purpose : to evaluate the effect of topical diclofenac sodium 0.1% on the corneal epithelial healing after photorefractive keratectomy (prk) methods : in this prospective randomized double blind clinical trial, prk was performed on 82 patients. thirty-three cases of them receiving topical diclofenac four times per day after surgical procedure and 45 patients did not receive this medication as a...

background: endometriosis is a complex estrogen-dependent disease that is defined as the presence of endometrial gland and stroma outside the uterine cavity. although the exact mechanism for the development of endometriosis remains unclear, there is a large body of research data and circumstantial evidence that suggests a crucial role of estrogen in the establishment and maintenance of this dis...

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) induces a large increase in the water permeability of the luminal membrane of toad urinary bladder. Measured values of the diffusional water permeability coefficient, Pd(w), are spuriously low, however, because of barriers within the tissue, in series with the luminal membrane, that impede diffusion. We have now determined the water permeability coefficient of these s...

Immune defense at an interface with the external environment reflects the functions of physical and chemical barriers provided by epithelial and immune cells. Resident epithelial cells, such as keratinocytes, produce numerous peptides with direct antimicrobial activity but also provide a physical barrier against invading pathogens and signal the recruitment of circulating immune cells, such as ...

PURPOSE The immune privilege of the eye has been thought to be dependent on physical barriers and absence of lymphatic vessels. However, the immune privilege may also involve active immunologic processes, as recent studies have indicated. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells can induce apoptosis in activated T cells. METHODS ...

A substantial and increasing body of clinical evidence supports the role of specific strains and mixtures of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Several general mechanisms of action have been proposed, including supporting repair of hyperpermeable epithelial barriers, interfering with infection by pathogens, and restoring a healthful balance of commensal microbes to ...

Potential differences can only appear across barriers with high electrical resistance. Therefore it should be possible to locate the potential produced by an electrogenic pump across such high resistance barriers by using intracellular microelectrodes. An opportunity to locate such a pump is afforded by the electrogenic active transport of K across the midgut of Hyalophora cecropia (Harvey, Has...

Septate and tight junctions are thought to seal neighboring cells together and to function as barriers between epithelial cells. We have characterized a novel member of the neurexin family, Neurexin IV (NRX), which is localized to septate junctions (SJs) of epithelial and glial cells. NRX is a transmembrane protein with a cytoplasmic domain homologous to glycophorin C, a protein required for an...

Tissue barriers play an integral role in the biology and pathobiology of mammary ductal epithelium. In normal breast physiology, tight and adherens junctions undergo dynamic changes in permeability in response to hormonal and other stimuli, while several of their proteins are directly involved in mammary tumorigenesis. This review describes first the structure of mammary ductal epithelial barri...

Tight junctions (TJs) and adherens junctions (AJs) are key determinants of the structure and permeability of epithelial barriers. Although exocytic delivery to the cell surface is crucial for junctional assembly, little is known about the mechanisms controlling TJ and AJ exocytosis. This study was aimed at investigating whether a key mediator of exocytosis, soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive fa...