Apoptotic signaling was examined in the patagialis (PAT) muscles of young adult and old quail. One wing was loaded for 14 days to induce hypertrophy and then unloaded for 7 or 14 days to induce muscle atrophy. Although the nuclear Id2 protein content was not different between unloaded and control muscles in either age group, cytoplasmic Id2 protein content of unloaded muscles was higher than th...

BACKGROUND Unloading of skeletal muscle causes atrophy and loss of contractile function. In part, this response is believed to be mediated by the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB). Both curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an antioxidant, inhibit activation of NF-kappaB by inflammatory stimuli, albeit by different mechanisms. In the pres...

The phloem unloading pathway remains unclear in fleshy fruits accumulating a high level of soluble sugars. A structural investigation in apple fruit (Malus domestica Borkh. cv Golden Delicious) showed that the sieve element-companion cell complex of the sepal bundles feeding the fruit flesh is symplasmically isolated over fruit development. 14C-autoradiography indicated that the phloem of the s...

Although factors influencing renin release have been studied extensively, one facet of renin release remains controversial, namely, neural regulation by arterial high-pressure receptors and cardiopulmonary low-pressure receptors. We therefore designed four studies to investigate systematically the separate and combined effects of unloading (decreased stretch) high- and low-pressure receptors on...

Normal subjects and Parkinsonian patients performed a bimanual load lifting task. In this task, one "postural" forearm, held in a horizontal position while supporting a 1 kg weight, was unloaded either by the experimenter's hand (imposed unloading) or by the subject's other hand in response to a tone burst (voluntary unloading). The variables recorded were reaction time (RT: time interval betwe...

Antigravity muscles atrophy and weaken during prolonged mechanical unloading caused by bed rest or spaceflight. Unloading also induces oxidative stress in muscle, a putative cause of weakness. We tested the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with Bowman-Birk inhibitor concentrate (BBIC), a soy protein extract, would oppose these changes. Adult mice were fed a diet supplemented with 1% BBIC...

This study tests the efficacy of respiratory mechanical unloading as a mode of assisted mechanical ventilation in cats with an intact breathing-control system but severe pulmonary parenchymal injury. Twelve anaesthetized, intubated cats received multiple saline lung lavages so that their total respiratory system compliance decreased from 56.1+/-10.4 to 26.8+/-6.8 ml/kPa (p < 0.001) and their Pa...

When you hold an object, a sudden unexpected perturbation can threaten the stability of your grasp. In such situations grasp stability is maintained by fast reflexive-like grip-force responses triggered by the somatosensory feedback. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural mechanisms involved in the grip-force responses associated with unexpected incre...

A new technique permits removal of the resting force from the muscle during the course of shortening and study of the maximum velocity of shortening with almost zero load at physiological initial muscle lengths. This unloading has been performed as a sudden unloading to zero total load (zero load clamping), or according to the resting length-tension relations, or according to an arbitrary unloa...

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) mRNA is constitutively expressed in skeletal muscle. Although IL-15 has proposed hypertrophic and anti-apoptotic roles in vitro, its role in skeletal muscle cells in vivo is less clear. The purpose of this study was to determine if skeletal muscle aging and unloading, two conditions known to promote muscle atrophy, would alter basal IL-15 expression in skeletal muscle. We...