Evaluation of the efficacy of a specific hyperimmune serum in experimental influenza infection in mice.

Serotherapy still remains a way of treatment in some diseases, and it could be consider superior to any other mode of action because the protecting substances of the body are the products of the organism itself. The aim of the study was to establish an "in vivo" method for testing the efficacy of therapeutic serum. Hyperimmune serum for influenza A/PR8/34 viral strain, was prepared in sheep, and tested for inhibition of haemagglutination and microneutralisation.

Upregulation of caveolin-1 expression is associated with structural modifications of endothelial cells in diabetic lung.

Diabetes and the associated hyperglycemia affect pulmonary physiology and biochemistry inducing endothelial impairment, as the first step in lung vascular dysfunction. Caveolin-1, a characteristic protein of endothelial caveolae, acts as a scaffolding protein involved in signal transduction, cholesterol homeostasis, and vesicular trafficking. To document the effect of hyperglycemia on lung endothelial cells, we designed experiments on streptozotocin-induced diabetes and on double transgenic diabetic mice and investigated (1) the early morphological changes occurring in endothelial cells, (2) the ACE activity and cholesterol content of caveolae-rich membrane microdomains, and (3) the protein and gene expression of caveolin-1.