Giovanoli et al. (Reports, 1 March 2013, p. 1095) applied an immune challenge to pregnant females, and therefore to all offspring, and subsequently applied stress to offspring on a per cage basis. The data, however, were analyzed as a completely randomized design, which is inappropriate given these restrictions on randomization. ...

Despite various suspected causes, ranging from endocrine and genetic to infectious and immunological aspects, the molecular mechanisms of miscarriage still remain enigmatic. This work provides evidence that downregulation of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) type 2, the key enzyme inactivating glucocorticoid activities, insults the pregnant inflammatory milieu by inhibiting the biosynthesis of ...

Activation of most major innate immune signalling cascades relies on the detection of microorganisms or their associated danger signals by host pattern recognition molecules. A flurry of recent studies has now uncovered a role for host translation inhibition in innate immune surveillance and the detection of bacterial pathogens. Here, we ...

In the present study, we analyzed the oxidative stress related indices and immune related gene expression of zebrafish embryos after a short-term exposure to various concentrations of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP) and their mixture (DBP-DEP) from 4h post-fertilization (hpf) to 96hpf. Exposure to the chemicals was found to ...

Oxidative stress is a crucial factor inducing cardiomyocyte apoptosis due to cardiac hypertrophy. Additional evidence has revealed that H2S plays an antioxidant role and is cytoprotective. Hence, we aimed to elucidate whether H2S prevents cardiomyocyte apoptosis due to cardiac hypertrophy via its antioxidant function. The cardiac hypertrophy model was obtained ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The snakebite mortality rate has been significantly reduced due to effective anti-venin therapy. The intravenously infused anti-venom will neutralize free and target-bound toxins but fails to neutralize venom-induced inflammation and oxidative stress, as the antigen-antibody complex itself is pro-inflammatory. Therefore, an auxiliary therapy is necessary to treat ...

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress caused by excessive aggregation of misfolded proteins induces apoptosis. Although ER stress-induced apoptosis has been implicated in many diseases, the detailed mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we identified human Transmembrane Protein 214 (TMEM214) as a critical mediator of ER stress-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of TMEM214 induced ...

PURPOSE:: Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases including glaucoma. Astrocytes are supposed to play a role in glaucoma pathogenesis. This study investigates the antiapoptotic and cytoprotective effects of idebenone on optic nerve head astrocytes (ONHA) under oxidative stress. METHODS:: ONHA were treated with ...

In dairy cattle, late gestation is a critical period for fetal growth and physiological transition into the next lactation. Environmental factors, such as temperature and light, exert dramatic effects on the production, health, and well-being of animals during this period and after parturition. The aim of this review was to ...

As a potent novel free radical scavenger, edaravone has been reported to have neuroprotective effects in both animals and humans, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In our study, we generated a culture of almost pure neurons, which were either left untreated or prophylactically treated with edaravone, then exposed to ...

Abstract Campylobacters have developed a number of mechanisms for responding to environmental conditions, although the different virulence properties of these cells following exposure to stress are still poorly understood. We analyzed in vitro stress responses and the consequent in vivo modulation of Campylobacter jejuni pathogenicity in BALB/c mice, as a ...

The human immune system is orchestrated in a complex manner and protects the host against invading organisms and controls adequate immune responses to different antigen challenges in an endo-, auto- and paracrine-regulated fashion. The variety and intensity of immune responses are known to be dependent on stress-sensitive neural, humoral and ...

Cells respond to stress and starvation by adjusting their growth rate and enacting stress defense programs. In eukaryotes this involves inactivation of TORC1, which in turn triggers downregulation of ribosome and protein synthesis genes and upregulation of stress response genes. Here we report that the highly conserved inositol pyrophosphate (PP-IP) ...

Evolutionary imperatives bred a vigorous and highly orchestrated behavioral and immune response to the microbial world that served to promote species survival and propagation. The resultant legacy is an inflammatory bias which goes largely unchecked in the modern world and is provoked not only by pathogens but also now by ...

Although evidence suggests that loneliness may increase risk for health problems, the mechanisms responsible are not well understood. Immune dysregulation is one potential pathway: Elevated proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) increase risk for health problems. In our first study (N = 134), lonelier healthy adults exposed to acute stress ...

As an opportunistic Gram-negative pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa must be able to adapt and survive changes and stressors in its environment during the course of infection. To aid survival in the hostile host environment, P. aeruginosa has evolved defense mechanisms including the production of an exopolysaccharide capsule and the secretion of ...

Earlier work showed that apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) in response to endogenous or xenobiotic factors is regulated by autocrine generation of angiotensin (ANG) II and its counterregulatory peptide ANG1-7. Mutations in surfactant protein C (SP-C) induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis in AECs, and cause lung fibrosis. ...

