CD1d deficiency limits tolerogenic properties of peritoneal macrophages.

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are involved in various autoimmune diseases. Although iNKT cells are arthritogenic, transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)-treated tolerogenic peritoneal macrophages (Tol-pMφ) from wild-type (WT) mice are more tolerogenic than those from CD1d knock-out iNKT cell-deficient mice in a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model. The underlying mechanism by which pMφ can act as tolerogenic antigen presenting cells (APCs) is currently unclear.

GV1001 immunotherapy ameliorates joint inflammation in a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis by modifying collagen-specific T-cell responses and downregulating antigen-presenting cells.

This study investigated whether GV1001 may be useful for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) experiments showed that therapeutic, but not preventive, GV1001 treatment reduced the severity of joint inflammation in CIA. The third CIA experiment indicated that, compared to vehicle treatment, therapeutic GV1001 treatment was associated with a significantly smaller area under the curve for the overall clinical joint score over the 98day observation period (p<0.

Effect of renal sympathetic nerve on adrenergically and angiotensin II-induced renal vasoconstriction in normal Wistar-Kyoto rats.

Background: This study examined the effect of renal sympathetic innervation on adrenergically and angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced renal vasoconstriction in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats.

Methods: Forty-eight WKY rats were treated with either losartan (10 mg/kg/day p.o.

Role of renal sympathetic nervous system in the control of renal potassium handling.

Background: It is well established that renal sympathetic nerves are primarily involved in renal sodium and water regulation. However, the relationship between renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and renal potassium handling is not extensively known. The present study was performed to investigate the role of the renal sympathetic nervous system in the regulation of tubular potassium reabsorption and secretion.

Functional subtypes of renal alpha1-adrenoceptor in spontaneously hypertensive rats with streptozotocin-induced experimental diabetic nephropathy.

Aim: This study investigated the impact of hypertension combined with diabetic nephropathy on rat renal alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtype composition.

Methods: In streptozotocin-induced diabetic spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), diabetic nephropathy developed as reflected by increased kidney index, plasma creatinine, albumin excretion, creatinine clearance and fractional excretion of Na(+) (all p < 0.05).