J Cardiovasc Pharmacol
January 2006
The participation of nitric oxide (NO) as a modulator of the isometric contraction, as well as the underlying mechanism, was investigated in rat small mesenteric arteries. In the presence of a functional endothelium, L-NAME and L-NA similarly increased the contractions induced by phenylephrine, dependently on the level of contraction. However, no effect was observed in the absence of a functional endothelium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnder appropriate conditions, in vitro microtubule preparations self-organise over macroscopic distances by a process of reaction and diffusion. To investigate whether such self-organisation can also occur in objects as small as a cell or an embryo we carried out experiments in miniature containers of cellular dimension. When assembled under self-organising conditions in wells of 120-500 microm, microtubules developed organised structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe smooth muscle relaxant properties of a mixture of the two triterpenoids cycloeuclalenol and cycloartenol (CC) isolated from Herissanthia tiubae (Malvaceae) were studied in several smooth muscle preparations. CC inhibited contractions induced by carbachol, histamine and KCl in the guinea-pig ileum, but no spasmolytic activity was found in guinea-pig trachea or rat aorta. In guinea-pig ileum, concentration-response curves to carbachol and CaCl (2) in high K(+) were shifted to the right by CC in a concentration-dependent manner with slopes of the Schild plot differing from the unity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIerobina is a Brazilian phytopharmaceutical product indicated for the treatment of dyspepsia. It contains the hydroethanolic extracts of Solanum paniculatum L. (Solanaceae), Remijia ferruginea D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new method for the in vitro screening of plant extracts with potential angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity is proposed. The method is based on the cleavage of the substrate hippuryl-glycyl-glycine by ACE and subsequent reaction with trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid to form 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-glycyl-glycine, whose absorbance is determined at 415 nm in a microtitre plate reader. Rabbit lung dehydrated by acetone was employed as an enzyme source.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a survey carried out during the summer in 2002 and 2003, in the canine and vulpine leishmaniasis focus of Arrabida, 665 phlebotomine sandflies were caught. 13.83% were P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost of the experimental studies of Leishmania spp. infection require the determination of the parasite load in different tissues. Quantification of parasites by microscopy is not very sensitive and is time consuming, whereas culture microtitrations remain laborious and can be jeopardized by microbial contamination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mechanism underlying the vasodilator effect of the flavonoid floranol was studied in rat small mesenteric arteries. Floranol produced a concentration-dependent vasorelaxant effect in endothelium-containing and endothelium-denuded vessels pre-contracted with phenylephrine, which was more potent in endothelium-intact vessels. In endothelium-intact mesenteric arteries, l-NAME but not indomethacin produced a shift to the right in the vasorelaxant effect of floranol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Trop Pediatr
February 2004
Leprosy among children is a public health problem reflecting the disease's transmission in the community and the efficiency of control programmes. To evaluate some clinical, epidemiological and histopathological criteria, as well as the level of agreement between clinical and histopathological diagnoses, 207 biopsies were studied from patients less than 15 years old who were clinically diagnosed with leprosy between March 1994 and September 2000. Leprosy was confirmed by histopathology in 119 cases (57.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Space-occupying cerebellar infarcts (SOCI) make up a subgroup within the ischemic pathologies of the brain which are generally well tolerated clinically and usually respond well to medical treatment. Yet, in some cases, due to their volume and localisation, they can be accompanied by a progressive deterioration that requires surgical treatment. We report the clinical cases of two patients with SOCI that illustrate both therapeutic alternatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study was performed in order to test the efficacy of a new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the diagnosis of both human and canine leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum. The new primers were developed on the basis of a complete DNA sequence of the L. infantum kinetoplast minicircle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF1. In this study, the role of endogenous H(2)O(2) as an endothelium-dependent relaxant factor was characterised in aortas from C57BL/6J and LDL receptor-deficient mice (LDLR(-/-)). 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a case of a 75 year old man presenting with paraparesis, urinary incontinence and saddle anesthesia evolving after several months and severe lumbalgia and bad general status which developed fewdays before admission. CT-scan showed spondilosis with lytic lesion at L5-S1 level. MR1 was not performed because the patient had a pacemaker.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn plants, sugars are the main respiratory substrates and important signaling molecules in the regulation of carbon metabolism. Sugar signaling studies suggested that sugar sensing involves several key components, among them hexokinase (HXK). Although the sensing mechanism of HXK is unknown, several experiments support the hypothesis that hexose phosphorylation is a determining factor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfection with Leishmania infantum promastigotes (group I) and amastigotes (group II) was evaluated over 32 weeks, using Syrian golden hamsters as an experimental model. Spleen cells strongly responded to the specific antigen at 12 (group I) and 16 weeks (group II) post-inoculation (p.i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe vasodilator effect of curine was investigated in the rat small mesenteric arteries. In either endothelium-intact or endothelium-denuded mesenteric arteries, curine induced a concentration-dependent relaxation in rings pre-contracted with noradrenline (10 microM; IC 50 = 4.8 +/- 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To review the literature on cerebral neuroblastomas (CN), including their anatomopathological filiation, clinical characteristics together with those they display in imaging studies, and the different therapeutic options with their prognosis.
