Precursors of mast cells were defined as cells that formed mast-cell colonies in methylcellulose culture (CFU-mast). Mononuclear cells (MNC) were obtained from the bone marrow, peripheral blood, and small intestine of Ws/Ws rats with a small deletion at the tyrosine kinase domain of c-kit and of control normal (+/+) rats. In the culture containing concanavalin A-stimulated spleen cell condition...

Mycobacterium cell wall extract (MCWE) (Regressin) contains trehalose dimycolate and muramyl dipeptide, both of which have immunomodulatory properties. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of MCWE on the in vitro peripheral blood lymphocyte blastogenic activities to mitogens phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (ConA) in 6- to 8-week-old piglets. The effect of MCWE on alveol...

Schisandrin A (Sch A) and schisandrin B (Sch B) are active components of Schisandrae Fructus. We compared the biochemical mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory action of Sch A and Sch B, using cultured lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages and concanavalin (ConA)-stimulated mouse splenocytes. Pre-incubation with Sch A or Sch B produced an anti-inflammatory action in LPS-...

Titration calorimetry measurements of the binding of phenyl-alpha (alpha PhOGlu), 3-methoxy (3MeOGlu), fluorodeoxy and deoxy derivatives of alpha-D-glucopyranose (Glu) to concanavalin A (conA), pea lectin and lentil lectin were performed at approx. 10 and 25 degrees C in 0.01 M dimethylglutaric acid/NaOH buffer, pH 6.9, containing 0.15 M NaCl and Mn2+ and Ca2+ ions. Apparently the 3-deoxy, 4-de...

A new, relatively simple, spectrophotometric technique has been developed which is useful for accurately determining the extent of chromophore labeling of proteins. Often the absorbance spectra and extinction coefficients of dye/protein conjugates are strongly affected by changes in the chromophore microenvironment that may occur at high dye/protein ratios. In the method being presented, the mi...

TNF- α is one of the most abundant cytokines produced in many inflammatory and autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis, chronic hepatitis C, or neurodegenerative diseases. These pathologies remain difficult to diagnose and consequently difficult to treat. The aim of this work is to offer a new diagnostic tool by seeking new molecular probes for medical imaging. The target-specific part...

Multivalent interactions between carbohydrate-encapsulated gold nanoparticles and Con A are found with high affinity and specificity.

Because of the paucity of known self lipid-reactive ligands for NKT cells, interactions among distinct NKT cell subsets as well as immune consequences following recognition of self glycolipids have not previously been investigated. Here we examined cellular interactions and subsequent immune regulatory mechanism following recognition of sulfatide, a self-glycolipid ligand for a subset of CD1d-r...

The microsporidia are ubiquitous, obligate intracellular eukaryotic spore-forming parasites infecting a wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates, including humans. The defining structure of microsporidia is the polar tube, which forms a hollow tube through which the sporoplasm is transferred to the host cell. Research on the molecular and cellular biology of the polar tube has resulted in th...

Nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) is one of the main transcription factors involved in regulating apoptosis, inflammation, chronic liver disease, and cancer progression. The IKK complex mediates NF-kappaB activation and deletion of its regulatory subunit NEMO in hepatocytes (NEMO(Delta hepa)) triggers chronic inflammation and spontaneous hepatocellular carcinoma development. We show that NEMO(D...