BACKGROUND & AIMS: Arterial vasodilation plays a role in the pathogenesis of the complications of cirrhosis. This vasodilation is caused by the overproduction of arterial nitric oxide (NO). Bacterial translocation may be involved in NO synthase (NOS) up-regulation by activating both endothelial NOS (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS). The prevention ...

In intestinal inflammation, mucosal injury is often exacerbated by the reaction of NO with neutrophil-derived superoxide to form the potent oxidant peroxynitrite. Peroxynitrite also has antimicrobial properties that aid in the killing mechanism of macrophages and neutrophils. Cryptosporidium parvum parasitizes intestinal epithelium, resulting in loss of epithelial cells and mucosal ...

To characterise the role of phosphatase-1 and -2A (PP1/2A) in the modulation of apoptosis in human osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes. Human OA chondrocytes were isolated from cartilage obtained from the femoral heads of patients undergoing joint replacement surgery. Cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay. Apoptosis was quantified by ELISA, which ...

Isolates of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) are divided into cytopathic (cp) and noncytopathic (ncp) biotypes according to their effect on cultured cells. Calves persistently infected with ncp BVDV are known to develop lethal mucosal disease (MD) after superinfection by cp BVDV. Although the UV-irradiated supernatant of cp BVDV-infected cells ...

Fish are known to express the three isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), the constitutive forms endothelial or eNOS, neuronal or nNOS and the inducible form iNOS. Most studies in fish have focussed on possible roles for NO in cardiovascular physiology although there has been recent attention on the role ...

Increased mechanical stretch of alveolar type II (ATII) cells occurs during mechanical ventilation. The effects of three patterns of stretching rat ATII cells (frequency [min-1]-Deltasurface area [%]: S40-13, S60-13, S40-30) were compared with those in static cultures at 12, 18, and 24 h. Cell viability and expression of cyclooxygenase-2,5-lipoxygenase, inducible ...

BACKGROUND: Arginine is a conditionally essential amino-acid with immuno-modulatory properties, mainly through the nitric oxide (NO) pathway. AIM: To assess the effects of arginine on intestinal production of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and NO in human gut. METHODS: An enteral solution of arginine or a control solution of amino-acids was ...

Nitric oxide (NO) contributes to mammalian host defense by direct microbicidal activity and as a signaling molecule of innate immune responses. Macrophages produce NO via the inducible NO synthase (iNOS). The genome of Neisseria meningitidis includes two genes, norB (encoding nitric oxide reductase) and cycP (encoding cytochrome c'), both of ...

The impact of nitric oxide (NO) synthesized after activation by proinflammatory cytokines and/or bacterial products by an inducible NO synthase (iNOS) is still contradictory. Expression of iNOS in inflammatory reactions is often found predominantly in cells of epithelial origin, and in these cases NO may serve as a protective agent ...

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The gut hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) decreases beta cell apoptosis in a protein kinase B (PKB)-dependent fashion, and increases islet cell mass and function in vivo. In contrast, cytokines induce beta cell apoptosis, leading to decreased islet mass and type 1 diabetes. In the present study we used rat ...

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a disease of neonates that is increasing in incidence and often results in significant morbidity and mortality. Carbon monoxide (CO), a byproduct of the catabolism of heme, is known to have anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate that inhaled CO protects ...

BACKGROUND: Production of nitric oxide (NO) by graft infiltrating macrophages has been suggested as an important effector mechanism of allograft rejection. Expression of the gene for the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and the production of NO in rejected graft has been demonstrated in various models of allotransplantation. However, whether NO ...

To date, the precise mechanism of intravesical immunomodulators remains unknown. In vitro, interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) acts directly on neoplastic cells and inhibits their proliferation while it induces their differentiation. Urothelium and transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) cells express IFN-alpha receptor, the density of which correlates with lesion grade. IFN-alpha reduces neo-microvascular ...

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is known to play an important role in innate immune responses. In the present study, chemically synthetic compound of N(1)-benzyl-4-methylbenzene-1,2-diamine (BMD) was discovered to inhibit nitric oxide (NO) production in macrophages RAW 264.7 stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or fibronectin as TLR4 activators. The BMD compound attenuated ...

As the current antipsoriatic medications are commonly associated with deleterious side-effects, a determined search for safer agents, which could be used alone or in combination with current antipsoriatic drugs, would be very imperative. Psoriasis is believed to be characterized by a type 1 cytokine pattern; interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL)-2 and tumour ...

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin polyphenolic compound found in various plants, including grapes, berries, and peanuts. Multiple lines of compelling evidence indicate its beneficial effects on neurological, hepatic, and cardiovascular systems. Also one of the most striking biological activities of resveratrol soundly investigated during the late years has been its cancer-chemopreventive ...

