Influenza H7N9 virus infection causes an acute, highly contagious respiratory illness that triggers cell death of infected cells and airway epithelial destruction. RIP3 is a key regulator of cell death responses to a growing number of viral and microbial agents. This study aimed to investigate the role of RIP3 in inflammation of influenza H7N9 virus infection. Here, RIP3 knock out (RIP3-/-) mic...

We demonstrated that the susceptibility of skeletal muscle to injury from lengthening contractions in the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse is directly linked with the extent of fiber branching within the muscles and that both parameters increase as the mdx animal ages. We subjected isolated extensor digitorum longus muscles to a lengthening contraction protocol of 15% strain and measured the resu...

BACKGROUND The effect of regulator of G protein signaling 5 (RGS5) on cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis and angiogenesis has been well demonstrated, but the role in the development of obesity and insulin resistance remains completely unknown. We determined the effect of RGS5 deficiency on obesity, hepatic steatosis, inflammation and insulin resistance in mice fed either a normal-chow diet (N...

In the rodent central nervous system (CNS) during the five days prior to birth, both growth hormone (GH) and its receptor (GHR) undergo transient increases in expression to levels considerably higher than those found postnatally. This increase in expression coincides with the period of neuronal programmed cell death (PCD) in the developing CNS. To evaluate the involvement of growth hormone in t...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an imperative role in cell proliferation, differentiation, and cell metabolism through regulation of gene expression. Skeletal muscle hypertrophy that results from myostatin depression by its propeptide provides an interesting model to understand how miRNA transcriptome is involved in myostatin-based fiber hypertrophy. This study employed Solexa deep sequencing followed ...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disorders associated with endothelial dysfunction, such as atherosclerosis, have decreased nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. Arginase in the vasculature can compete with eNOS for L-arginine and has been implicated in atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of endothelial-specific elevation of arginase II expression on endothelial function and...

Most autosomal dominant forms of Alzheimer disease (AD) are related to missense mutations in the human presenilin (PS) 1 gene. Although the underlying mechanisms associated with pathophysiology of AD have yet to be clearly established, pathogenic mutations in the PS1 gene influence the processing of beta-amyloid precursor protein, leading to increased production and deposition of highly fibrill...

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) stimulates both ischaemia induced angiogenesis and shear stress induced arteriogenesis by signalling through different receptors. How these receptors are involved in both these processes of blood flow recovery is not entirely clear. In this study the role of TGF-β receptors 1 and endoglin is assessed in neovascularization in mice. Unilateral femoral arter...

Nearly half of children with fragile X syndrome experience sleep problems including trouble falling asleep and frequent nighttime awakenings. The goals here were to assess sleep–wake cycles in mice response Fmr1 genotype a dietary intervention that reduces hyperactivity. Electroencephalography (EEG) results compared published rest–activity patterns determine if actigraphy is viable surrogate fo...

It has been shown previously that peripheral blood lymphocytes from normal dogs cocultured with DLA-identical littermate marrow Increased the number of erythrold colonies over that obtained with marrow alone. In contrast, preceding blood transfusion from the littermate reduced the ability of lymphocytes to enhance erythroid colony growth. The current study correlates similar findings in vitro w...