Method: Cerebral neuroblastomas belong to the group of primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNET), also known as cerebral meduloblastomas or supratentorial PNET. They originate in the supratentorial compartment and histologically they are in the WHO grade IV.
Sucrose is the cornerstone of higher plant metabolism. Produced by photosynthesis, sucrose is the main substrate for respiration and biosynthesis. The emerging idea is that sucrose may act as regulator of its own metabolism, characterized in particular by a permanent process of degradation and formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAqueous solutions of aniline and p-chloroaniline were treated with ozone in order to study the reaction and oxidation by-products. Aniline solutions were ozonated at low and high pH, so as to compare both molecular and hydroxyl free radical mechanisms, respectively. The main identified aromatic by-products were nitrobenzene and azobenzene when the experiment was carried out at acid pH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Immunol Immunopathol
September 2002
In this study, the cytokines, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-12 p40, IL-6 and IL-10, expressed by peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 13 beagle dogs inoculated with Leishmania infantum amastigotes, were analysed during a period of up to 23 months. The course of infection was monitored through clinical and parasitological examinations, haematological alterations and serum antileishmania antibody levels. Dogs developed symptomatic infections with haematological alterations, humoral immune response and reduced specific lymphoproliferative response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe vasodilator effects of 12-O-methylcurine (OMC), a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid isolated from Chondrodendron platyphyllum (Menispermaceae), and its respective mechanism of action were investigated in rat aorta. In either endothelium-intact or endothelium-denuded aortic rings, OMC induced concentration-dependent relaxation in vessels pre-contracted with 0.1 microM phenylephrine (IC50 = 63.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe vasodilator effects of Ouratea semiserrata stem hydroethanolic extract (OSE) and its ethyl acetate fraction (OSR) were evaluated in endothelium-intact aortic rings. OSR produced a more potent vasodilatation (IC(50) = 3.5 +/- 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWithin the framework of toxicity testing using formulated sediment, a conditioning treatment prior to toxic contamination has been examined. This preliminary step enables the bacterial colonisation of the sediment, the initiation of organic matter degradation, and the establishment of stable biological and physico-chemical conditions. The treatment involved in keeping the formulated sediment under water in conditions similar to that chosen for toxicity tests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF1. The contribution of the local vascular production of angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)] to the control of alpha-adrenergic-induced contractions in the aorta of Sprague-Dawley (SD) and TGR(mRen-2)27 [mRen-2] rats was studied. 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the present work the effect of dioclein, a new flavonoid from Dioclea grandiflora, was investigated in rat hearts. The experiments were performed using the classic method of Langendorff, where flow, inotropic, chronotropic and electric parameters were analyzed. Bolus administration of Dioclein (1-100 microg) induced a sustained and dose-dependent increase in coronary flow with no modification in inotropic, chronotropic and electrical parameters.
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