Verapamil is the first-line preventive medication for cluster headache, an excruciating disorder with strong circadian features. Whereas second- and third-line preventives include known modulators, such as melatonin, corticosteroids, lithium, effects of verapamil are poorly understood. Here, we characterize features using both in vitro vivo models. In Per2::LucSV reporter fibroblasts, treatment...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal disease due to motoneuron degeneration. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is becoming a promising non-invasive approach to monitor the disease course but a direct correlation with neuropathology is not feasible in human. Therefore in this study we aimed to examine MRI changes in relation to histopathology in two mouse models of ALS (...

background : malaria remains a serious public health problem with significant morbidity and mortal-ity. this study was conducted to identify whether ficolin-a could play an active role of against mala-ria infection. methods : the function of ficolin-a was analyzed in mouse model. the open reading frame of fico-lin-a was cloned from the liver of new born c57bl/6 mice by rt-pcr and then inserted ...

objective: the brucella melitensis virb operon, encoding a type iv secretion system (t4ss), is required for intracellular replication and persistent infection in the mouse model. the product of the second gene of the virb operon, virb2, is predicted to be localized at the bacterial surface, where they could potentially interact with host cells. studies to date have focused on characterization o...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the potential impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus on left ventricular dysfunction and the development of calcified aortic valve disease using a dyslipidemic mouse model prone to developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. APPROACH AND RESULTS When compared with nondiabetic LDLr(-/-)/ApoB(100/100), diabetic LDLr(-/-)/ApoB(100/100)/IGF-II mice exhibited similar d...

Genetic variations in the large-conductance, voltage- and calcium activated potassium channels (BK channels) have been recently implicated in mental retardation, autism and schizophrenia which all come along with severe cognitive impairments. In the present study we investigate the effects of functional BK channel deletion on cognition using a genetic mouse model with a knock-out of the gene fo...

BACKGROUND The number of patients with diabetes or the metabolic syndrome reaches epidemic proportions. On top of their diabetic cardiomyopathy, these patients experience frequent and severe cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (IR) insults, which further aggravate their degree of heart failure. Food restriction and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition (ACE-I) are standard therapies in these patien...

A synthetic 7-mer, HHHRHSF, was recently identified by screening a phage display library for binding to the Tie-2 receptor. A polyethylene-oxide clustered version of this peptide, termed vasculotide (VT), was reported to activate Tie-2 and promote angiogenesis in a mouse model of diabetic ulcer. We hypothesized that VT administration would defend endothelial barrier function against sepsis-asso...