STUDY DESIGN: Investigation of intraneural inflammation induced by mechanical compression. OBJECTIVES: In order to investigate the mechanism of neuropathy, this study used a median nerve compression model in dogs. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the localization and changes of inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide (NO). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The ...

Group B streptococcus (GBS; Streptococcus agalactiae) induces apoptosis of macrophages, and this may be an important mechanism GBS uses to suppress immune responses. The mechanisms whereby GBS induces apoptosis have not been identified. We studied GBS infection in murine macrophage-like J774A.1 cells and analyzed gene expression before apoptosis. Tumor necrosis ...

Nitric oxide (NO) that is produced by inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in glial cells is thought to contribute significantly to the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Oligodendrocytes can be stimulated to express iNOS by inflammatory cytokines, which are known to accumulate in the multiple sclerotic brain. The potentially pathological levels of ...

BACKGROUND: In the present study, we employed an elastase infusion-dependent abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) model to examine inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in relation to cellular proliferation and apoptosis in this pathologic condition. Furthermore, we employed N-(3-(aminomethyl)benzyl)acetamidine (1400 W), a previously shown selective iNOS inhibitor, to further explore this ...

The immunomodulatory and antiinflammatory activities of aqueous Urtica dioica extract were investigated for their effect on the mitogenic response of murine splenocytes and nitric oxide production by murine peritoneal macrophages in vitro. It was found that this extract stimulated the proliferation of T-lymphocytes and suppressed NO production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages ...

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important bioregulatory molecule in the nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems. NO participates in the regulation of the daily activities of cells as well as in cytotoxic events. It possesses a controversial effect on cell viability by acting both as a protection against apoptogenic stimuli, or ...

A growing body of evidence indicates that free fatty acids (FFA) can have deleterious effects on beta-cells. It has been suggested that the beta-cell dysfunction and death observed in diabetes may involve exaggerated activation of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by FFA, with the resultant generation of ...

It is believed that bioactive compounds from plant foods may have health beneficial effects and reduce the risk of chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study extracts of 121 plants typical for the traditional Mediterranean diet have been screened for their potential anti-inflammatory activities. The ability of the extracts to inhibit ...

Mast cells (MC) are important in the numerous physiological processes of homeostasis and disease. Most notably, MC are critical effectors in the development and exacerbation of allergic disorders. Nitric oxide (NO) is a diatomic radical produced by nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and has pluripotent cell signaling and cytotoxic properties. NO ...

Cervical competence is a key function in normal and abnormal labour. Remodelling of the cervical structure, by reorientation and changes in the integrity of collagen fibres by an alteration in the content of water, proteoglycans and hyaluronic acid, takes place before parturition. Such morphological changes have been associated with the ...

The diatomic radical nitric oxide has been the focus of numerous studies involved with every facet of cancer. It has been implicated in carcinogenesis, progression, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, escape from immune surveillance, and modulation of therapeutic response. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have suggested the possible involvement ...

The biological activities of Moxa, used as moxibustion, have not been well documented. We investigated the effect of Moxa smoke on nitric oxide (NO) production by mouse macrophage-like Raw 264.7 cells. Moxa smoke failed to stimulate the Raw 264.7 cells to produce detectable amounts of NO, but rather inhibited the ...

Trichosanthin (TCS) has been found to exhibit inflammation-suppressing effect but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. In this study, we found that TCS inhibited OVA-specific T cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Such inhibition was correlated with enhanced cell death. At the same time, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA ...

Expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is up-regulated in response to inflammatory stimuli. To evaluate the extent to which local pleural inflammation involves additional site in the pleural cavity and elsewhere, we investigated the time course of the levels of iNOS and its product in the ...

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is associated with an inflammatory process that leads to lung injury. In this study, we hypothesized that inhaled nitric oxide (INO) possesses the ability to modulate CPB-induced inflammation. Fifteen male pigs were randomly divided into 3 groups: Sham, CPB+LPS (CPB and lipopolysaccharide), and CPB+LPS+INO. INO (20 parts ...

Nonspecific inflammation is associated with primary graft nonfunction (PNF). Inflammatory islet damage is mediated at least partially by pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) produced by resident islet macrophages. The p38 pathway is known to be involved in cytokine production in the cells of the ...

Although prostaglandin (PG) F2alpha is known to be a principal luteolytic factor, its action on the bovine corpus luteum (CL) is mediated by other intra-ovarian factors. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) and its specific receptors are present in the bovine CL with the highest expressions at luteolysis. TNFalpha in combination with ...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating and complex clinical condition involving proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide toxicity that produces a predictable pattern of progressive injury entailing neuronal loss, axonal destruction, and demyelination at the site of impact. The involvement of proinflammatory cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in ...

