Vasoinhibins are prolactin fragments present in the retina, where they have been shown to prevent the hypervasopermeability associated with diabetes. Enhanced bradykinin (BK) production contributes to the increased transport through the blood-retina barrier (BRB) in diabetes. Here, we studied if vasoinhibins regulate BRB permeability by targeting the vascular endothelium and retinal pigment epi...

PURPOSE L-type amino acid transporters (LATs) prefer branched-chain and aromatic amino acids, including neurotransmitter precursors. The objective of this study was to clarify the expression and function of LAT at the inner blood-retinal barrier (BRB). METHODS [3H]L-Leucine transport at the inner BRB was characterized by using in vivo integration plot analysis and a conditionally immortalized...

PURPOSE Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in leukostasis and blood-retinal barrier (BRB) breakdown in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR), but it is unclear which NO synthase (NOS) isoforms are primarily involved. In this study, the authors aimed to clarify the involvement of constitutive (eNOS, nNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) isoforms and the mechanisms underlying NO-mediated leukostasis ...

We have shown that a diet containing freeze-dried black raspberries (BRB) inhibits the development of chemically induced cancer in the rat esophagus. To provide insights into possible mechanisms by which BRB inhibit esophageal carcinogenesis, we evaluated an ethanol (EtOH) extract of BRB, and two component anthocyanins (cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside) in BRB, for their effec...

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of the recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector that expresses human pigment epithelium-derived factor (hPEDF) on reducing blood-retinal barrier (BRB) breakdown in the experimental diabetic rat model. METHODS Diabetes was induced by an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) into 10-week-old male Wister rats. rAAV2-cytomegalovirus (CMV)-...

The human GPIa/Ila complex, also known as integrin a2Bfl, serves as a major receptor for collagen in platelets and other cell types. In addition to its role in platelet adhesion to extracellular matrix, GPIa/IIa is also known to bear the clinically important Br' and Br' alloantigenic determinants, which can result in antibody-mediated platelet destruction. Immunochemical studies showed that the...

PURPOSE Retinal microvascular cells play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. The endothelial effects of cloricromene, a novel coumarin derivative, on diabetic retinopathy induced by streptozotocin (STZ) in the rat were investigated. METHODS Cloricromene (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally) was administered daily in diabetic rats, and 60 days later eyes were enucleated for loca...

We study a well-known communication abstraction called Byzantine Reliable Broadcast (BRB). This is central in the design and implementation of fault-tolerant distributed systems, as many applications require with provable guarantees on message deliveries. Our focuses implementations for message-passing systems that are prone to process-failures, such crashes malicious behavior. At PODC 1983, Br...