The epithelium lining the gallbladder of mammalian species has absorptive and secretory functions. An important function is the secretion of a bicarbonate rich fluid that helps neutralise stomach acid and provides an appropriate environment for intestinal enzymes. In cystic fibrosis (CF) this secretory function is lost. This study concerns the bicarbonate secreting activity of murine gallbladde...

Little is known about how differentiating cells reorganize their cellular structure to perform specialized physiological functions. MIST1, an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor, is required for the formation of large, specialized secretory vesicles in gastric zymogenic (chief) cells (ZCs) as they differentiate from their mucous neck cell progenitors. Here, we show that MIST1 binds to...

Shiga toxin is a major virulence factor of food-poisoning caused by Escherichia coli such as O157:H7. Secretory immunoglobulin (Ig) A (SIgA) is supposed to prevent infection of the mucosal surface and is a candidate agent for oral immunotherapy. We previously established a recombinant monoclonal antibody (mAb) consisting of variable regions from a mouse IgG mAb specific for the binding subunit ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether ginsenoside-Rb2 (Rb2) can affect the secretion of catecholamines (CA) in the perfused model of the rat adrenal medulla. Rb2 (3~30 µM), perfused into an adrenal vein for 90 min, inhibited ACh (5.32 mM)-evoked CA secretory response in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. Rb2 (10 µM) also time-dependently inhibited the CA secretion evoked by D...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Morbidity and mortality from acute diarrheal disease remains high, particularly in developing countries and in cases of natural or man-made disasters. Previous work has shown that the small molecule clotrimazole inhibits intestinal Cl- secretion by blocking both cyclic nucleotide- and Ca(2+)-gated K(+) channels, implicating its use in the treatment of diarrhea of diverse eti...

BACKGROUND P21-activated kinase 1 (Pak1) integrates various signaling pathways that are vital to cell survival and function. This study was performed to evaluate whether sex steroids may regulate the expression of Pak1 in endometrial cells as well as whether its expression is increased in the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis. METHODS Following in vitro estradiol (E(2)) and/or m...

OBJECTIVES Glucocorticoid withdrawal in man is associated with transient but sometimes prolonged impairment of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis secretory responsiveness. This has led to continued concern in the clinical arena. The acute anterior pituitary response to glucocorticoids in the rat includes apoptosis-mediated deletion of a cell population. Whilst continued cell turnover following ...

Secretory carcinoma is a rare low-grade breast carcinoma, initially termed "juvenile breast cancer," but it is now known to occur in adults of both sexes. It is the only epithelial tumor of the breast with a balanced translocation, t(12;15), that creates an ETV6-NTRK3 gene translocation. In this paper, a 19-year-old male patient has had a right breast mass for 9 years which suddenly increased i...

To accommodate its RNA synthesis in the infected cell, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) induces a cytoplasmic reticulovesicular network (RVN) that is derived from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes. We set out to investigate how the early secretory pathway interacts with the RVN and the viral replication/transcription complex (RTC) that is anchored to it. When the secr...