Apart from the neoplastic cells, malignant tumours consist of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and normal cells, in particular tumour-associated macrophages (TAM). To understand the mechanisms by which TAM can influence tumour cell invasion we co-cultured the human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, SK-BR-3 and the benign mammary epithelial cell line hTERT-HME1 with macrophages. Co-incubation enhanc...

Pulmonary intralobar arteries express heme oxygenase (HO)-1 and -2 and release carbon monoxide (CO) during incubation in Krebs buffer. Acute hypoxia elicits isometric tension development (0.77 +/- 0.06 mN/mm) in pulmonary vascular rings treated with 15 micromol/l chromium mesoporphyrin (CrMP), an inhibitor of HO-dependent CO synthesis, but has no effect in untreated vessels. Acute hypoxia also ...

Structure and conductance of eggshells of Adelie Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae, were studied to address the question: How is the eggshell adapted to cope with the extreme aridity of the Antarctic, and in particular, what is the significance and function of the organic cuticle on the eggshell? Adelie Penguin shell structure has a basic avian pattern with relatively straight, unbranched pores that...

During the years or decades of prion disease incubation, at-risk individuals are certain to encounter diverse pathological insults, such as viral and bacterial infections, autoimmune diseases, or inflammatory processes. Whether prion disease incubation time and clinical signs or otherwise the pathology of intercurrent diseases can be affected by the coinfection process is unknown. To investigat...

The ability of rat liver zinc-thionein to donate its metal to the apo-enzymes of the zinc enzymes horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase, yeast aldolase, thermolysin, Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase and bovine erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase was investigated. Zinc-thionein was as good as, or better than, ZnSO(4), Zn(CH(3)CO(2))(2) or Zn(NO(3))(2) in donating its zinc to these apo-enzymes. Apo-(...

OBJECTIVE We sought to determine the effect of bacteria on fluorescence polarization (FPOL) testing of amniotic fluid. METHODS Fusobacterium necrophorum and Escherichia coli were inoculated at concentrations of 10(3) and 10(6)/ml in amniotic-fluid specimens from 4 patients with no clinical or laboratory evidence of infection. The FPOL results were obtained at inoculation and again at 24 h of ...

The aim of the present study was to identify whether sepsis-induced vascular hyporeactivity is associated with microcirculation disturbance and multiple organ injuries. The current study assessed the impact of resveratrol (Res) treatment on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge mediated vascular hyporeactivity. Effects of Res treatment (30 mg/kg; i.m.) at 1 h following LPS stimulation (5 mg/kg; i....

Seminal vesiculitis is the common disease of male urogenital system. However, the pathogenesis of seminal vesiculitis remains unclear. Semenogelin I (Sg I) is mainly synthesized and secreted by seminal vesicle and has antibacterial activity. We thus postulate that Sg I plays an important role during the and development of seminal vesiculitis. In the present study, we analyzed the expression of ...

objective(s): carotenoids which are naturally synthesized by fungi such as yeasts can act as an antioxidant which is closely related to their ability to decrease the risk of a variety of degenerative diseases. in recent years, the increase of demand for carotenoids obtained from natural sources has promoted major efforts to improve carotenoid production from biological sources such as pigmented...

Antioxidant and antimutagenic potency of acetone, chloroform and methanol extracts of Argemone mexicana leaves were investigated by employing nitroblue tetrazolium and Ames assay. Maximum superoxide anion radicals scavenging responses noticed were 84.0, 81.0 and 75.0 % in acetone, methanol and chloroform extracts at a dose of 200μg/ml. Inhibitory potential was compared with the standard (L-asco...