BACKGROUND Recently, a direct correlation with telomere length, proliferative potential and telomerase activity has been found in the process of aging in peripheral blood cells. The objective of the study was to evaluate telomere length and proliferative potential in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) after stimulation with Concanavalin A (ConA) of young adults compared with older adult...

Thyrotropin (TSH) is a glycoprotein hormone whose secretion from the anterior pituitary is regulated, in part, by the hypothalamic tripeptide thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). We have used serial lectin affinity analysis to explore whether TRH, in addition to promoting TSH secretion, alters the carbohydrate structure of secreted TSH. Hypothyroid mouse hemipituitaries were incubated in medium...

AIMS--The study was carried out to search for labelling similar to that of intraocular exfoliation material in the conjunctiva by light microscopy using lectin and immunohistochemistry. METHODS--Ten formalin fixed and paraffin embedded conjunctival biopsy specimens both from patients with and without exfoliation syndrome were studied with a panel of 11 lectins and with three monoclonal antibodi...

Macrocycle-based glycoclusters, on account of their promising anti-adhesive properties against bacteria, are potential therapeutic alternatives to classic antibiotics through the much less explored strategy. In this study, a series constitutionally-pure pentavalent glycoclusters was prepared by conjugating assorted azido-carbohydrates onto penta-propargyl rim-differentiated pillar[5]arene (RD-P...

The effect of dietary iodine and selenium supplementation, alone or in combination, on peripheral blood lymphocyte function was determined in laying hens. Eight-hundred-and-sixty-four New-Loman laying hens were randomly allotted into 12 dietary treatments with different inclusion levels of iodine (0, 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg), selenium (0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg) or their combinations for 24 weeks. T...

Stanniocalcin (STC) is a homodimeric glycoprotein hormone that was first discovered in fish, where it is produced by unique endocrine glands known as the corpuscles of Stannius (CS). In freshwater salmon, STC plays an integral role in Ca2+ and phosphate homeostasis. High levels of extracellular Ca2+promote the synthesis and release of STC, which on entering the bloodstream reduces the levels of...

Several Ascomycetes fungi are commonly used in bio-industries and provide available industrial residues for lectin extraction to be valuable. A lectin from Penicillium chrysogenum, named PeCL, was purified from a fungal culture using gel-filtration chromatography column. PeCL was found to be a mannose-specific lectin by haemagglutination activity towards rabbit erythrocyte cells and was visuali...

Mechanisms of partial unfolding and aggregation of proteins are of extreme interest in view of the fact that several human pathologies are characterized by the formation and deposition of protein-insoluble material, mainly composed of amyloid fibrils. Here we report on an experimental study on the heat-induced aggregation mechanisms, at basic pH, of concanavalin A (ConA), used as a model system...

Functional multilayer thin films have been prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition for the development of sensors, separators, and drug delivery systems. In particular, glucose-sensitive LbL films have been widely studied for use as glucose sensors and in glucose-triggered drug delivery systems. In this work, I report on glucose-sensitive LbL films that consist of concanavalin A (ConA), phe...

The ionotropic glutamate receptor GluR6 exhibits strongly and rapidly desensitizing current responses. Treatment of heterologically expressed GluR6 with the lectin concanavalin A (ConA) in Xenopus oocytes as well as in human embryonic kidney-293 cells results in a considerable increase of the steady-state current, presumably by inhibiting receptor desensitization. In the present study, we inves...