PURPOSE: Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) is a life-threatening neonatal lung injury, whose pathophysiology has been mainly studied in animal models. In such models, pancreatic secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IB) and proinflammatory cytokines present in meconium challenge the lungs, catabolising surfactant and harming the alveoli. Locally produced phospholipases might perpetuate the injury ...

Hypersplenism is a condition in which the spleen is overactive. It is common in patients with cirrhosis-related portal hypertension. The over-activated hemophagocytic splenic macrophages are an important cause of hypersplenism. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 21-22 nt single-stranded RNAs expressed endogenously, which play important roles in many diseases. We have found by ...

Novel therapeutics targeting neutrophilic inflammation are a major unmet clinical need in acute and chronic inflammation. The timely induction of neutrophil apoptosis is critical for inflammation resolution, and it is thought that acceleration of apoptosis may facilitate resolution at inflammatory sites. We previously demonstrated that a death receptor ligand, TRAIL, ...

RATIONALE: Cigarette smoke is the major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. The mechanisms by which smoking induces pulmonary dysfunction are complex, involving stress from toxic components and inflammatory responses. Although C/EBPß is known as a key intracellular regulator of inflammatory signaling, its role in pulmonary inflammation ...

Synthetic and natural melanocortin (MC) peptides afford inhibitory properties in inflammation and tissue injury, but characterization of receptor involvement is still elusive. We used the agonist AP214 to test MC-dependent anti-inflammatory effects. In zymosan peritonitis, treatment of mice with AP214 (400 to 800 μg/kg) inhibited cell infiltration, an effect retained ...

Agelanthus dodoneifolius DC Danser (Loranthaceae) is used for the treatment of various diseases including asthma. The aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts have been reported to have anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic and bronchorelaxant activities. The present study investigates the effects of the aqueous decoction and the diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and butanolic fractions of ...

To examine the efficacy of glycyrrhizin preparation (GL-p) in the treatment of a rat model of ulcerative colitis (UC). Experimental colitis was induced by oral administration of dextran sodium sulfate. Rats with colitis were intrarectally administered GL-p or saline. The extent of colitis was evaluated based on body weight gain, ...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: T. diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray (Asteraceae) has been used in the traditional medicine in several countries as anti-inflammatory and against other illnesses. It is important to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of extracts from the leaves of this species, including an infusion, to identify the main constituents of the ...

Acute lung inflammation can be caused by a variety of respirable agents, including cigarette smoke. Long-term cigarette smoke exposure can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a serious illness that affects >10 million Americans. Cigarette smoke is a known inducer of inflammation and is responsible for approximately 90% of all ...

Human blood Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells, monocytes and neutrophils share a responsiveness toward inflammatory chemokines and are rapidly recruited to sites of infection. Studying their interaction in vitro and relating these findings to in vivo observations in patients may therefore provide crucial insight into inflammatory events. Our present data demonstrate that ...

Ozone exposure triggers airway inflammatory responses that may be influenced by biologically active purine metabolites. To examine the relationships between airway purine metabolites and established inflammatory markers of ozone exposure, and to determine if these relationships are altered in individuals with atopy or asthma. Mass spectrometry was utilized to measure ...

AIMS: Neutrophils have been found increasingly in the lungs of patients with severe asthma; however, it is unclear whether the neutrophils contribute to the induction of the airway obstruction. We determined using a murine model whether neutrophils are involved in the late asthmatic response (LAR), and analyzed mechanisms underlying the ...

AIMS: Eupatilin (5,7-dihydroxy-3,4,6-trimethoxyflavone) is a pharmacologically active ingredients in Stillen(TM), a drug for the gastric mucosal ulcers. Eupatilin has been known to possess anti-peptic, anti-cancer, and anti-allergy activity. In this report, we defined the effect of eupatilin on the endotoxin-induced inflammation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages. MAIN METHODS: Mouse J774A.1 cell ...

Ratajczak-Wrona W, Jablonska E, Garley M, Jablonski J, Radziwon P. Effect of N-nitrosodimethylamine on inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and production of nitric oxide by neutrophils and mononuclear cells: the role of JNK signalling pathway, APMIS 2011; 119: 431-41. In neutrophils (PMN) and mononuclear cells (PBMC), one of the enzymes ...

Chemokines production in monocytes/macrophages is crucial in modulating immune responses generated through Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated recognition of microbes. During microbial onset, multiple pathogen-associated structures can be present at infection sites, and simultaneously trigger different TLRs. We report here that TLR3, TLR4 and TLR8 engagement induce CCL1, CCL2 and CCL4 production ...

This study was to appraise the anti-inflammatory and free radical scavenging activities of ethanol extracts of Ilex ficoidea Hemsl (EIFH) and Ilex centrochinensis S.Y. Hu (EICC). Anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated using xylene-induced ear edema and the cotton pellet granuloma tests. Some antioxidants produced during chronic inflammation were quantitated and the ...

