The mechanism of release mediated by the human dopamine and norepinephrine transporter (DAT and NET, respectively) was studied by a superfusion technique in human embryonic kidney 293 cells stably transfected with the respective transporter cDNA and loaded with the metabolically inert substrate [(3)H]1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium. Release was induced by amphetamine, dopamine, and norepinephrine o...

Leukocyte [white blood cell (WBC)] adhesion and shedding of glycans from the endothelium [endothelial cells (ECs)] in response to the chemoattractant f-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) has been shown to be attenuated by topical inhibition of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) with doxycycline (Doxy). Since Doxy also chelates divalent cations, these responses were studied to elucidate the relative roles of cation...

The role of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the rostral, gustatory zone of the nucleus of the solitary tract (rNST) was examined using whole cell recordings in brain slices of the adult rat medulla. Superfusion of GABA resulted in a concentration-dependent reduction in input resistance in 68% of the neurons in rNST. The change in input resistance was often ac...

Persistent vasodilation refractory to vasopressor agents is the hemodynamic abnormality characteristic of septic shock. Induction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) by sepsis-induced cytokines has been hypothesized to play a pathogenetic role in this refractory vasodilation. To evaluate the mechanism of vasodilation in sepsis, we used in vivo videomicroscopy to measure responses of resistance arter...

The relationship between acute endothelial dysfunction and the extravasation of leukocytes was studied in vivo with intravital microscopy of the rat mesenteric microvasculature. Acute endothelial dysfunction of the rat mesenteric microvasculature was induced in vivo by superfusing the mesentery for 90 min with one of three different stimulating agents: NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, ...

Many behaviors display various forms of activity-dependent plasticity. An example of such plasticity is the progressive shortening of the duration of protraction phase of feeding responses of Aplysia that occurs when feeding responses are repeatedly elicited. A similar protraction-duration shortening is observed in isolated ganglia of Aplysia when feeding-like motor programs are elicited throug...

We investigated the effects of recombinant human IL-1 alpha, -1 beta, -2, -6 and TNF on the in vitro secretion of beta-endorphin-immunoreactivity (beta E-IR) by the rat anterior and neurointermediate lobes (AL and NIL, respectively) and of B by the rat adrenal gland. Isolated AL and NIL cells were incubated for 2 h with cytokines (1 pg/m1(-1) mu g/ml), CRH (5.10(-10) M) or with cytokines in com...

An ischemia-induced change in glutamatergic transmission was investigated in substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons of adult rat spinal cord slices by use of the whole cell patch-clamp technique; the ischemia was simulated by superfusing an oxygen- and glucose-free medium (ISM). Following ISM superfusion, 21 of 37 SG neurons tested produced an outward current (23 +/- 4 pA at a holding potential of ...