OBJECTIVES Diastolic dysfunction that determines symptoms and prognosis in patients with systolic dysfunction causes heart failure even in the absence of systolic dysfunction. Our recent studies have suggested that myocardial stiffening is likely to play a crucial role in triggering deleterious cardiac disorder. This study investigated differential contribution of left ventricular (LV) hypertro...

Dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) is an inherited mechano-bullous disorder of skin caused by mutations in the type VII collagen gene. The lack of therapy for DEB provides an impetus to develop gene therapy strategies. However, the full-length 9-kilobase type VII collagen cDNA exceeds the cloning capacity of current viral delivery vectors. In this study, we produced a recombinant type VII m...

Dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) is a hereditary skin disorder characterized by traumainduced blistering. It is caused by mutations in the collagen VII gene, COL7A1, which consists of 118 small exons. Molecular diagnostics in DEB remain complex due to the gene structure, large variety of mutations, high rate of novel mutations, and the heterogeneity of phenotypes. Using a highly sensitive...

background: surface properties of a biomaterial could be critical in determining biomaterial’s biocompatibility due to the fact that the first interactions between the biological environment and artificial materials are most likely occurred at material’s surface. in this study, the surface properties of a new nanocomposite (nc) polymeric material were modified by combining plasma treatment and ...

Bruck syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive connective tissue disorder characterized by fragile bones, joint contractures, scoliosis, and osteoporosis. The telopeptides of bone collagen I are underhydroxylated in these patients, leading to abnormal collagen cross-linking. Three point mutations in lysyl hydroxylase (LH) 2, the enzyme responsible for the hydroxylation of collagen telopeptides, h...

AIMS To study the distribution of tenascin by immunocytochemistry in autoimmune diseases of the thyroid. METHODS Thyroids from patients with inflammatory lesions of the thyroid (lymphocytic thyroiditis Hashimoto, Grave's disease, thyroiditis DeQuervain) were studied by immunocytochemistry using antibodies against tenascin, collagen III, and collagen IV. RESULTS In autoimmune lymphocytic thy...

Neurite outgrowth from dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants is a method of evaluating neurotrophic activity of growth factors. When complete medium containing collagen was supplemented with nerve growth factor (NGF) DRG outgrowth was observed after 18 h. In the absence of NGF and in the presence of collagen, the DRG outgrowth took place after 72 h. In wells not supplemented with collagen gel in ...

Background: Collagen, the most abundant protein in the human body, and as an extracellular matrix protein, has an important role in the fiber formation. This feature of the collagen renders  establishment of the structural skeleton in tissues. Regarding specific features associated with the collagen, such as, formation of the porous structure, permeability and hydrophilicity, it can also be use...

Fibroblasts derived from the involved skin of scleroderma patients frequently display a phenotype of supernormal collagen expression when cultured. Fibroblasts displaying this phenotype derived from seven patients were treated with r~laxin (1-100 ngjml) and interferon-y (1-100 U jml), individually and in combination, to assess the relative abilities of these cytokines to down-modulate collagen ...