Unlike apoptosis, mechanisms leading to necrosis are less well understood. Moreover, changes in necrosis as a function of age have not been studied in human lymphocytes. H(2)O(2)-induced death of peripheral lymphocytes (56 healthy donors, 24-95 years) was evaluated by flow cytometry and propidium iodide staining, caspase activation, DNA laddering, and ...

The chemokine system comprises a family of small chemoattractant molecules that have roles in both the healthy and diseased organism. Chemokines act by binding specific receptors on the target cell surface and inducing chemotaxis. The human chemokine system is well characterized, with approximately fifty chemokines identified that fall into four ...

Neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cells in circulation, and patients with congenital neutrophil deficiencies suffer from severe infections that are often fatal, underscoring the importance of these cells in immune defense. In spite of neutrophils' relevance in immunity, research on these cells has been hampered by their experimentally ...

Acetaminophen (APAP) hepatotoxicity because of overdose is the most frequent cause of acute liver failure in the western world. Metabolic activation of APAP and protein adduct formation, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidant stress, peroxynitrite formation and nuclear DNA fragmentation are critical intracellular events in hepatocytes. However, the early cell necrosis causes the ...

BACKGROUND: This study aims to evaluate the influence of RNA interference (RNAi) on the high mobility group box 1 (HMGB-1) in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to observe the effect of RNAi on HMGB-1, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), ...

Novel strategies of antiinflammatory therapy are based upon pharmacological agents capable to enhance the resolution - i.e. the termination of the beneficial inflammation before it may turn into an adverse chronic stage. In contrast to the current therapy, which antagonises the formation of proinflammatory mediators, the "proresolving" therapy promotes natural ...

BACKGROUND: Cytokines appeared to contribute to the development of pathological condition and eNOS gene polymorphism may affect cytokine production. The eNOS gene is located on chromosome 7q35–36 and comprises 26 exons spanning 21 kb and is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to ...

Apocynin suppresses the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are implicated in ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) lung injury. We thus hypothesized that apocynin attenuates I/R. Furthermore, we explored the mechanisms by which apocynin may attenuate I/R. I/R was induced in an isolated and perfused rat lung model with ischemia for 1 ...

In vivo noninvasive detection of apoptosis represents a new tool that may yield a more definite diagnosis, a more accurate prognosis, and help improve therapies for human diseases. The intrinsic fluorescence of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) may be a potential optical biomarker for the apoptosis detection because NADH is ...

Autoimmune mechanisms, particularly through generation of autoantibodies, may contribute to the pathophysiology of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (iDCM). The precise role of cellular autoimmune responses to cardiac-specific antigens has not been well described in humans. The purpose of this study was to characterize the cellular autoimmune response to cardiac troponin I ...

Tobacco smoking is considered a major modifiable risk factor for periodontal disease. Nicotine is the addictive ingredient in tobacco and has been shown to affect multiple cellular processes. Neutrophils are the first line of host defense and are critical cells in the maintenance of periodontal health through their role in ...

PURPOSE Abnormal cytokine expression accompanies myelofibrosis and might be a therapeutic target for Janus-associated kinase (JAK) inhibitor drugs. This study describes the spectrum of plasma cytokine abnormalities in primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and examines their phenotypic correlates and prognostic significance. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients included in this study were required to ...

To explore the effects of technetium-99 methylenediphosphonate (Tc-MDP) on cell proliferation, hyaluronic acid (HA) synthesis and the expressions of human leucocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on cultured retro-ocular fibroblasts (RFs) from patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. After two to seven passages, cultured RFs were incubated for 72 h with ...

Emergent infectious diseases represent a major threat for biodiversity in fragmented habitat networks, but their dynamics in host metapopulations remain largely unexplored. We studied a large community of pathogens (including 26 haematozoans, bacteria and viruses as determined through polymerase chain reaction assays) in a highly fragmented mainland bird metapopulation. Contrary ...

Aims: To assess trophoblast apoptosis separately in the cytotrophoblast, syncytiotrophoblast, total villous trophoblast, syncytial knots and syncytial knot formation, and to investigate the expression of apoptotic factors Fas ligand (FasL), Bcl-2 and proliferation marker Ki-67 in the trophoblast of placentas from preeclamptic patients. Methods: The study included placental samples from ...

Inflammation is a major component in keeping the body in homeostasis. However, an overwhelmed inflammatory response may be associated to a loss of this homeostatic status, which may lead to tissue injury or organ dysfunction. A huge number of drugs interacts with the inflammatory response in a positive, negative or ...

Abstract Serebrovskaya, Titiana V., Igor S. Nikolsky, Valentyna V. Nikolska, Robert T. Mallet, and Vadim A. Ishchuk. Intermittent hypoxia mobilizes hematopoietic progenitors and augments cellular and humoral elements of innate immunity in adult men. High Alt. Med. Biol. 12:243-252.-This study tested the hypothesis that intermittent hypoxia treatment (IHT) modulates circulating ...

Inflammation contributes to secondary injury and neuronal loss after intracerebral hemorrhage, but the role of individual immune populations in these processes is unclear. In a mouse model, the injection of autologous blood into the striatum was associated with an intense inflammatory cell infiltrate composed of neutrophils, monocytes, and dendritic cells. ...

