Remodeling of uterine spiral arteries is critical for the continuation of a successful pregnancy. Uterine natural killer (uNK) cells are the predominant leukocyte population in the early pregnant decidua, and a role for these cells in spiral artery remodeling in pregnancy has been suggested. Angiogenic growth factors were measured in isolated uNK and total (unseparated) decidual cells (8-10 or ...

Transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a potential regulator of prostate cancer cell growth that signals through a heteromeric complex composed of type I and type II receptors. In the present study, an attempt was made to establish a correlation between expression of TGF-beta receptors and tumor grade in archival human prostate cancer tissues. To this end, immunohistochemical studies f...

Hyperoxaluria is a recognized cause of tubulointerstitial lesions, and this could contribute to development of hypertension and chronic renal failure. Enalapril has been effective against the progression of tubulointerstitial lesions in various animal models. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of enalapril on the tubulointerstitial damage produced by oxalates. Two-month...

Both in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrate that transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) suppresses expression of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). In this study, we examined the effects of exogenous and endogenous TGF-beta1 on retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and resident peritoneal macrophages ex vivo using cells from TGF-beta1 null (TGF-beta1-/-) mice or ag...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the time from femoral neck fracture and the content of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and collagenase activity in bone samples of the femoral neck. The material consisted of 42 cancellous bone samples from the femoral neck collected from patients after the femoral neck fracture during hip r...

Elevated serum or plasma Transforming Growth Factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) {levels have been} linked to cancer and other diseases in numerous studies; however, very few studies have reported an association between circulating TGF-beta1 and lifestyle factors in healthy people. We examined the association between serum TGF-beta1 levels and gender, age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and drinking in a...

Dietary salt controls production of nitric oxide (NO), a potent paracrine relaxation factor involved in glomerular filtration and salt excretion. We hypothesized that glomerular NO production was enhanced through endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3). Rats in metabolic cages were studied after 4 days on 0.3% (Lo-salt) or 8.0% (Hi-salt) NaCl diet. Steady-state mRNA and protein levels of NOS3 ...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a potential source of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) for constructing tissue-engineered vascular grafts. However, the details of how specific combinations of vascular microenvironmental factors regulate MSCs are not well understood. Previous studies have suggested that both mechanical stimulation with uniaxial cyclic strain and chemical stimulation with transformin...