BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that the vasodilatory neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is localized in the synovial tissue and may be involved in the pathology of hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, the regulation and relationship between pain and CGRP expression levels in the synovial tissue of human OA patients are not fully understood. METHODS Synovial tissues w...

Recent evidence indicates a key role for the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in migraine pain, as demonstrated by the strong analgesic action of CGRP receptor antagonists, although the mechanisms of this effect remain unclear. Most trigeminal nociceptive neurons releasing CGRP also express ATP-activated purinergic P2X3 receptors to transduce pain. To understand whether the C...

…………………………………………………………………………………… 8 1 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………… 10 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ………………………………………………………… 12 2.1 The Eye ………………………………………………………………………………… 12 2.2 Blood Circulation in the Eye …………………………………………………………… 12 2.2.1 Regulation of Blood Circulation ………………………………………………… 13 2.3 Aqueous Humour Dynamics and Intraocular Pressure ………………………………… 14 2.4 Glaucoma …………………………...

Calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) has a key role in migraine and recently CGRP receptor antagonists have demonstrated clinical efficacy in the treatment of migraine. However, it remains unclear where the CGRP receptors are located within the CGRP signaling pathway in the human trigeminal system and hence the potential antagonist sites of action remain unknown. Therefore we designed a study...

RIA of nonpregnant rat uterus extracts showed 0.68 +/- 0.08 pmol/g adrenomedullin (ADM) and 3.23 +/- 0.08 pmol/g calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). In the pregnant (20 days gestation) uterus, the ADM content was 0.90 +/- 0.17 pmol/g, and CGRP could not be detected. ADM messenger RNA was detected at high levels in the uterus, with a 1.8-fold increase in expression in pregnancy. Pharmacologi...

OBJECTIVES Sensory nerve fibres (NFs) contain two major neuropeptides, substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). The pro-inflammatory role of SP is known, while CGRP has anti-inflammatory activities by inhibiting T helper type 1 cytokines, TNF secretion and leucocyte proliferation. We demonstrated the increase of SP-positive NFs in RA as compared with OA. This study investiga...

Objective(s) Recent studies on human indicate that the introduction of therapeutic use of tolerogenic dendritic cell (DC) for chronic inflammatory conditions is imminent. For the purpose of defining CGRP potency in tolerogenic DC production, we investigated the phenotype and IL-'2 production of DCs generated from the monocytes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in the presence of the calcit...

A neuropeptide, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), is widely distributed in neuronal systems and exhibits numerous biological activities. Using CGRP-knockout mice (CGRP(-/-)), we examined whether or not endogenous CGRP facilitates angiogenesis indispensable to tumor growth. CGRP increased tube formation by endothelial cells in vitro and enhanced sponge-induced angiogenesis in vivo. Tumor g...