The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the anti-inflammatory hormone alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) treatment on renal function and expression of aquaporins (AQPs) and Na-K-ATPase in the kidney in response to 24 h of bilateral ureteral obstruction (BUO) or release of BUO (BUO-R). In rats with 24-h BUO, immunoblotting revealed that downregulation of AQP2 and A...

Background: During pregnancy, the maternal immune system is in close contact with cells and tissue from the semiallogenic fetus .The Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) class Ib molecules, HLA-E, -F and -G, are expressed at the materno-fetal interface. Because of the apparent immunoregulatory functions of these proteins, they may be involved in successful acceptance of the semi-allogenic fetus during...

Ginsenoside Rh2 (G‑Rh2), the main bioactive component in American ginseng, is known to exert a wide variety of biological activities. Accumulating evidence suggests that G‑Rh2 inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis of tumor cells. However, the possible mechanism through which G‑Rh2 exerts its action on malignant glioma cells have not been completely elucidated. The findings of the pr...

Long-term treatment with glucocorticoids is associated with mild to moderate hypertension. We reported previously that downregulation of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression and activity is likely to contribute to this increase in blood pressure. In the present study, we tested the effects of dexamethasone on the vasodilation of microvascular arterioles using implanted dorsal skin-fold cha...

Background—The cause and consequences of impaired adrenergic signaling in right ventricular failure/hypertrophy (RVH) are poorly understood. We hypothesized that G protein– coupled receptor kinase-2 (GRK2)–mediated uncoupling of ␤-adrenergic receptor signaling impairs inotropic reserve. The implications of right ventricular (RV) adrenergic remodeling for inotrope selection and the therapeutic b...

Relaxin (RLN) is a small peptide hormone expressed in several cancers of reproductive and endocrine organs. Increased expression of RLN in prostate cancer correlates with aggressive cancer. RLN G-protein-coupled receptor (RLN family peptide receptor 1, RXFP1) is expressed in both androgen receptor (AR)-positive and -negative prostate cancers as well as in prostate cancer cell lines. RLN behaves...

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) belong to a large family of molecules eliciting different responses variety signaling molecules. These participate in various physiological functions such as metabolism, growth, immune responses, inflammation, vision, taste, olfaction, and neurotransmission well pathologic including chronic inflammatory vascular diseases. Receptors contributing the biological ...

OBJECTIVE Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an autosomal recessive trinucleotide repeat expansion disorder caused by epigenetic silencing of the frataxin gene (FXN). Current research suggests that damage and variation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) contribute to the molecular pathogenesis of FRDA. We sought to establish the extent of the mutation burden across the mitochondrial genome in FRDA cells a...