic acids (EDPs) that have multiple biological actions. The present study determined the ability of the most abundant EDP regioisomer, 19,20-EDP to reduce kidney injury in an experimental unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) renal fibrosis mouse model. ...