1. The subtype and anatomical localization of beta-adrenoceptors mediating facilitation of stimulus-induced overflow of noradrenaline ('prejunctional beta-adrenoceptors') are not conclusively known to date. The present study was undertaken to characterize these receptors by use of pharmacological methods as well as to define their localization (prejunctional or postjunctional) with radio-ligand...

BACKGROUND Cardiac gene therapy offers the possibility of enhancing myocardial performance in the compromised heart. However, current gene delivery techniques have limited myocardial transgene expression and pose the risk of extracardiac expression. Isolation of the coronary circulation during cardiac surgery may allow for more efficient and cardiac-selective gene delivery in a clinically relev...

UNLABELLED Beta-lapachone (beta-Lp) derived from the Lapacho tree is a potentially novel anticancer agent currently under clinical trials. Previous studies suggested that redox activation of beta-Lp catalyzed by NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) accounted for its killing of cancer cells. However, the exact mechanisms of this effect remain largely unknown. Using chemiluminescence and ele...

The synthesis of cis-N-[a-carbobenzyloxy-b-(p-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl]-3-phthalimido-4-styryl-2-azetidinone is described. We have found that the electron-rich Schiff bases can afford the cis-b-lactam ring even in the presence of the free hydroxyl functions. The mechanisms of cis and trans-b-lactam ring formation are discuss...

The identification of secreted factors that can selectively stimulate the generation of insulin producing beta-cells from stem and/or progenitor cells represent a significant step in the development of stem cell-based beta-cell replacement therapy. By elucidating the molecular mechanisms that regulate the generation of beta-cells during normal pancreatic development such putative factors may be...

PURPOSE Based on diameter measurements on the short posterior ciliary artery, this study was intended to determine the direct pharmacologic effect of beta-blockers; to determine the differences among a selective beta-blocker betaxolol, a beta-blocker with intrinsic sympathetic activity befunolol, and a nonselective beta-blocker timolol; and to find experimental evidence for the indirect hemodyn...

It is usually assumed that the increase in coronary blood flow observed with norepinephrine occurs through local metabolic vasodilation secondary to cardiac beta-receptor activation. However, direct feedforward beta-receptor-mediated coronary vasodilation is also a possibility. In dogs with alpha-receptor blockade, the left circumflex artery was perfused at constant pressure. The vasodilator ef...