In this study, we show that oxygen regulates nitric oxide (NO) levels through effects on NO synthase (NOS) enzyme kinetics. Initially, NO synthesis in the static lung was measured in bronchiolar gases during an expiratory breath-hold in normal individuals. NO accumulated exponentially to a plateau, indicating balance between NO production and consumption in the lung. Detection of NO2-, NO3-, an...

The antioxidant enzymes copper/zinc (Cu-Zn) and manganese (Mn) superoxide dismutase (SOD) have been implicated in protection of the lungs from oxidant damage. Mn SOD in particular may be related to acquired tolerance in cells following chronic ozone exposure. In order to study these protective and adaptive phenomena in oxidant injury, the cellular location and relative abundance of Mn SOD and C...

Nickel compounds are environmental and occupational hazards that pose serious health problems and are causative factors of acute lung injury. The c-jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are regulated through a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) 3 kinase-MAP2 kinase cascade and have been implicated in nickel toxicity. In this study, we used genetically modified cells and mice to investigate the involvement...

Any senior medical student is expected to recognize the picture of clinical emphysema, though many authors, such as Fletcher (1952), feel that it is an unreliable diagnosis. Within the last 20 to 30 years radiological emphysema has been added to the syndrome (Simon and Galbraith, 1953), and in the last 15 years the emphasis has been on the associated disorders of pulmonary physiology. Such fact...

Study was carried out to evaluate the pathological effects of parenterally administrated “Calotropis procera extracts” in rabbits. Fresh flowery buds of C. procera were collected from the District Lahore, Pakistan. Total of 35 rabbits of either sex were purchased from the animal house of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. Rabbits were randomly distributed in to 3 major groups...

1. Centrilobular diseases (1) Pulmonary emphysema Early centrilobular emphysema starts from the proximal portion of the pulmonary acinus where respiratory bronchioles and neighboring alveoli are distributed. Typical CT findings are low-attenuation areas (LAA) surrounded by perilobular normal lung. Such LAA lacks a distinct wall. Pulmonary arteries within LAA are isolated and narrowed. The disea...

Membrane potential (Δψ)-driven and Cl(-)-dependent organic anion transport is a primary function of the solute carrier family 17 (SLC17) transporter family. Although the transport substrates and physiological relevance of the major members are well understood, SLC17A2 protein known to be Na(+)-phosphate cotransporter 3 (NPT3) is far less well characterized. In the present study, we investigated...

Electrospinning is a highly adaptable method producing porous 3D fibrous scaffolds that can be exploited in in vitro cell culture. Alterations to intrinsic parameters within the process allow a high degree of control over scaffold characteristics including fiber diameter, alignment and porosity. By developing scaffolds with similar dimensions and topographies to organ- or tissue-specific extrac...

Plastic corrosion casts were made of lungs from fetuses aged from 19 weeks' gestation to term and of lungs from a child and two adults to study the development of the respiratory acinus. To achieve reliable infusion of the most peripheral airspaces a high viscosity plastic was used that is not known to have been employed previously for corrosion casting of lungs. The casts were examined in the ...

PURPOSE The translocator protein (18 kDa) (TSPO) is highly expressed on the bronchial and bronchiole epithelium, submucosal glands in intrapulmonary bronchi, pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages in human lung. This study aimed to perform positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of lung inflammation with [(18)F]FEDAC, a specific TSPO radioligand, and to determine cellular sources enriching TSP...