BACKGROUND In the Western world, a major cause of blindness is age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Recent research in angiogenesis has furthered the understanding of choroidal neovascularization, which occurs in the "wet" form of AMD. In contrast, very little is known about the mechanisms of the predominant, "dry" form of AMD, which is characterized by retinal atrophy and choroidal involuti...

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) induces hypophagia, which can be reduced by cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors. Earlier studies with COX knockout (COXko) mice suggested that COX2 was more important for hypophagia than COX1. However, behavioral responses occur long before COX2 is induced. Hypophagia was assessed in mice by measuring the intake of sweetened milk in a brief period. The intake was reduced within...

objective(s): fluvoxamine is a well-known selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (ssri); despite its anti-inflammatory effect, little is known about the precise mechanisms involved. in our previous work, we found that ip administration of fluvoxamine produced a noticeable anti-inflammatory effect in carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. in this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of fluvoxa...

We selected for increased phenotypic expression of a synthetic cox2::arg8m-G66S reporter gene inserted into Saccharomyces cerevisiae mtDNA in place of COX2. Recessive mutations in ras2 and cyr1, as well as elevated dosage of PDE2, allowed cox2::arg8m-G66S to support Arg prototrophy. Each of these genetic alterations should decrease cellular cAMP levels. The resulting signal was transduced throu...

In this first comparative in vitro study, linoleyl hydroxamic acid (LHA), a simple and stable derivative of linoleic acid, was tested as an inhibitor of several enzymes involved in arachidonic acid metabolism in mammals. The tested enzymes were human recombinant 5-lipoxygenase (h5-LO), porcine leukocyte 12-LO, rabbit reticulocyte 15-LO, ovine cyclooxygenases 1/2 (COX1/COX2), and human microsoma...

Early inhibition of inflammation suppresses the carcinogenic process. Aspirin is the most commonly used non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and it irreversibly inhibits cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 (COX1, COX2). Multiple randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that aspirin offers substantial protection from colon cancer mortality. The lower aspirin doses causing only minimal gastroint...

BACKGROUND Arsenic compounds have modest cytotoxic activity in solid tumors. We investigated if arsenic sulfide (As4S4) in combination with other distinct agents could enhance its cytotoxic activity. METHODS We used gastric and colon cancer cell lines to study the synergistic effect of As4S4 in combination with BRD4 inhibitor JQ1, or with chemotherapy drug cisplatin and irinotecan or with COX...

Heterocyst development was analyzed in mutants of the heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 bearing inactivated cox2 and/or cox3 genes, encoding heterocyst-specific terminal respiratory oxidases. At the morphological level, the cox2 cox3 double mutant (strain CSAV141) was impaired in membrane reorganization involving the so-called honeycomb system that in the wild-type ...

Mechanical stimulation can prevent adipogenic and improve osteogenic lineage allocation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), an effect associated with the preservation of -catenin levels. We asked whether mechanical up-regulation of -catenin was critical to reduction in adipogenesis as well as other mechanical events inducing alternate MSC lineage selection. In MSC cultured under strong adipogenic ...