β-Defensin 1 plays a role in acute mucosal defense against Candida albicans.

Candida is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that colonizes the mucosal tract of humans. Pathogenic infection occurs in the presence of conditions causing perturbations to the commensal microbiota or host immunity. Early innate immune responses by the epithelium, including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and cytokines, are critical for protection against overgrowth.

A novel role for the NLRC4 inflammasome in mucosal defenses against the fungal pathogen Candida albicans.

Candida sp. are opportunistic fungal pathogens that colonize the skin and oral cavity and, when overgrown under permissive conditions, cause inflammation and disease. Previously, we identified a central role for the NLRP3 inflammasome in regulating IL-1β production and resistance to dissemination from oral infection with Candida albicans.

Differential expression of cadherins in the developing and adult zebrafish olfactory system.

Cadherins are cell adhesion molecules that play important roles in development of a variety of tissues and maintenance of adult structures. Although cadherin expression has been studied in detail in the central nervous system of several vertebrate species, little is known of their distribution in the developing and adult olfactory structures, and there is no published report, to our knowledge, of cadherin expression in fish olfactory system. In this study, we examined expression patterns of three cadherins, cadherin-1 (E-cadherin), cadherin-2 (N-cadherin), and cadherin-4 (R-cadherin), in the olfactory system of developing and adult zebrafish by using both in situ hybridization and immunocytochemical methods.