Highly purified murine granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-GM) were used as target cells to assess the possible direct effects of purified preparations of recombinant murine gamma-interferon, prostaglandin E, recombinant human heavy chain (acidic) ferritin, and recombinant human tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) on progenitor cells in vitro. Target CFU-GM, with cloning efficienci...

In the mouse embryo, early organogenesis is characterized by the formation of a functional cardiac muscle, such that 9-day embryos exhibit beating, although not fully developed hearts. In light of this observation, we found it intriguing that mouse embryoid bodies (EB), which can develop in vitro from totipotential embryonic stem cells, undergo spontaneous contractile activity. To determine if ...

Mechanical loading and alpha-adrenergic receptor stimulation have both been shown to induce hypertrophy in isolated neonatal heart cells. The present study examined the effects of adrenergic hormones and contractile activity on the hypertrophic response in isolated adult feline cardiomyocytes maintained for more than 14 days in insulin- and serum-supplemented medium. Measurements of the hypertr...

Myosin essential light chain (ELC) wraps around an alpha-helix that extends from the myosin head, where it is believed to play a structural support role. To identify other role(s) of the ELC in myosin function, we have used an alanine scanning mutagenesis approach to convert charged residues in loops I, II, III, and helix G of the Dictyostelium ELC into uncharged alanines. Dictyostelium was use...

Factor Va, the essential cofactor for prothrombinase, is phosphorylated on the acidic COOH terminus of the heavy chain of the cofactor, at Ser692, by a platelet membrane-associated casein kinase II (CKII). Consistent with this observation, phosphorylation of the factor Va heavy chain by the platelet kinase was inhibited by heparin. The membrane-associated platelet CKII kinase was partially puri...

Sera of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients and normal subjects were analysed by two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. Densitometric analysis of the 2-D gels of IgAN patients and normal subjects revealed that their protein maps were comparable. There was no shift of pI values in the major alpha-heavy chain spots. However, the volume of the alpha-heavy chain bands were differently distributed. ...

Monoclonal gammopathies are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by the stable or progressive proliferation of an abnormal clone of plasma cells that continue pro‐ ducing antibodies [4]. But because these immunoglobulin proteins are abnormal and mon‐ oclonal (identical copies of each other), these offer no protection against infections and can damage the kidney. This monoclonal immu...

BACKGROUND In animal studies, diabetes has been shown to induce changes in gene expression of key regulators in cardiac energy metabolism and calcium homeostasis. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that metabolic gene expression in nonischemic failing hearts of diabetic patients differs from that in nonischemic failing hearts of nondiabetic patients. METHODS AND RESULTS Left ventr...

We report that dietary modification from a soy-based diet to a casein-based diet radically improves disease indicators and cardiac function in a transgenic mouse model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. On a soy diet, males with a mutation in the alpha-myosin heavy chain gene progress to dilation and heart failure. However, males fed a casein diet no longer deteriorate to severe, dilated cardiomyo...