Overpressurization blast (OB) exposure used to induce traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the rodent model can result in somatomotor and behavioral changes. Increased anxiety is evidenced after OB TBI in Dorsal and Frontal blast-wave exposed injured animals. Sustained impaired somatosensory functions occur after multiple OB injuries in Dorsal animals. Somatomotor function is impaired acutely but pa...

The severity of antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) is decreased in leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. However, joint inflammation in AIA depends on the immune response, which is impaired in ob/ob mice. In the present study we investigated the effects of leptin deficiency on zymosan-induced arthritis (ZIA), which is independent of adaptive immunity. Arthritis was induced by injection of zymosan into the ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although epidemiological studies reveal an increased incidence of obesity and an association between obesity and the prevalence/severity of ischemic stroke, little is known about the mechanisms that link obesity to ischemic stroke. This study tested the hypothesis that obesity exacerbates the cerebrovascular dysfunction and tissue injury induced by brain ischemia and repe...

The leptin receptor (OB-R) is a single membrane- spanning protein that mediates the weight-regulatory effects of leptin (OB protein). Several mRNA splice variants have been described which either encode OB-R proteins with cytoplasmic domains of different length or the OB-R and B219/OBR variants, which have different 5'-untranslated regions. Here we report evidence for the synthesis of a human m...