A simple colorimetric beta-lactamase assay for quantifying Leishmania amastigotes in macrophages grown in microtiter plates has been reported. The beta-lactamase gene was integrated into the rRNA region of the genome, thereby allowing for high-level stable expression of the enzyme. Both visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) isolates were transfected with bet...

Lysophospholipids are important signaling molecules in animals and metazoan cells. They are widely distributed among marine invertebrates, where their physiological roles are unknown. Sea cucumbers produce unique lysophospholipids. In this study, two lysophospholipids were detected in Holothuria atra for the first time, lyso-platelet activating factor and lysophosphatidylcholine, with nuclear m...

u is a plasmid-encoded protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) secreted by pathogenic Yersinia. Although the enzyme likely acts to dephosphorylate eukaryotic proteins during Yersinia infection of the mammalian host, the targets of YopH have not been identified. We infected the murine macrophage-like cell line J774A.1 with Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and investigated the specificity of YopH and Yo...

Bothrops asper (Squamata: Viperidae) is the most important venomous snake in Central America, being responsible for the majority of snakebite accidents. Four basic PLA2s (pMTX-I to -IV) were purified from crude venom by a single-step chromatography using a CM-Sepharose ion-exchange column (1.5 × 15 cm). Analysis of the N-terminal sequence demonstrated that pMTX-I and III belong to the catalytic...

Background and Aims : Although microplastics being omnipresent in our environment already detected various organisms, less is known about the effects of on vascular biology particular. Here we investigated carboxylated polystyrene (PS) microplastic particles (1 ?m) murine endothelial immune cells, which are both crucially involved inflammation.Methods: Murine monocytic J774A.1 cells MyEND were ...

It was reported recently that the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator protein (CFTR) is required for acidification of phagosomes in alveolar macrophages (Di et al. Nature Cell Biol. 8:933–944, 2006). Here we determined whether the CFTR chloride channel is a generalized pathway for chloride entry into phagosomes of macrophages and whether mutations in CFTR could contribute to alveolar macropha...