: A Source of Nutrients with Numerous Health Benefits and Important Therapeutic Potential for Age-Related Diseases.

(Lamiaceae) is a plant endemic to the Mediterranean basin that is found in significant quantities in the arid regions of Morocco. is used in traditional medicine to treat infectious and non-infectious diseases. It is also used for the isolation of essential oils and for the seasoning of many dishes in the Mediterranean diet.

Exogenous central angiotensin fails to stimulate a sodium appetite in diabetes insipidus Brattleboro rats.

We investigated the effect of central administration of angiotensin II (AngII) on a specific salt appetite (SSA) in homozygous diabetes insipidus Brattleboro (DI) rats because this stimulus induces such a response in all other rat strains. DI rats have a deficiency in the synthesis of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and a reduced content of pituitary oxytocin (OT). They are characterized also by polyuria, polydipsia, and they seldom ingest high concentrations of NaCl solutions.

Cell Penetrating Peptides Used in Delivery of Therapeutic Oligonucleotides Targeting Hepatitis B Virus.

Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNAs) and small noncoding RNAs including small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) represent a new class of oligonucleotides considered as an alternative therapeutic strategy in the chronic hepatitis B treatment. Indeed, chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major public health problem worldwide, despite the availability of an effective prophylactic vaccine. Current therapeutic approaches approved for chronic HBV treatment are pegylated-interferon alpha (IFN)-α and nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs).

Transforming growth factor-β1 induces cerebrovascular dysfunction and astrogliosis through angiotensin II type 1 receptor-mediated signaling pathways.

Transgenic mice constitutively overexpressing the cytokine transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) (TGF mice) display cerebrovascular alterations as seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), but no or only subtle cognitive deficits. TGF-β1 may exert part of its deleterious effects through interactions with angiotensin II (AngII) type 1 receptor (AT1R) signaling pathways. We test such interactions in the brain and cerebral vessels of TGF mice by measuring cerebrovascular reactivity, levels of protein markers of vascular fibrosis, nitric oxide synthase activity, astrogliosis, and mnemonic performance in mice treated (6 months) with the AT1R blocker losartan (10 mg/kg per day) or the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril (3 mg/kg per day).

Neurovascular and Cognitive failure in Alzheimer's Disease: Benefits of Cardiovascular Therapy.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial and multifaceted disease for which we currently have very little to offer since there is no curative therapy, with only limited disease-modifying drugs. Recent studies in AD mouse models that recapitulate the amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology converge to demonstrate that it is possible to salvage cerebrovascular function with a variety of drugs and, particularly, therapies used to treat cardiovascular diseases such as hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. These drugs can reestablish dilatory function mediated by various endothelial and smooth muscle ion channels as well as nitric oxide availability, benefits that result in normalized brain perfusion.