Acute and chronic lung inflammation is associated with numerous important disease pathologies including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and silicosis. Lung fibroblasts are a novel and important target of anti-inflammatory therapy, as they orchestrate, respond to, and amplify inflammatory cascades and are the key cell in the pathogenesis of lung ...

Costunolide, a sesquiterpene lactone present in Costus speciosus root exerts a variety of pharmacological activity but its effects on neuroinflammation have not been studied. Microglia, the resident phagocytic cells in the central nervous system respond to neuroinflammation and their overwhelming response in turn aggravate brain damage during infection, ischemia and ...

Monocytes are immune cells that can differentiate into a number of cell types including macrophages, dendritic cells, and osteoclasts upon exposure to various cytokines. The phenotypes of these differentiated cells are highly heterogeneous and their differentiation can be affected by the cyclic nucleotides, 3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and 3'-5'-cyclic guanosine ...

Early in life, patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are infected with microorganisms including bacteria and fungi, particularly Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus fumigatus. Since recent research has identified the anti-inflammatory properties of statins (besides their lipid-lowering effects), we investigated the effect of fluvastatin on the production of the potent neutrophil chemoattractant ...

Chemokines, proteins that operate within the body's immune system, play numerous roles in menstruation, bacterial infection, implantation of embryos, and the maintenance of early pregnancy. They are also strongly related to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Several chemokines including interleukin (IL)-8, growth-related oncogene (GRO) alpha, regulated on activation, normal T expressed ...

The petroleum ether extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa afforded three new C(15) acetogenins (cyclic ether enyne): (12Z)-cis-maneonene-D (1), (12E)-cis-maneonene-E (2), and (12Z)-trans-maneonene-C (3), along with one known cis-maneonene-A (4). Blood neutrophils were prepared, cultured, and incubated for 24, 48, and 72 h in medium with and without isolated ...

Viral respiratory tract infections play an important role in the inception and exacerbation of asthma. Eosinophils, major effector cells in asthma, often accumulate in the airways during viral infections and are possibly activated by respiratory RNA viruses through Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7. We investigated the effect of a β(2)-agonist, i.e. ...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema develops in 15% of ex-smokers despite sustained quitting, while 10% are free of emphysema or severe lung obstruction. The cause of the incapacity of the immune system to clear the inflammation in the first group remains unclear. We searched genes that were protecting ex-smokers ...

The incidence of neonatal inflammatory diseases remains high despite improved strategies for dealing with infection. Neutrophils are believed to play a significant role in neonatal inflammatory diseases due to their secretion of harmful mediators. Neutrophils rapidly undergo apoptosis following activation; dysregulation of the neutrophil apoptotic pathway may be an underlying ...

Over the years, a very large amount of evidence has accumulated indicating that endothelin (ET)-1 is an important stimulus for inflammation. This is true for a wide range of organ system diseases, including chronic kidney disease. Nonetheless, our understanding of the role and mechanisms by which ET-1 promotes the activation ...

Mucosal epithelia provide strong barriers against pathogens. For instance, the outward facing apical membrane of polarized epithelial cells lacks receptors for agents, such as hepatitis C virus, herpesvirus, reovirus, poliovirus or adenovirus. In addition, macrophages eliminate pathogens from the luminal space. Here we show that human adenovirus type 5 engages ...

To determine whether preeclampsia is associated with an increase in placental apoptosis and altered expression of mediators of apoptosis such as Fas, Fas ligand, caspase-3, p53, Bcl-2 and Bax. Placental samples obtained from 20 women with preeclampsia and 14 normal women were analyzed using the Klenow, Frag-EL DNA fragmentation detection ...

Myristicin (1-allyl-5-methoxy-3,4-methylenedioxybenzene) is an active aromatic compound found in nutmeg (the seed of Myristica fragrans), carrot, basil,cinnamon, and parsley. Myristicin has been known to have anti-cholinergic, antibacterial,and hepatoprotective effects, however, the effects of myristicin on virus-stimulated macrophages are not fully reported. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of myristicin on ...

The effects of heat, especially long-term heat exposure, are complex and incompletely understood and few studies have analysed the immunological consequences of such exposures. In the present study we analysed how long-term hyperthermia modified the pulmonary immune responses, especially recruitment of neutrophils to sites of inflammation, infection and injury. Using ...

The pathogenesis of acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remains to be elucidated. To evaluate the roles of inflammatory mediators in acute exacerbation, the concentrations of high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1), a chief mediator of acute lung injury, and 18 inflammatory cytokines were measured in the bronchoalveolar lavage ...

Normally, neutrophil pools are maintained by homeostatic mechanisms that require the transcription factor C/EBPα. Inflammation, however, induces neutrophilia through a distinct pathway of "emergency" granulopoiesis that is dependent on C/EBPβ. Here, we show in mice that alum triggers emergency granulopoiesis through the IL-1RI-dependent induction of G-CSF. G-CSF/G-CSF-R neutralization impairs proliferative ...