Scoparone is a major component of the shoot of Artemisia capillaris (Compositae), which has been used for the treatment of hepatitis and biliary tract infection in oriental countries. In the present study we observed that, scorparone exhibited no cytotoxic effect in unstimulated macrophages, but reduced the release of nitric oxide ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The common cold is a clinical syndrome triggered by a variety of viral pathogens, but rhinoviruses are the most frequent cause. Complications of such infections include sinusitis, otitis media, and exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease. There is growing interest in host innate defence responses ...

PGHS-2 (prostaglandin H synthase-2) is induced in mammalian cells by pro-inflammatory cytokines in tandem with iNOS [high-output ('inducible') nitric oxide synthase], and is co-localized with iNOS and nitrotyrosine in human atheroma macrophages. Herein, murine J774.2 macrophages incubated with lipopolysaccharide and interferon gamma showed induction of PGHS-2 and generated NO using ...

We have previously demonstrated that Phytomonas serpens, a tomato parasite, shares antigens with Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoa that causes Chagas' disease. These antigens are recognized by human sera and induce protective immunity in Balb/c mice. In the present study, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) knockout (KO) mice and C57BL/6 mice ...

Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus, GBS) is an important cause of sepsis and meningitis in neonates, and excessive production of the inflammatory mediators tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and nitric oxide (NO) causes tissue injury during severe infections. We hypothesized that exposure of GBS to different antimicrobial agents would affect the ...

Macrophages serve as the first-line defense against invading pathogens by (a) overproducing O2- via activation of NADPH-oxidase localized in its plasma membrane, (b) inducing the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and overproducing NO, and (c) generating highly toxic peroxynitrite (ONOO-) to kill the invading pathogens without killing the ...

Heterotrimeric G proteins are the molecular switches in the receptor-mediated transmembrane signaling system. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is inducible by a variety of inflammatory stimuli, which leads to vascular hyporeactivity. In this chapter, the system to study the cell signaling pathways downstream of the GPCR coupling to G proteins ...

Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that emerged as opportunistic pathogens since the onset of the AIDS pandemic. They are capable of disseminating through the body using macrophages as vehicles. We incubated human macrophages with spores of all three Encephalitozoon spp. as well as with Vittaforma corneae, and the number of ...

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that chlorella extracts have antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. METHODS: RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cell line was preincubated with various concentrations (0-100 mug/ml) of chlorella dichloromethane extract (CDE) and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce oxidative stress and inflammation. RESULTS: Treatments of CDE reduced thiobarbituric acid-reactive ...

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF, CellCept) is a prodrug of mycophenolic acid (MPA), an inhibitor of inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase. MPA depletes guanosine nucleotides preferentially in T and B lymphocytes and inhibits their proliferation, thereby suppressing cell-mediated immune responses and antibody formation. MPA also inhibits the glycosylation and expression of adhesion molecules, and the ...

Natural products are known to be sources of bioactive components exerting antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. We evaluated the suppressive effects of the methanol extract (0-45 microg/mL) of the aerial parts of Saururus chinensis (Lour.) Baill (Saururaceae) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) production and oxidative stress buildup in the RAW ...

During inflammatory responses in the brain, the expression of cytochrome P450 isoforms in the CNS are modulated and the capacity of the brain to metabolize drugs and to synthesize or degrade certain endogenous chemicals and drugs is diminished. While this response can be attributed in part, to the production and ...

An alpha-D-glucan (RR1) composed of (1-->4) linked back bone and (1-->6) linked branches with a molecular mass of >550 kDa and exhibiting unique immune stimulating properties is isolated and characterized from the medicinal plant Tinospora cordifolia. This novel polysaccharide is noncytotoxic and nonproliferating to normal lymphocytes as well as tumor ...

It has been shown that deletion of the gene encoding the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) results in a reduction of ischemia-induced apoptotic cell death, suggesting the detrimental role of iNOS. The signaling pathways by which iNOS mediates apoptotic cell death under ischemic conditions remain unclear. Understanding the ...

In the present study we evaluated the role of neurokinins in the modulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inflammatory cell expression in guinea pigs with chronic allergic airway inflammation. In addition, we studied the acute effects of nitric oxide inhibition on this response. Animals were anesthetized and pretreated with ...

Reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide generated within the beta cell or by intraislet immune cells may be major mediators of beta cell death during insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Here, the intraislet expression of nitrotyrosine, a biomarker of oxidative damage, and its cellular sources were examined in the islets of NOD ...