The potential adverse effect of synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone therapy on the developing heart remains unknown. The present study investigated the effects of dexamethasone on cardiomyocyte proliferation and binucleation in the developing heart of newborn rats and evaluated DNA methylation as a potential mechanism. Dexamethasone was administered intraperitoneally in a three day tapered ...

Whereas GCs have been demonstrated to be beneficial for transplantation patients, the pharmacological mechanisms remain unknown. Herein, the role of GR signaling was investigated via a pharmacological approach in a murine allogeneic skin transplantation model. The GC Dex, a representative GC, significantly relieved allograft rejection. In Dex-treated allograft recipient mice, CD11b(+)Gr1(+) MDS...

Members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family play a critical role in embryonic lung development and adult lung physiology. The in vivo investigation of the role FGFs play in the adult lung has been hampered because the constitutive pulmonary expression of these factors often has deleterious effects and frequently results in neonatal lethality. To circumvent these shortcomings, we expres...

Glucocorticoids are used clinically for the treatment of acoustic injury. However, the protective mechanism of glucocorticoid in acoustic injury has not been completely clarified. Also, the effects of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) on acoustic injury have not been examined to the best of our knowledge. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of methylprednisolone, a glucocorticoid ...

Nuclear transport, phosphorylation, ligand binding, and degradation rate of the recombinant androgen receptor (AR) were analyzed in transfected COS cells in the presence of various steroids and antiandrogens. Transcriptional activation was assessed in CV1 cells by cotransfection with an androgen-responsive chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter vector. Hormone binding specificity of r...

BACKGROUND Evidence suggests that HLA-G plays a critical role in maternal immune tolerance to the fetus. However, regulation of HLA-G gene expression is not well understood. Many studies have suggested that progesterone may also be important in suppressing maternal immune response to the fetus. Therefore, we hypothesized that this steroid hormone may play a role in regulating HLA-G gene express...

The diverse effects of progesterone on female reproductive tissues are mediated by the progesterone receptor (PR), a member of the nuclear receptor family of ligand-dependent transcription factors. Thus, PR is an important therapeutic target in female reproduction and in certain endocrine dependent cancers. This paper reviews our understanding of the mechanism of action of the most widely used ...