Cod Liver Oil, but Not Retinoic Acid, Treatment Restores Bone Thickness in a Vitamin A-Deficient Rat.

Vitamin A plays a prominent role for maintaining optimal bone status, but its impact upon the bone in response to vitamin A deficiency is not well defined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how replenishing vitamin A by either whole food cod liver oil (COD) or the active metabolite of vitamin A, retinoic acid (RA), altered bone thickness of vitamin A-deficient (VAD) rats. Weanling rats were administered a control diet (CTRL) or VAD diet for 9 weeks.

Fat embolism sensitizes rats to a "second hit" with lipopolysaccharide: An animal model of pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Pulmonary fat embolism (FE) in patients after major bone fracture and other trauma may lead to acute respiratory distress, but few clinical evidence of lung injury remains, and there is a dearth of histopathologic information after the initial recovery. We recently reported histologic changes in the lungs of a patient who died after cesarian delivery, which were similar to a rat model of FE. In this model, we found that despite an apparent full recovery, modest fibrotic damage persisted up to 6 weeks.

Role of anthocyanin-enriched purple-fleshed sweet potato p40 in colorectal cancer prevention.

Scope: Anthocyanins, the natural pigments in plant foods, have been associated with cancer prevention. However, the content of anthocyanins in staple foods is typically low and the mechanisms by which they exert anticancer activity is not yet fully defined.

Methods And Results: We selected an anthocyanin-enriched purple-fleshed sweet potato clone, P40, and investigated its potential anticancer effect in both in vitro cell culture and in vivo animal model.

Dietary Flaxseed Oil Protects against Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in Rats.

Bleomycin, a widely used antineoplastic agent, has been associated with severe pulmonary toxicity, primarily fibrosis. Previous work has shown a reduction in bleomycin-induced lung pathology by long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Treatment by short-chain omega-3 fatty acids, α-linolenic acid, found in dietary flaxseed oil may also reduce lung fibrosis, as previously evidenced in the kidney.

Effect of exendin (exenatide)--GLP 1 receptor agonist on the thyroid and parathyroid gland in a rat model.

Exenatide or Exendin-4 is a 39-amino acid agonist of the glucagon like peptide (GLP-1) receptor approved for the adjunctive treatment for type 2 diabetes. Recent reports suggest that GLP-1 agonists may also have distant effects including C-cell thyroid hyperplasia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of exendin-4 on the thyroid and parathyroid cells in a rat model.

Persistent and progressive pulmonary fibrotic changes in a model of fat embolism.

Background: Fat embolism (FE) after trauma and some orthopedic procedures is known to cause acute lung injury, including acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, its potential long-term effects on the lung are unknown. A previous study using a rat model of FE found significant histopathologic changes in the lungs after intravenous injection of triolein for up to 11 days.

Mitigating effects of captopril and losartan on lung histopathology in a rat model of fat embolism.

Background: Fat embolization (FE) is an often overlooked and poorly understood complication of skeletal trauma and some orthopedic procedures. Fat embolism can lead to major pulmonary damage associated with fat embolism syndrome (FES).

Methods: A model of FE in unanesthetized rats, using intravenous injection of the neutral fat triolein, was used to study the potential therapeutic effect on lung histopathology of altering the production of, or response to, endogenous angiotensin (Ang) II.

Treatment with omega-3 fatty acids but not exendin-4 improves hepatic steatosis.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common form of chronic liver disease in the Western world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and histological effects of omega-3 fatty acid and exendin-4 treatment on NAFLD in an animal model.

Methods: Sixty-three 8-week-old outbred Sprague-Dawley male rats were used for this study.

Weight Loss via exercise with controlled dietary intake may affect phospholipid profile for cancer prevention in murine skin tissues.

Exercise has been linked to a reduced cancer risk in animal models. However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This study assessed the effect of exercise with dietary consideration on the phospholipid profile in 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced mouse skin tissues.

Fat embolism: evolution of histopathological changes in the rat lung.

The pathophysiology of Fat Embolism Syndrome (FES) is poorly understood and subject to some controversy. Evaluation of the evolution of histological changes in the lungs of patients with FES is impractical. The current theories of FES were established through acute clinical observations and acute animal experiments, but sequential changes in the histology of lungs over a prolonged period have not been made.

Expression of multidrug resistance associated protein 5 (MRP5) on cornea and its role in drug efflux.

Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to investigate the presence of nucleoside/nucleotide efflux transporter in cornea and to evaluate the role in ocular drug efflux.

Methods: RT-PCR, immunoprecipitation followed by Western blot analysis and immunostaining were employed to establish molecular presence of multidrug resistance associated protein 5 (MRP5) on cornea. Corneal efflux by MRP5 was studied with bis(POM)-PMEA and acyclovir using rabbit and human corneal epithelial cells along with MRP5 over expressing cells (MDCKII-MRP5).

Phthalate-Induced Liver Protection against Deleterious Effects of the Th1 Response: A Potentially Serious Health Hazard.

Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) induces pulmonary immunopathology mediated by classical Th1 type of acquired immunity with hepatic involvement in up to 80% of disseminated cases. Since PPAR agonists cause immune responses characterized by a decrease in the secretion of Th1 cytokines, we investigated the impact of activating these receptors on hepatic pathology associated with a well-characterized model of Th1-type pulmonary response. Male Fischer 344 rats were either maintained on a drug-free diet (groups I and II), or a diet containing diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP), a compound transformed in vivo to metabolites known to activate PPARs, for 21 days (groups III and IV).

