BACKGROUND In fibrotic diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis there is evidence suggesting enhanced synthesis and degradation of lung connective tissue components, including collagen. It has therefore been hypothesised that products of collagen degradation may have a role in the promotion of collagen deposition. In support of this hypothesis, it has recently been shown that intravenous injection o...

  The forced degradation study of lidocaine HCl was carried out according to the ICH guideline Q1A (R2). The degradation conditions were assessed to be hydrolysis, oxidation, photolysis and dry heat during 24 h, 48 h and 72 h and then the samples were investigated by GC-FID method and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. According to these results, the degradation products were not o...

In this study we used chloroquine to characterize the interalization and lysosomal degradation of receptor-bound 125I-insulin by rat adipocytes and to determine the role of lysosomal processing of insulin in the short-term biologic effects of the hormone. Chloroquine inhibited the degradation of 125I-insulin bound to adipocytes by both association and disslociation experiments. In the former ex...

Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, the symbiotic fungus of the leaf-cutting ants, degrades starch, this degradation being supposed to occur in the plant material which leafcutters forage to the nests, generating most of the glucose which the ants utilize for food. In the present investigation, we show that laboratory cultures of L. gongylophorus produce extracellular alpha-amylase and maltase which d...

Use of one bag of glucose peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF) results in the development of a dose-related senescent mesothelial cell phenotype not linked to acidic pH or the presence of lactate buffer. This complication derives mostly from oxidative stress induced both by glucose itself and by glucose degradation products (GDPs). New glucose formulations are offered in dual- or three-chambered bag...

The metabolic syndrome (MS) recognized as a major cause of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, has become one of the major public health challenges worldwide. The pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome is multiple and still poorly understood. No single factor has yet been identified as an underlying causal factor. There is a growing belief, however, that obesity, specially visceral obe...