objective(s): oxidative stress has been established as a key cause of alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity. licochalcone b, an extract of licorice root, has shown antioxidative properties. this study was to investigate the effects and mechanisms of licochalcone b in ethanol-induced hepatic injury in an in vitro study. materials and methods: an in vitro model of ethanol-induced cytotoxicity in brl cel...

GADD45α is a stress-induced gene activated by a variety of stress stimuli, including ultraviolet and ionizing radiation, and involved in cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, maintenance, genomic stability, DNA repair and immune response. However, the effects and regulatory mechanism of GADD45α on proliferation, apoptosis and DNA damage repair of hepatocytes in liver regeneration remains unclear. I...

BRL34915 (BRL) is a vasodilator with a novel structure. Its mechanism of action, its effects on depolarization-induced and receptor-mediated blood vessel contraction, and its hemodynamic effects were investigated. In the rat portal vein, BRL inhibited spontaneous mechanical activity [IC50 0.013 +/- 0.001 microM (mean +/- SEM) for (-)-BRL], the initial effect being a reduced frequency of contrac...

Human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) potassium channels are one primary target for the pharmacological treatment of cardiac arrhythmias by class III antiarrhythmic drugs. These drugs are characterized by high antiarrhythmic efficacy, but they can also initiate life-threatening "torsade de pointes" tachyarrhythmias. Recently, it has been suggested that combining potassium and calcium channel ...

The biochemical and pharmacological characteristics in human proinflammatory cells of BRL 50481 [3-(N,N-dimethylsulfonamido)-4-methyl-nitrobenzene], a novel and selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase (PDE) 7, are described. BRL 50481 inhibited the activity of hrPDE7A1 expressed in baculovirus-infected Spodoptera frugiperda 9 cells in a competitive manner (Ki value of 180 nM) and was 416 and 1...

We investigated the role of large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (BK) channels in beta3-adrenoceptor (beta3-AR)-induced relaxation in rat urinary bladder smooth muscle (UBSM). BRL 37344, a specific beta3-AR agonist, inhibits spontaneous contractions of isolated UBSM strips. SR59230A, a specific beta3-AR antagonist, and H89, a PKA inhibitor, reduced the inhibitory effect of BRL 37344. Iberiot...

The phenomenon of developmental arrest at the 2-cell stage of zygotes obtained from certain mouse strains during in vitro culture is known as the 2-cell block. The effect of conditioned medium (CM) with rat hepatoma BRL cells on the 2-cell block of CD-1 mouse zygotes was investigated in comparison with that of CM with rat hepatoma Reuber H-35 cells. In control medium with EDTA, 75.4% of 2-cell ...

Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) plays a key role in the progression of liver fibrosis. Interleukin-10 (IL-10), a potential anti-fibrosis cytokine, has an unfavorable pharmacokinetic profile, which limits its clinical applications. A liver-targeting gene delivery system may maintain a longer-lasting concentration in hepatic tissue with fewer side‑effects in non-target tissues. In the...

The present study was designed to test the efficacy, as assessed by blastocyst production, of culturing slaughterhouse-derived bovine oocytes in Ménézo's B2 (B2) medium with or without serum and with or without buffalo rat cell (BRL) coculture. In addition, OPU-derived oocytes were cultured in B2-BRL coculture with or without serum for the first 72 h or TCM 199-BRL coculture with serum and the ...

BACKGROUND Understanding fate choice and fate switching between the osteoblast lineage (ObL) and adipocyte lineage (AdL) is important to understand both the developmental inter-relationships between osteoblasts and adipocytes and the impact of changes in fate allocation between the two lineages in normal aging and certain diseases. The goal of this study was to determine when during lineage pro...