I t has now been amply confirmed that the injection of zymosan can stimulate (6, s or depress (13, 27) host defenses against certain transplanted tumors, depending upon doses used and test circumstances. Initial experiments in our laboratory demonstrated that, if high chronic doses of zymosan were administered to mice, the animals frequently died with bacteremia of enteric origin. Indeed, these...

We have examined the effects of various mannans, glycoproteins, oligosaccharides, monosaccharides, and sugar phosphates on the binding and phagocytosis of yeast cell walls (zymosan) by mouse peritoneal macrophages. A phosphonomannan (PO(4):mannose ratio = 1:8:6) from kloeckera brevis was the most potent inhibitor tested; it inhibited binding and phagocytosis by 50 percent at concentrations of a...

We have previously described a model of acute lung injury in the mouse in which intravenous administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) results in a marked sequestration of neutrophils in the pulmonary microvasculature, although this by itself was not sufficient to induce injury. If the sequestered neutrophils were exposed to zymosan, then a striking increase in pulmonary vascular permeability t...

Morphine coinjection with zymosan inhibits pain and leukocyte accumulation during peritonitis in several strains of mice, and affects systems of endogenous opioids. Present investigations focus on Met-enkephalin (Met-ENK) in the inflamed peritoneal cavity and brain centers of Swiss mice. Males of Swiss mice were IP injected with zymosan or zymosan supplemented with morphine. At the selected tim...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of specific macrophage subpopulations in the development of zymosan-induced multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome by selective elimination of liver, splenic, alveolar, and peritoneal macrophages. DESIGN Randomized animal trial. SETTING Central animal laboratory at the University Hospital Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. ANIMALS Male C57Bl/6 mice. INTERVE...

A receptor for beta-glucan was in the present study shown to mediate binding of zymosan particles to resident mouse peritoneal macrophages. Lysosomal enzyme secretion in response to zymosan was maximal at a low particle/cell ratio, continuous for at least 3 h after particle/cell contact and inhibitable by soluble glucan. Latex particles of various size caused no selective secretory response, bu...

AIMS To establish a new model of zymosan-induced temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthritis in the rat and to investigate the role of nitric oxide. METHODS Inflammation was induced by an intra-articular injection of zymosan into the left TMJ. Mechanical hypernociception, cell influx, vascular permeability, myeloperoxidase activity, nitrite levels, and histological changes were measured in TMJ la...

The divalent cation chelators, ethyleneglycoltetraacetic acid (EGTA) and its magnesium salt, MgEGTA, were compared in studies of alternative complement pathway function. EGTA (0.01 M) inhibited both the rate and the amount of complement activation by zymosan whether compared to nonchelated serum or to serum chelated with MgEGTA (0.01 M). The rate of alternative pathway activation by zymosan was...

BACKGROUND Small intestine permeability is frequently altered in inflammatory bowel disease and may be caused by the translocation of intestinal toxins through leaky small intestine tight junctions (TJ) and adherence (1,2). The role of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and nitric oxide (NO) and PARS in the permeability and structure of small intestine TJ is not clearly understood. MATERIALS AND METHO...