Angiotensin II (Ang II) may be a key molecule in the development of atherosclerosis. Because the incidence of coronary atherosclerosis in premenopausal women is lower than that observed in men or postmenopausal women, we have investigated the effect of estrogens on Ang II-induced leukocyte recruitment in vivo using intravital microscopy in the rat mesenteric microcirculation. Superfusion for 60...

Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in mediation of cerebral vasodilation during neuronal activation and, specifically, in pharmacological activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and kainate receptors. Possible mediators of cerebral vasodilation to alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) have not been well studied in mature brain, although heme oxygenase (HO) activit...

Calcium influx through transduction channels and efflux via plasmalemmal Ca(2+)-ATPases (PMCAs) are known to contribute to calcium homeostasis and modulate sensory transduction in vertebrate hair cells. To examine the relative contributions of apical and basolateral pathways, we analyzed the calcium dynamics in solitary ciliated and deciliated guinea pig type I and type II vestibular hair cells...

Central sensitization represents a sustained hypersensitive state of dorsal horn nociceptive neurons that can be evoked by peripheral inflammation or injury to nerves and tissues. It reflects neuroplastic changes such as increases in neuronal spontaneous activity, receptive field size, and responses to suprathreshold stimuli and a decrease in activation threshold. We recently demonstrated that ...

Ouabain increases atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) secretion. When isolated superfused rat left atria were paced at 2 Hz, ouabain at concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 ,M increased ANP secretion by 2.0±0.3-, 3.2+0.5-, and 4.2+0.5-fold, respectively. In this study, we examine the mechanism of ouabain-stimulated ANP secretion using the dose of 100 ,uM. To determine whether calcium played a role, ...

Superfusion of canine tracheal mucosa with 100 microg each of grepafloxacin and ciprofloxacin per ml reduced the electrical transepithelial potential difference in vivo by more than 50%. This effect was dose dependent, specific for new quinolones, and inhibited by Cl channel blockers, indicating that new quinolones attenuate Cl secretion across the airway epithelium.

Conventional intracellular recordings from the bundle of His and right bundle branch of the canine heart demonstrated that the slope of diastolic depolarization is markedly depressed by superfusion with relatively small concentrations (4—8 jug/ml) of acetylcholine. As the cells become less automatic, take-off potential increases, rise time of phase 0 is reduced, action potential amplitude incre...

An easily constructed, inexpensive and simple system is described for the superfusion of neural tissue. To characterize the system, the dynamics of endogenous dopamine and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid release from striatal tissue were studied before and after exposure to potassium, amphetamine or cocaine.

Prolonged anoxia can cause permanent damage to synaptic transmission in the mammalian CNS. We tested the hypothesis that lack of glucose is the major cause of irreversible anoxic transmission damage, and that anoxic synaptic transmission damage could be prevented by glycolysis in rat hippocampal slices. The evoked population spike (PS) was extracellularly recorded in the CA1 pyramidal cell laye...

Adenosine is an important paracrine agent regulating renal vascular tone via adenosine A(1) and A(2) receptors. While A(2B) receptor message and protein have been localized to preglomerular vessels, functional evidence on the role of A(2B) receptors in mediating the vasodilator action of adenosine on afferent arterioles is not available. The present study determined the role of A(2B) receptors ...