OBJECTIVE To measure levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including H(2)O(2) and O(2)(.-) generation in infertile men and determine whether sperm quality is correlated with levels of ROS triggered by the exogenous reduced form of beta nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Male infertility clinic at a tertiary healthcare center. PATIENT(S...

Bronchoalveolar lavage was performed in eight patients with biopsy proved sarcoidosis and eight control subjects matched for age and smoking habit, three sequential 60 ml aliquots of sterile saline being used. Each aliquot was aspirated and analysed separately to determine total and differential cell counts. Cellular metabolic activity was stimulated with latex and measured by means of luminol ...

This study examined vascular function and the role of superoxide in mice that chronically express human renin (R+) and human angiotensinogen (A+). Responses of aortas from R+/A+ mice and from their normotensive littermates (RA- mice) were examined in vitro. Endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine was impaired in vessels from R+/A+ mice (e.g., maximal relaxation to 100 microM acetylcho...

The aims of the present work were to quantify ability to induce lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) from 6-9 day-old human monocyte-derived macrophages exposed to various mineral fibers, and to examine the relationship between ability to induce CL and fiber size. All fiber samples induced the CL response from the cells. The relationship between the number of fibers administered and the C...

Temporal consequences of neurocompensation to balloon injury on endothelinergic functionality in rat contralateral carotid were evaluated. Rats underwent balloon injury in left carotid and were treated with CP-96345 (NK1 antagonist). Concentration-response curves for endothelin-1 were obtained in contralateral (right) carotid at 2, 8, 16, 30, or 45 days after surgery in the absence or presence ...

BACKGROUND Hepatic stellate cells, the main mediators in the pathogenesis of fibrosis, are triggered by free radicals and produce collagen. Melatonin is a powerful physiologic scavenger of hydroxyl radicals. It is also involved in the inhibitory regulation of the collagen content in tissue. There is no effective treatment available for liver fibrosis. Our objective was to evaluate the effects o...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the possible protective effect of proanthocyanidin against cerulein-induced acute pancreatic inflammation (AP) and oxidative injury. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with proanthocyanidine (100 mg/kg, orally) or saline 15 min before cerulein was given by 20 µg/kg subcutaneously at 1-h intervals within 4 hours. Six hours after cerulein ...

The release of reactive oxygen specie (ROS) by activated neutrophil is involved in both the antimicrobial and deleterious effects in chronic inflammation. The objective of the present investigation was to determine the effect of therapeutic plasma concentrations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the production of ROS by stimulated rat neutrophils. Diclofenac (3.6 microM), ind...

It has been suggested that human spermatozoa contain an NADPH oxidase that could generate reactive oxygen species involved in signalling pathways to promote fertility. The proposal depends on observations that the addition of NADPH to purified human spermatozoa stimulates chemiluminescence by the superoxide (O2-) probe, lucigenin. We confirmed these observations, but demonstrated that lucigenin...

We have developed a simple and reproducible method employing chemiluminescence to measure oxygen-derived free radicals generated in oxygenated myocardium. Isolated perfused rat hearts were frozen in liquid nitrogen during the control perfusion (non-ischemia), after 30 min of global ischemia (ischemia), or after 20 min of reperfusion following 30-min global ischemia (reperfusion). The frozen hea...