The influence of diesel exhaust particles on mononuclear phagocytic cell-derived cytokines: IL-10, TGF-beta and IL-1 beta.

Diesel exhaust particles (DEP) are known to modulate the production of cytokines associated with acute and chronic respiratory symptoms and allergic respiratory disease. Tolerance is an important mechanism through which the immune system can maintain nonresponsiveness to common environmental antigens. We examined the effect of DEP on IL-10 and TGF-beta, cytokines produced by macrophages and repressor (Tr-like) lymphocytes which influence tolerance.

Localization of bilirubin in phospholipid bilayers by parallax analysis of fluorescence quenching.

It has been proposed that the neurotoxicity observed in severely jaundiced infants results from the binding of unconjugated bilirubin to nerve cell membranes. However, despite potentially important clinical ramifications, there remains significant controversy regarding the physical nature of bilirubin-membrane interactions. We used the technique of parallax analysis of fluorescence quenching (Chattopadhyay, A.