Metabolic and biochemical responses of the healthy human lung to nonthoracic surgery.

The objective of this study was to evaluate and assign numbers to biochemical or cellular entities in lung-healthy patients that change immediately postsurgery compared with the same parameters immediately presurgery, with the hypothesis that biochemical markers with significant change could be the basis of tests to predict postoperative respiratory complications. Thirty lung-healthy adults who were to undergo elective surgical procedures requiring general anesthesia participated. The population included sequential persons that met inclusion criteria and gave consent.

Effects of dietary calorie restriction or exercise on the PI3K and Ras signaling pathways in the skin of mice.

Weight control by exercise and dietary calorie restriction (DCR) has been associated with reduced cancer risk, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. This study was designed to compare the effects of weight loss by increasing physical activity or decreasing calorie intake on tumor promoter-induced Ras-MAPK and PI3K-Akt pathways. SENCAR mice were randomly assigned to one of the following five groups: ad libitum-fed sedentary control, ad libitum-fed exercise (AL+Exe), exercise but pair-fed at the amount as controls (PF+Exe), 20% DCR, and 20% DCR plus exercise (DCR+Exe).

Effects on cytokines and histology by treatment with the ACE inhibitor captopril and the antioxidant retinoic acid in the monocrotaline model of experimentally induced lung fibrosis.

Monocrotaline (MCT), a pyrrolizidine alkaloid extracted from the shrub Crotalaria spectabilis, induces in the lungs of many mammalian species severe hypertension and fibrosis. Previous work with MCT-induced lung disease in rats has shown that some of the steps to progressive fibrosis can be interrupted or decreased by intervention with retinoic acid (RA) or with the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, captopril. This report emphasizes the pathology and cytokines present in lungs of rats in the MCT model of hypertension and fibrosis in 8 treatment groups, six per group: (1) controls, not treated; (2) captopril; (3) RA; (4) combined captopril and RA.

Effect of an angiotensin II receptor blocker and two angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors on transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and alpha-actomyosin (alpha SMA), important mediators of radiation-induced pneumopathy and lung fibrosis.

Progressive, irreversible fibrosis is one of the most clinically significant consequences of ionizing radiation on normal tissue. When applied to lungs, it leads to a complication described as idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) and eventually to organ fibrosis. For its high mortality, the condition precludes treatment with high doses of radiation.

Transplant-related bronchiolitis obliterans (BOS) demonstrates unique cytokine profiles compared to toxicant-induced BOS.

Bronchiolitis obliterans (BOS - bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome - clinical diagnosis; CBO-histopathologic diagnosis), is a chronic disease process of fibrosis and cellular deposition in airways, complicating long term survival following lung transplantation. BOS is also the result of sporadic toxicant exposure, with airway signs, symptoms, and histology indistinguishable from allograft rejection. This study establishes a transplant BOS model in MHC-mismatched rats and compares their cytokine profiles and histopathology to that of our established toxicant-induced BOS model.

Neutrophil-anti-microbial interaction in the established infection: effect on Staphylococcus aureus.

Objectives: To determine if differences in drug-related Staphylococcus aureus killing, associated in vivo with neutropenia, is neutrophil-related in vitro, and the mechanisms of this interaction.

Methods: To evaluate the influence of living neutrophils on drug-S. aureus interactions, cell wall enzymes, the PBPs, were isolated and their binding to five (beta lactam and other) antibiotics was evaluated following incubation (or not) with neutrophils.

The effect of treatment with a protease inhibitor on mycobacterial infection.

Mycobacterial infection occurs frequently in patients that receive protease inhibitors, which are drugs used to treat AIDS, but are known for metabolic effects. Proteases of microbial antigens have been recognized as important regulators of host inflammation and cellular response. To evaluate protease inhibitor effect on a mycobacterial infection, a pilot animal model was established.

Helicobacter pylori-related immunoglobulins in sarcoidosis.

Background/purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine serum antibody titers against a common bacterial antigen, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylon), in subjects with sarcoidosis, comparing those titers to those present in a healthy population.

Subjects And Methods: With the approval of the Institutional Review Board of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, patients with sarcoidosis (pulmonary and extrapulmonary) who visited the Truman Medical Center-Hospital Hill pulmonary clinic were recruited to enter the study.

Calcium-binding proteins MRP 8 and 14 in a Staphylococcus aureus infection model: role of therapy, inflammation, and infection persistence.

Concentrations of the calcium-binding proteins of the S100 family, myeloid-related proteins 8 and MRP 14 (MRP8/14), are elevated in chronic infections, yet the role of these proteins is not clearly defined. Using commercial and developed enzyme immunoassays, we assayed for MRP8/14 in sterile-filtered abscess fluid from tissue-cage-implanted rats and rabbits. Staphylococcus aureus abscesses were created 6 weeks after the intraperitoneal implantation of tissue cages.

Effects of neutrophils on cefazolin activity and penicillin-binding proteins in Staphylococcus aureus abscesses.

Bacteria survive within abscesses despite antimicrobial therapy, usually necessitating drainage. Our previous work showed that bacterial killing is diminished within the neutrophils of animals with abscesses. To further assess the role of neutrophils in Staphylococcus aureus survival and the poor activities of beta-lactams in abscesses, tissue cage abscess-bearing rats were given polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN)-depleting antibody prior to and several times following inoculation of the tissue cages with S.