Proper apical airway surface hydration is essential to maintain lung function. This hydration depends on well-balanced water resorption and secretion. The mechanisms involved in resorption are still a matter of debate, especially as the measurement of transepithelial water transport remains challenging. In this study, we combined classical short circuit current (I SC) measurements with a novel ...

It has been demonstrated previously that both the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and beta(2) adrenergic receptor (beta(2)AR) can bind ezrinradixinmoesin-binding phosphoprotein 50 (EBP50, also referred to as NHERF) through their PDZ motifs. Here, we show that beta(2) is the major adrenergic receptor isoform expressed in airway epithelia and that it colocalizes with CF...

Dopamine plays important roles in the development and modulation of motor control circuits. Here we show that dopamine exerts potent effects on the central pattern generator circuit controlling locomotory swimming in post-embryonic Xenopus tadpoles. Dopamine (0.5-100 μM) reduced fictive swim bout occurrence and caused both spontaneous and evoked episodes to become shorter, slower and weaker. Th...

Naegleria fowleri, known as the brain-eating amoeba, causes acute primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. During swimming and other recreational water activities, N. fowleri trophozoites penetrate the nasal mucosa and invade the olfactory bulbs, resulting in intense inflammatory reactions in the forebrain tissue. To investigate what kinds of inflammasome molecules are expressed in target cells due...

Pentamethoxyflavone (PMF) was isolated from the rhizomes of Kaempferia parviflora, a plant that is claimed to have anti-hypertensive effects. We have investigated the activity of the PMF on isolated rat thoracic aortic rings. PMF caused a relaxation of phenylephrine precontracted aortic rings, and this effect was inhibited by N-nitro-L-arginine (LNA), ODQ (guanylyl cyclase inhibitor), or by rem...

She had reported poor health status during the preceeding month. The patient had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease 9 months earlier. Initially, the patient was treated with 32 mg?d methylprednisolone and 100 mg?d azathioprine, both taken orally. Azathioprine was discontinued 4 weeks later, due to hepatic damage, and was replaced by infliximab injections; the chimeric monoclonal immunoglobulin...

We investigated the role of K(+) channels in the attenuated pulmonary artery (PA) contractility characteristic of acute Pseudomonas pneumonia. Contractility of PA rings from the lungs of control or pneumonia rats was assessed in vitro by obtaining cumulative concentration-response curves to the contractile agonists KCl, phenylephrine, or PGF(2 alpha) on PA rings before and after treatment with ...

Flow-mediated vasodilation is endothelium dependent. We hypothesized that flow activates a potassium channel on the endothelium, and that activation of this channel leads to the release of the endogenous nitrovasodilator, nitric oxide. To test this hypothesis, rabbit iliac arteries were perfused at varying flow rates, at a constant pressure of 60 mm Hg. Increments in flow induced proportional i...

Neurons were isolated from the intestine of guinea pigs and grown in primary culture for < or =15 days. Using conventional whole cell recording techniques, we demonstrated that the majority of neurons express a prolonged poststimulus afterhyperpolarization (slow AHP). These neurons also had large-amplitude (approximately 100 mV), broad-duration (approximately 2 ms) action potentials and generat...

Transforming growth factors (TGF) are potent multifunctional polypeptides that are involved in renal function and glomerular sclerosis. We postulated that dietary salt modified renal production of TGF-β. An increase in dietary salt produced sustained increases in steady-state levels of mRNA for TGF-β1, -β2, and -β3 in the rat kidney. While serum concentration of TGF-β1 did not change, the 8.0% ...