A prolonged or excessive adrenergic activation leads to myocyte loss and heart dysfunction; however, how it contributes to heart failure remains poorly defined. Here we show that isoproterenol (ISO) induced aberrant endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptotic cell death, which was inhibited by activating the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in ...

Numerous liver diseases are associated with extensive oxidative tissue damage. It is well established that Wnt/β-catenin signaling directs multiple hepatocellular processes including development, proliferation, regeneration, nutrient homeostasis and carcinogenesis. It remains un-explored whether Wnt/β-catenin signaling provides hepatocyte protection against hepatotoxin-induced apoptosis. Conditional, liver-specific β-catenin knockdown (KD) mice and their wild-type ...

Astrocyte damage and the disorders of cytokine secretion induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) are crucial pathological processes in ischemic injury of the central nervous system (CNS), (e.g., ischemic reperfusion injury of the brain and spinal cord). ERS stimulates damage to astrocytes and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which deteriorates ...

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress causes impairment of the intracellular protein synthesis machinery, affecting various organ functions and homeostasis systems, including immunity. We found that ER stress induced by the N-linked glycosylation inhibitor, tunicamycin, caused susceptibility to apoptosis in the human monocytic cell line, THP-1 cells. Importantly, prior to tunicamycin-induced apoptosis, ...

Shift work is commonly associated with disturbed life rhythms, resulting in chronic exposure to circadian desynchronization and sleep restriction. Epidemiological data have shown that shift workers are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. In this review, we will explore how observed increases in neuroendocrine stress, non-specific ...

Caspase-1 activation can be induced by oxidative stress, which leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL1β and IL18 in myeloid cells and a potentially damaging inflammatory response. However, little is known about the role of caspase-1 in non-immune cells such as hepatocytes, which express and activate the inflammasome but ...

Significance: The imino acid proline is utilized by different organisms to offset cellular imbalances caused by environmental stress. The wide use in nature of proline as a stress adaptor molecule indicates proline has a fundamental biological role in stress response. Understanding the mechanisms by which proline enhances abiotic/biotic stress response ...

Vitiligo pathogenesis is very puzzling, and novel mechanisms possibly involved in the development of this disorder are frequently explored. Recently, some authors proposed an interplay between oxidative stress and immune system at the basis of melanocyte loss. According to the experimental evidence, they suggest that exposition to environmental agents might ...

The old anesthetic ketamine has demonstrated interactions with the inflammatory response. This review intends to qualify the nature and the mechanism underlying this interaction. For this purpose, preclinical data will be presented starting with the initial works, and then, the probable mechanisms will be discussed. A summary of the most ...

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with polyglutamine (polyQ) protein ataxin-3. Ataxin-3 is a multi-functional protein, but the precise mechanisms underlying the cellular functions of ataxin-3 remain to be elucidated. Here we demonstrate that ataxin-3 plays a protective role against cellular oxidative stress induced by H2O2 ...

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL), a licorice chalconoid, is considered to be a bioactive agent with chemopreventive potential. This study investigates the mechanisms involved in ISL-induced apoptosis in human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells. Cell viability was evaluated using a 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry using an ...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses a hierarchical quorum sensing (QS) network consisting of las, pqs and rhl regulatory elements to coordinate the expression of bacterial virulence genes. However, clinical isolates frequently contain loss-of-function mutations in the central las system. This motivated us to search for a mechanism that may functionally substitute las. ...

Oxidative stress basically defines a condition in which prooxidant-antioxidant balance in the cell is disturbed; cellular biomolecules undergo severe oxidative damage, ultimately compromising cells viability. In recent years, a number of studies have shown that oxidative stress could cause cellular apoptosis via both the mitochondria-dependent and mitochondria-independent pathways. Since these ...

The respiratory tract has a surface area of approximately 70 m(2) that is in direct contact with the external environment. Approximately 12,000 l of air are inhaled daily, exposing the airway epithelium to up to 25 million particles an hour. Several inhaled environmental triggers, like cigarette smoke, diesel exhaust, or allergens, are ...

Objective: Marathon training is both physically and psychologically stressful, both of which can lead to altered immunity. The purpose of this study was to determine if the overall immunoregulatory changes associated with the physical stress of marathon training are affected by psychological stress. Methods: Nineteen recreational marathoners completed the Perceived ...

Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) regulates inflammation, aging (lifespan and healthspan), calorie restriction/energetics, mitochondrial biogenesis, stress resistance, cellular senescence, endothelial functions, apoptosis/autophagy, and circadian rhythms through deacetylation of transcription factors and histones. SIRT1 level and activity are decreased in chronic inflammatory conditions and aging where oxidative stress occurs. SIRT1 is regulated by a ...

