The β-human chorionic gonadotropin-related peptide LQGV reduces mortality and inflammation in a murine polymicrobial sepsis model.

Objective: Mortality in sepsis remains high and efforts to modulate the inflammatory response so far mostly failed to improve survival. The human chorionic gonadotropin-related tetrapeptide LQGV was recently shown to exert anti-inflammatory activity. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of LQGV on cecal ligation and puncture-induced mortality and inflammation.

Noninvasive functional liver blood flow measurement: comparison between bolus dose and steady-state clearance of sorbitol in a small-rodent model.

Plasma clearance of D-sorbitol, a nontoxic polyol, occurs predominantly in the liver and has been used to measure functional liver blood flow after bolus and steady- state intravenous administration. However, it is not known which of these two administration methods is superior. Therefore, plasma D-sorbitol clearance was studied in an animal model both after a bolus dose and under steady-state (SS) conditions and compared directly with liver blood flow, under normal conditions, and after the induction of endotoxin (LPS) sepsis.

Synthetic oligopeptides related to the [beta]-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin attenuate inflammation and liver damage after (trauma) hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation.

Severe hemorrhagic shock (HS) followed by resuscitation induces a massive inflammatory response, which may culminate into systemic inflammatory response syndrome, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and, finally, death. Treatments that effectively prevent this inflammation are limited so far. In a previous study, we demonstrated that synthetic oligopeptides related to the primary structure of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) can inhibit the inflammatory response and mortality that follow high-dose LPS-induced inflammation.

Effect of prolonged warm ischemia and pneumoperitoneum on renal function in a rat syngeneic kidney transplantation model.

Background: Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy is associated with several advantages for the donor. However, graft function may be impaired due to use of pneumoperitoneum and prolonged warm ischemia. This study investigated the impact of pneumoperitoneum and prolonged warm ischemia on long-term graft function in a syngeneic rat renal transplant model.

Cyclosporine interacts with mycophenolic acid by inhibiting the multidrug resistance-associated protein 2.

In mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)-treated organ transplant recipients, lower mycophenolic acid (MPA) plasma concentrations have been found in cyclosporine (CsA) compared with tacrolimus (Tac)-based immunosuppressive regimens. We previously demonstrated that CsA decreases exposure to MPA and increases exposure to its metabolite MPA-glucuronide (MPAG), possibly by interfering with the biliary excretion of MPAG. To elucidate the role of the multidrug resistance-associated protein (Mrp)-2 in the interaction between MMF and CsA, we treated three groups of 10 Mrp2-deficient rats (TR- rat) for 6 days with either vehicle, CsA (8 mg/kg) or Tac (4 mg/kg) by oral gavage.