The outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria functions as a permeability barrier that protects cells against a large number of antibacterial agents. OprL protein of Pseudomonas putida has been shown to be crucial to maintain the stability of this cell component (J. J. Rodríguez-Herva, M.-I. Ramos-González, and J. L. Ramos. J. Bacteriol. 178:1699-1706, 1996). In the present study we cloned and m...

For every system {pn(z)}n=0∞ of OPRL or OPUC, we construct Sobolev orthogonal polynomials yn(z), with explicit integral representations involving pn. Two concrete families pol...

Hepatic glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity is increased in postpartum female rats, a phenomenon that depends on the lactation stimulus. Here we evaluated the effect of prolactin (PRL) administration on hepatic enzyme activity and on the expression of the major subunits of the alpha- (rGSTA1, rGSTA2, rGSTA3) and mu-classes (rGSTM1, rGSTM2). A similar study was conducted in lactating (LM) a...

Artificial copulomimetic cervical stimulation (CS) induces an immediate release of oxytocin (OT) and prolactin (PRL) followed by a daily PRL rhythm characterized by nocturnal and diurnal surges. Although we have shown that the initial release of PRL is induced by the immediate release of OT, we tested whether the PRL that is released in response to CS is responsible for the initiation and maint...

An experiment was conducted to determine whether prolactin is involved in growth or in mediating the photoperiod-induced growth response in sheep. Prolactin was manipulated by im injections of 2-Br-~-ergocryptine (CB154) or sc injections of ovine prolactin (oPRL) "and by two light:dark regimens (16L: 8D and 8L:16D). Fifty-six wether lambs (two/ pen) were allotted to one of four treatments for a...

This study characterized the local effects of extracellular osmolality and prolactin (PRL) on branchial ionoregulatory function of a euryhaline teleost, Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). First, gill filaments were dissected from freshwater (FW)-acclimated tilapia and incubated in four different osmolalities, 280, 330, 380, and 450 mosmol/kg H2O. The mRNA expression of Na(+)/K(+)-ATP...

Cells obtained from A/-nitrosomethylurea-induced rat mam mary tumors were grown in vitro using the soft-agar clonogenic assay technique. Their growth was studied in regular media containing serum as well as in media lacking serum, but to which insulin was added. Deletion of serum from the media resulted in a mean decrease of 49% in the number of colonies formed in vitro in 13 of 18 tumors and w...

BACKGROUND Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that infects patients with cystic fibrosis, burning wounds, ophthalmic traumas and immunodeficiency. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to compare the efficiency of newly designed primer sets with some previously published primers for PCR detection of exoA, oprL and algD genes from P. aeruginosa. MATERIALS AND METHODS A...

Introduction: Vaccine studies against Pseudomonas aeruginosa have often focused on outer membrane proteins (OPRs) due to their potent stimulation of the immune response. Using major outer membrane proteins of cell walls (mOMPs) of P. aeruginosa and other Gram-negative bacteria actively stimulate the immune system without any toxic side effects. Moreover, these antigens show immunological cross-...