BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The 3 gene products of the Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX), viz, NCX1, NCX2, and NCX3, may play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of brain ischemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the transductional and posttranslational mechanisms involved in the expression of these isoforms during oxygen and glucose deprivation and their role in endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) r...

Airway epithelial cells are prone to the damage caused by lung cancer risk factors, such as cigarette smoking. Little is known about surrogate biomarkers in the bronchial airway epithelium that can be used to assess the effect of potential chemoprevention drugs on lung adenocarcinoma formation/progression. Pioglitazone has been suggested as a chemoprevention drug for lung cancer. To study the m...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of pioglitazone compared with placebo for improving insulin sensitivity among nondiabetic patients with a recent transient ischemic attack (TIA) or nondisabling ischemic stroke and impaired insulin sensitivity. METHODS Eligible subjects were men and women >45 years of age who had no history of diabetes, fasting gl...

Astrocytes can tolerate longer periods of oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) as compared to neurons. The reasons for this reduced vulnerability are not well understood. Particularly, changes in mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψ(m)) in astrocytes, an indicator of the cellular redox state, have not been investigated during reperfusion after extended OGD exposure. Here, we subjected primary m...

Ischemia is believed to induce neuronal damage by causing a sustained increase in the level of extracellular excitatory amino acids. In our study, we have examined the relationship between oxygen/glucose deprivation-induced changes in extracellular glutamate/aspartate level and subsequent neuronal injury by pharmacological manipulation of glutamate receptors and calcium and sodium channels. Cul...