Neuronal necrosis and apoptosis occur after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in animals and contribute to subsequent neurological deficits. In contrast, relatively little apoptosis is found after mechanical injury in vitro. Because in vivo trauma models and clinical head injury have associated cerebral ischemia and/or metabolic impairment, we transiently impaired cellular metabolism after mechanica...

Treatment of neuropathic pain is still a major challenge because of its noresponsiveness to most available pharmacotherapy. Curcumin has been reported to play an active role in the treatment of various neurological disorders, such as neuropathic pain. In this study, the role of curcumin has been evaluated in pain behavioral responses of chronic Constriction injury (CCI) in rat. In this experime...

Introduction: Cartilage injury is one of the most significant factors leading to secondary osteoarthritis. Several studies have demonstrated cartilage matrix damage and chondrocyte death in response to mechanical injury. Recently it has been shown that chondrocytes undergo apoptosis when subjected to mechanical trauma. This study presents several models of cartilage injury ranging from in vitro...

Introduction: Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β (GSK-3β) participates in several signaling pathways and plays a crucial role in neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, and neuropathic pain. The ratio of phosphorylated GSK-3β over total GSK-3β (p-GSK-3β/t-GSK-3β) is reduced following nerve injury. Apoptosis is a hallmark of many neuronal dysfunctions in the context of neuropathic pain. Thus, this st...

BACKGROUND Ventilator-induced lung injury is a form of acute lung injury that develops in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation and has a high degree of mortality. Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase is an enzyme that is highly upregulated in ventilator-induced lung injury and exacerbates the injury when given exogenously. Nicotinamide (vitamin B3) directly inhibits downstream pa...

Hemorrhagic shock causes a reduction in oxygen supply to tissues leading to increased reactive oxygen species resulting in lung injury. Often mechanical ventilation is required as supportive treatment; however, ventilation can also induce lung injury and apoptosis. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of three modes of controlled mechanical ventilation: volume control, pressure ...

Despite advances in critical care, the mortality rate in patients with acute lung injury remains high. Furthermore, most patients who die do so from multisystem organ failure. It has been postulated that ventilator-induced lung injury plays a key role in determining the negative clinical outcome of patients exposed to mechanical ventilation. How mechanical ventilation exerts its detrimental eff...

The purpose of this study was to 1) test the hypothesis that skeletal muscle cells (myotubes) after mechanical loading and/or injury are a source of soluble factors that promote neutrophil chemotaxis and superoxide anion (O(2)(-).) production and 2) determine whether mechanical loading and/or injury causes myotubes to release cytokines that are known to influence neutrophil responses [tumor nec...

BACKGROUND A hallmark of osteoarthritis is increased proteolytic cleavage of aggrecan. Cross talk between cartilage and the synovium + joint capsule (SJC) can drive cartilage degradation by activating proteases in both tissues. We investigated aggrecan proteolysis patterns in cartilage explants using a physiologically relevant explant model of joint injury combining cartilage mechanical compres...

Despite the important role of both cyclooxygenase (COX) isoforms (i.e. COX-1 and COX-2) in maintenance of hypersensitivity following peripheral nerve injury, their role in the development of neuropathic pain is not clear. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of COX inhibitors to address the potential role of COX isozymes in the development of neuropathic pain in rats after c...