Hyaluronan (HA) degradation fragments have been linked to inflammation in a wide range of lung diseases. In idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, HA accumulation has been associated with advanced disease. In this study, we investigated the potential role of HA degradation in the early stages of disease by examining HA distribution, molecular mass, synthesis, and enzymatic degradation at d...

BACKGROUND As an invasive malignant tumor, osteosarcoma (OS) has high mortality. Parathyroid hormone receptor 1 (PTHR1) contributes to maintaining proliferation and undifferentiated state of OS. This study is designed to reveal the action mechanisms of PTHR1 in OS. METHODS Microarray dataset GSE46861, which included six PTHR1 knockdown OS samples and six control OS samples, was obtained from ...

BACKGROUND Hyaluronan (HA) is a primary component of the extracellular matrix of cells, and it is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of HA in neointimal formation after vascular injury and determine its tissue-specific role in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) by using a cre-lox conditional transgenic (cTg) strategy. METHO...

PURPOSE Several studies have convincingly shown that in chicks, compensation for imposed focus involves immediate changes in choroid thickness. The molecular events associated with choroidal thickening and the regulation of the choroidal response are largely unknown. METHODS Form-deprivation myopia was induced in the right eyes of 2-day-old chicks by the application of translucent occluders f...

BACKGROUND Although pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is characterized by an abundant stroma enriched with hyaluronan (HA), the prognostic impact of HA and its regulators remains unknown. METHODS Using immunohistochemistry, expression patterns of HA and its regulators, including a synthesizing enzyme (HAS2), and a degrading enzyme (HYAL1) were investigated in patients who received surgical res...

Thickening of the vessel in response to high low density lipoprotein(s) (LDL) levels is a hallmark of atherosclerosis, characterized by increased hyaluronan (HA) deposition in the neointima. Human native LDL trapped within the arterial wall undergoes modifications such as oxidation (oxLDL). The aim of our study is to elucidate the link between internalization of oxLDL and HA production in vitro...

Distal outgrowth and maturation of mesenchymalized endocardial cushions are critical morphogenetic events during post-EMT atrioventricular (AV) valvuloseptal morphogenesis. We explored the role of BMP-2 in the regulation of valvulogenic extracellular matrix (ECM) components, versican and hyaluronan (HA), and cell migration during post-EMT AV cushion distal outgrowth/expansion. We observed inten...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) triggers many secondary changes in tissue biology, which ultimately determine the extent of injury and clinical outcome. Hyaluronan [hyaluronic acid (HA)] is a protective cementing gel present in the intercellular spaces whose degradation has been reported as a causative factor in tissue damage. Yet little is known about the expression and activities of genes involv...

Hyaluronan (HA) is suggested to play a role in the pathophysiology of multiple myeloma. To further investigate the role of HA in this disease, we examined hyaluronan synthase (Has) gene expression and HA production in bone marrow mesenchymal progenitor cells (bmMPCs) derived from multiple myeloma patients. The relative abundance of mRNA for each HAS gene was determined using competitive reverse...

(1) Background: The binding sites of melatonin, as a multifunctional molecule, have been identified in human, porcine, and bovine samples. However, the binding sites and mechanisms of melatonin have not been reported in sheep; (2) Methods: Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with melatonin at concentrations of 0, 10-3, 10-5, 10-7, 10-9, and 10-11 M. Melatonin r...