Obesity-associated diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, liver disease and cardiovascular diseases are profoundly mediated by low-grade chronic inflammation of the adipose tissue. Recently, the importance of neutrophils and neutrophil-derived myeloperoxidase and neutrophil elastase on the induction of insulin resistance has been established. Since neutrophil elastase and myeloperoxidase are critica...

Neospora caninum (N. caninum) is an apicomplexan parasite and causes abortion and congenital neosporosis in cattle worldwide. In this study, we evaluate the virulence of a N. caninum isolate on mouse strain C57BL/6. Six groups of five mice C57BL/6 were intraperitoneally inoculated with 1 × l07, 1.5 × l07, 2 × l07, 3 × l07 and 4 × l07 tachyzoites and a control inoculum of DMEM, respectively. Cli...

Current technology for penile hemodynamic evaluations in small animals is invasive and has limitations. We evaluated a novel laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) technique to determine age-related changes in penile microvascular perfusion (PMP) and tested the role of cavernosal muscle (CC) fibrosis mediated by Wnt-TGF β1 signaling pathways in a mouse model. Ten young (2-3 months) and old (24-2...

The DBA/2J (D2) and C57BL6 (B6) mouse strains are widely used in research as models for anxiety, addiction and chronic glaucoma. D2, but not B6, animals develop elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) that leads to progressive degeneration of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons and perikarya. Here we compare the expression and localization of intracellular ryanodine receptor (RyR) Ca(2+) store mechan...

The degradation of ANG II by angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), leading to the formation of ANG(1-7), is an important step in the regulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), and one that is significantly altered in the diabetic kidney. This study examined the role of ACE2 in the hyperfiltration associated with diabetes. Streptozotocin diabetes was induced in male C57BL6 ...

It has been shown that angiotensin(1-7) (Ang(1-7)) produces several effects related to glucose homeostasis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of genetic deletion of Ang(1-7), the GPCR Mas, on the glucagon-producing cells. C57BL6/N Mas-/- mice presented a significant and marked increase in pancreatic α-cells (number of cells: 146 ± 21 vs 67 ± 8 in WT; P < 0.001) and the percenta...

Abstract Hurdles to effective treatments for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive form of brain cancer, are resistance chemotherapy, radiation, and immune checkpoint inhibitors. GBMs, like other “difficult treat” tumors, often over-utilize phosphatidyl inositol 3 kinase (PI3K) pathway survival, cell growth, division, conferring both chemotherapy radiation resistance. Furthermore, ...

In order to better understand the mechanical properties of biological cells, characterization and investigation of their material behavior is necessary. In this paper hyperelastic Neo-Hookean material is used to characterize the mechanical properties of mouse oocyte cell. It has been assumed that the cell behaves as continuous, isotropic, nonlinear and homogenous material for modeling. Then, by...

It was hypothesized that endothelial glycocalyx perturbation contributes to increased vulnerability of the arterial wall exposed to atherogenic risk factors. Glycocalyx and intima-to-media ratios (IMR) were studied at a low- and a high-risk region within the murine carotid artery (common region) and internal carotid branch (sinus region) in control C57BL/6J (C57BL6) and age-matched C57BL/6J/apo...