Sonicates of mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC) differentiated in vitro and of mouse serosal mast cells differentiated in vivo contained small but approximately equal amounts of aminopeptidase activity, as determined by cleavage of leucine-beta-naphthylamide and resolution of the reaction products by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Aminopeptidase activity was exoc...

Patients with pancreatic-insufficient cystic fibrosis (PI-CF) are at increased risk for developing diabetes. We determined β-cell secretory capacity and insulin secretory rates from glucose-potentiated arginine and mixed-meal tolerance tests (MMTTs), respectively, in pancreatic-sufficient cystic fibrosis (PS-CF), PI-CF, and normal control subjects, all with normal glucose tolerance, in order to...

Actin and actin-associated proteins have a pivotal effect on regulated exocytosis in secretory cells and influence pre-fusion as well as post-fusion stages of exocytosis. Actin polymerization on secretory granules during the post-fusion phase (formation of an actin coat) is especially important in cells with large secretory vesicles or poorly soluble secretions. Alveolar type II (ATII) cells se...

OBJECTIVE To study the dynamics of the expression and localization of the mu opioid receptor (MOR) in human endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle. DESIGN Analysis of human endometrial samples from different menstrual cycle phases (menstrual, early/midproliferative, late proliferative/early secretory, midsecretory, and late secretory) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, We...

BACKGROUND Serum FSH elevations and decreases in inhibin B have been consistently demonstrated in the early follicular phase of cycles in women of advanced reproductive age. However, secretory products of the dominant follicle (estradiol and inhibin A) in the serum of older ovulatory women are maintained at levels similar to those of their younger counterparts. The goal of this investigation wa...

BACKGROUND Lack of a non-invasive diagnostic test contributes to the long delay between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of endometriosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined performance of six potential plasma biomarkers in the diagnosis of endometriosis. METHODS This case-control study was conducted in 294 infertile women, consisting of 93 women with a normal pelvis and 201 wo...

The present study investigates the time-varying control of pituitary hormone secretion over the day and night (D/N). To this end, we implemented an analytical platform designed to reconstruct simultaneously 1) basal (nonpulsatile) secretion, 2) single or dual secretory-burst waveforms, 3) random effects on burst amplitude, 4) stochastic pulse-renewal properties, 5) biexponential elimination kin...

DNA fragmentation factors 40 and 45 (DFF40 and DFF45) and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) 16 expression were evaluated in the normal human endometrium and myometrium. DFF40, DFF45, 17 and Bcl-2 expression was assessed via immunohistochemistry in the proliferative, secretory, and 18 atrophic endometrium and myometrium collected postmenopausally and premenopausally during 19 the proliferative and secre...

Streptomyces lividans is considered an efficient host for the secretory production of homologous and heterologous proteins. To identify possible bottlenecks in the protein production process, a comparative transcriptomic approach was adopted to study cellular responses during the overproduction of a Sec-dependent model protein (alpha-amylase) and a Tat-dependent model protein (agarase) in Strep...

The structural change in the tight junction between human endometrial epithelial cells during the normal menstrual cycle was observed by means of freeze-fracture replica electron microscopy. Tight junctions between epithelial cells of the endometrial basal layer showed no alterations in structure during the menstrual cycle, while those between epithelial cells of the functional layer exhibited ...