background: oculocutaneous albinism type1 (oca1) is characterized by the absence of melanin pigmentation. the muta­tion on tyr gene makes oca1 as an autosomal recessive genetic disorder. in this study, we delineated the genetic analysis of an iranian family with four members affected with oca1.  methods: clinical exams and paraclinical test were performed for all patients of the case family, al...

11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD-1) intracellularly regenerates active corticosterone from circulating inert 11-dehydrocorticosterone (11-DHC) in specific tissues. The hippocampus is a brain structure particularly vulnerable to glucocorticoid neurotoxicity with aging. In intact hippocampal cells in culture, 11beta-HSD-1 acts as a functional 11beta-reductase reactivating in...

Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is a polyfunctional cytokine whose biological actions require a specific IL-11 receptor (IL-11R) and the transmembrane transducer gp130. Here we report the production of a soluble form of the murine IL-11R and demonstrate that it interacts with IL-11 ligand with high affinity. The affinity of IL-11 alone for gp130 is below the level of detection, but a complex of IL-11 an...

The effect of a range of solvents on the catalytic oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfide to methyl phenyl sulfoxide by MP-11 and by a cyclodextrin derivative of MP-11 was examined. The addition of low concentrations of alcohols enhanced the initial rate of sulfoxidation, most likely due to dispersion of MP-11 aggregates. Higher alcohol concentrations resulted in a decrease in activity arising from...