The respiratory system is continuously exposed to airborne particles containing lipopolysaccharide. Our laboratory established previously that the hydrophobic surfactant protein C (SP-C) binds to lipopolysaccharide and to one of its cellular receptors, CD14. Here we examined the influence of SP-C, and of a synthetic analog, on some cellular in vitro effects of lipopolysaccharide. When associate...

BACKGROUND Cinnamic acid (CA) is a phytochemical originally derived from Cinnamomum cassia, a plant with numerous pharmacological properties. The intercalation of CA with a nanocarrier, zinc layered hydroxide, produces cinnamate-zinc layered hydroxide (ZCA), which has been previously characterized. Intercalation is expected to improve the solubility and cell specificity of CA. The nanocarrier w...

Objective To observe the analgesic effect of early hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment in chronic constriction injury (CCI) rats, and to analyze the influence of HBO on the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase and inducible nitric oxide synthase and on the levels of inflammatory factors. Methods Rats were assigned into three groups randomly: sham, CCI, and HBO groups. The CCI rat model wa...

Chronic inflammation contributes to multiple ageing-related musculoskeletal and neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. More recently, chronic neuroinflammation has been attributed to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease and autism-spectrum and obsessive-compulsive disorders. To date, pharmacotherapy of inflammatory condi...

Chemical investigation of the EtOAc-soluble extract leaves Apocynum venetum allowed isolation seven flavonoids including a new compound named 4′-hydroxy-7- O-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-3-methoxy-6-prenylflavone (1) and six known compounds (2–7). The structures these are elucidated by spectroscopic physico-chemical analyses. All isolates evaluated for in vitro anti-inflammatory activity measuring their i...

oxymatrine, a potent monosomic alkaloid extracted from chinese herb sophora japonica (sophora flavescens ait.). possesses anti-inflammatory activittyes.  this study was designed to investigate the effects of oxymatrine on nuclear factor–kappa b (nf-κb) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (mapk)-dependent inflammatory responses in lipopolysaccharide (lps)-activated microglia. in this paper, bv2...

NF-κB: nuclear factor κB; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor α; DD: death domain; FADD: Fas-associated death domain; FasL: Fas receptor ligand; TNFR: TNF receptor; TRADD: TNFR-associated death domain; TRAF: TNFR-associated factor; COX: cyclooxygenase; PG: prostaglandin; iNOS: inducible nitric oxide synthase; NO: nitric oxide; MDR-1: multiple drug resistance gene; IL: interleukin; EGF: epithelial grow...

Vacuoles are membrane vesicles in eukaryotic cells, the digestive system of cells that break down substances absorbed outside cell and digest useless components itself. Researches on anti-cancer intractable diseases using vacuoles being actively conducted. The practical application this study to animals requires determination biocompatibility vacuole. In present study, we evaluated effects isol...

The effect of prostaglandtn E(2), iloprost and cAMP on both nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor-alpha release in J774 macrophages has been studied. Both prostaglandin E(2) and iloprost inhibited, in a concentration-dependent fashion, the lipopolysaccharide-induced generation of nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. The inhibitory effect of these prostanoids seems to be mediated by ...