BACKGROUND The beta2 adrenoceptor and its 5' untranslated region contain a number of genetic variants. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential for genetic variation at this locus to influence the expression of beta2 adrenoceptors on circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). METHODS Genotype was determined in 96 individuals with asthma for four polymorphisms at the...

Oxidative stress is one of the mechanisms with a central role involved in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction. The protective effect of glutamine on myocardial antioxidant defense system was investigated during isoprenaline-induced myocardial infarction, an animal model of myocardial infarction of human beings. Levels of diagnostic marker enzymes in plasma, reduced glutathione (GSH) and l...

Understanding the binding mode of agonists to adrenergic receptors is crucial to enabling improved rational design of new therapeutic agents. However, so far the high conformational flexibility of G protein-coupled receptors has been an obstacle to obtaining structural information on agonist binding at atomic resolution. In this study, we report microsecond classical molecular dynamics simulati...

This study aimed to determine whether postprandial temperature excursions in skeletal muscle are consistent with thermogenesis or altered blood flow. Temperature probes were implanted into the vastus lateralis muscle of ovariectomized ewes, and blood flow was assessed using laser-Doppler flowmetry (tissue flow) and transit-time ultrasound flowmetry (femoral artery flow). The animals were progra...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potency and efficacy (intrinsic activity) of formoterol and salmeterol and their duration of action in comparison with other beta-adrenoceptor agonists in isolated human bronchi. Human bronchi were obtained at thoracotomy from patients with lung cancer. Potency (-log of the concentration of drug inducing 50% of maximal relaxation (-log EC50)) and ...

Fifteen patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 16 age-matched controls underwent skin vessel reactivity tests employing three vasodilating substances with different modes of action: acetylcholine (ACh), nitroprusside, and isoprenaline. The substances were iontophoresed into the skin and the results were mapped through a newly developed laser Doppler perfusion imager. The skin vascular respo...

Two patients who have undergone heart transplantation 7 and 15 months previously were studied to determine basal heart rate, the effects of exercise, and acute changes in venous return and blood pressure as well as of vagal stimulation. In one case the effects of body temperature, isoprenaline (isoproterenol), beta blockade, and atropinization on heart rate were studied. Mean resting heart rate...

The durations of action and side effects of four different pressurized bronchodilator aerosols were compared. One of the preparations contained isoprenaline alone, which was given in a dose of 400 /tg. The doses of the three other preparations were adjusted to yield nearly the same peak bronchodilator response as was obtained from 400 jtg isoprenaline. These doses differed from those yielded by...

Cardiac hypertrophy was induced in rabbits by injecting either thyroxine or isoprenaline or by surgically constricting the abdominal aorta. An increase in heart weight was associated with a change in the lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme pattern and an increase in fibrosis (as measured by hydroxyproline concentrations). Isoprenaline treatment led to a moderate increase in heart weight, a marked d...