The role of HDL in the modulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in macrophage-derived foam cells is not completely understood. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether HDL may inhibit ER stress in correlation with the secretion of apoE and CETP from lipid-loaded macrophages. To this purpose, THP-1 macrophages were loaded ...

Substantial evidence indicates that stress can precipitate or worsen symptoms of inflammation in general and more specifically in multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating, autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS). However, the mechanism of how stress affects MS is not well understood. We reviewed publications in ...

Multiple stressors, both abiotic and biotic, often are experienced simultaneously by organisms in nature. Responses to these stressors may share signaling pathways ("cross-talk") or protective mechanisms ("cross-tolerance"). Temperate and polar insects that must survive the winter experience low temperatures accompanied by additional abiotic stressors, such as low availability of water. ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The major limiting factor in therapeutic application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is their high vulnerability during the early days of transplantation. Hence, researchers have been encouraged to find various strategies to make the cells resistant to different stresses before and after transplantation. Overexpression of HIF-1α in ...

Regulation of erythropoiesis is achieved by the integration of distinct signals. Among them, macrophages are emerging as erythropoietin-complementary regulators of erythroid development, particularly under stress conditions. We investigated the contribution of macrophages to physiological and pathological conditions of enhanced erythropoiesis. We used mouse models of induced anemia, polycythemia vera and ...

SCOPE: Resveratrol, a powerful natural compound for human health, is widely reported for its immunity-related beneficial properties. However, few works have studied its effect mechanism on immunity. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of resveratrol on splenic immunity in restraint stressed mice and the mechanism was further ...

Acute and chronic stressors sensitize or prime the neuroinflammatory response to a subsequent peripheral or central immunologic challenge. However, the neuroimmune process(es) by which stressors prime or sensitize subsequent neuroinflammatory responses remains unclear. Prior evidence suggested that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) might be involved in the mediation of primed neuroinflammatory responses, ...

PURPOSE: A majority of experimental data on dry eye disease (DED) immunopathogenesis have been derived from a murine model of DED that combines desiccating environmental stress with systemic muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) inhibition. However, the effects of pharmacologic mAChR blockade on the pathogenesis of experimental DED have not been systemically ...

Neonatal stress increased the duration and augmented symptoms of sickness behavior induced by influenza virus infection or endotoxin challenge in mice. Since proinflammatory cytokines were implicated in sickness behavior, the present study sought to determine the effect of neonatal stress on cytokines-induced sickness behavior and on proinflammatory cytokine secretion. Data ...

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anticancer anthracycline that presents a dose-dependent and cumulative cardiotoxicity as one of the most serious side effects. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain DOX cardiac side effects, which culminate in the development of life-threatening cardiomyopathy. One of the most studied mechanisms involves the activation of ...

Innate and adaptive immunity play fundamental roles in the development of hypertension and its complications. As effectors of the cell-mediated immune response, myeloid cells and T lymphocytes protect the host organism from infection by attacking foreign intruders with bursts of reactive oxygen species (ROS). While these ROS may help to ...

Tissue oxidative stress is a common hallmark of atherosclerosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), 2 conditions linked epidemiologically and pathophysiologically. Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) is the master regulator of inducible antioxidant responses, that can attenuate cellular injury from oxidative stress induced by obesity and other redox insults. Nrf2 expression ...

Rationale: We noted a marked increase in cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox2) and activation of the ER stress pathway in newborn (NB) murine lung on exposure to hyperoxia and IFNγ. Objective: To evaluate Cox2-mediated ER stress pathway activation in hyperoxia-induced and IFNγ- mediated injury in developing lungs. Methods: In vivo genetic gain-of-function ...

OBJECTIVE: Stress to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and inflammatory cytokines induce expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13). Since a synthetic agent, salubrinal, is known to alleviate ER stress and attenuate nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) signaling, we addressed a question whether upregulation of MMP13 by ER stress and ...

The field of ecology has long recognized two types of competition: exploitative competition, which occurs indirectly through resource consumption, and interference competition, whereby one individual directly harms another. Here, we argue that these two forms of competition have played a dominant role in the evolution of bacterial regulatory networks. In ...

Induction of Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress-mediated apoptosis in cancer cells represents an alternative approach for cancer therapy. Whether fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2)-induced survival signals may interact with ER stress signalling in cancer cells remains elusive. In this work, we showed that pretreatment with FGF-2 decreased the inhibition of DNA ...

The two-component system (TCS) KdpD/KdpE, extensively studied for its regulatory role in potassium (K(+)) transport, has more recently been identified as an adaptive regulator involved in the virulence and intracellular survival of pathogenic bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, entero-haemorrhagic Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Yersinia pestis, Francisella species, Photorhabdus asymbiotica, and mycobacteria. ...