Objective: Previous findings related to the anti­ inflammatory effects of a-melanocyte stimulating hormone (a-MSH) indicate that the peptide might inhibit inflammation by antagonizing the effects of local cytokines or by inhibiting neutrophil functions. In addition, it is a potent inhibitor of the induction of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (¡NOS) in cultured macrophages and of nitric oxid...

Hypericin is a pigment present in the widely distributed medicinal plant Hypericum perforatum L. (Hypericaceae). In our research, hypericin was found to be an inhibitor of NADPH/Fe 2+ induced microsomal lipid peroxidation and NADPH-dependent lucigenin chemiluminescence emission in vitro. Hypericin also inhibited the microsomal CYP1Adependent 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) which participa...

During the past decade, it has become apparent that reactive oxygen species play a critical role in the genesis of many vascular diseases. The superoxide anion is among the most important of these, not only because of its rapid reaction with NO but also because it serves as a progenitor for many other reactive oxygen species. Although there are many approaches to detecting and quantifying super...

Rat surfactant protein D (SP-D) was shown to enhance the production of oxygen radicals by rat alveolar macrophages. This enhancement, which was determined by a lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence assay, was maximal after 18 min at an SP-D concentration of 0.2 micrograms/ml. Surfactant lipids did not influence the stimulation of alveolar macrophages by SP-D, whereas the oxygen-radical producti...