Publications by authors named "Kentaro Shiraishi"

Animal models of obesity show that lipid deposits can injure the kidneys,and there is evidence for the role of lipids in the development of chronic renal dis-ease (CKD). Statins exhibit a lipid-lowering effect that acts on both total cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) levels and pleiotropic effects including their ability to reduce inflammation and fibrosis. The purpose of the present study was to confirm whether obesity induced by a high-fat diet (HFD, 60% fat) promotes lipid accumulation in the tubulointerstitial and/or glomerular areas in the kidney, and whether treatment of several statins, pravastatin (30 mg/kg, p.

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Obesity is associated with systemic low-grade inflammation and is a risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty pancreas disease (NAFPD), but the molecular mechanisms of these associations are not clear. Interleukin (IL)-10, a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine, is released during acute pancreatitis and is known to limit inflammatory responses by downregulating the release of proinflammatory mediators. The origin of IL-10 that suppresses pancreatitis has not been investigated.

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Background: Obesity is associated with systemic low-grade inflammation and is a risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD), but the molecular mechanism remains uncertain. We noticed spleen-derived interleukin (IL)-10 because it is observed that obesity reduces several cytokines in the spleen.

Methods: We examined whether spleen-derived IL-10 regulates CKD caused by a high-fat diet (HF)-induced obesity as follows: (i) male mice were fed with HF (60% fat) during 8 weeks and IL-10 induction from the spleen was examined, (ii) glomerular hypertrophy, fibrosis, inflammatory responses in the kidney and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were evaluated in splenectomy (SPX)-treated mice fed HF, (iii) exogenous IL-10 was systemically administered to HF-induced obese mice and the alteration of obesity-induced pathogenesis caused by IL-10 treatment was assessed.

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Phosphole oxides exert the ability to detect explosives, especially nitroaromatic explosives such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), by fluorescence quenching. In the image sensing of explosives sprayed with phosphole oxide, fluorescence quenching permits the visual determination of the lower detection limits of the nitroaromatic explosives in the nanogram level.

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The synthesis of mannose-substituted tetraphenylethenes (TPEs) and their aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior, induced by interactions with concanavalin A (Con A), are reported. A mixture of the mannose-TPE conjugates and Con A in a buffer solution displays an intense blue emission on agglutination within a few seconds, which serves as a "turn-on" fluorescent sensor for lectins. The sensing is also selective: the conjugates act as a sensor for Con A, but do not sense a galactose-binding lectin, PNA.

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A mixture of sugar-phosphole oxide conjugates and lectins in a buffer solution displays an intense blue emission, thereby acting as a "turn-on" fluorescent sensor for lectins as they form aggregates.

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The base-mediated intramolecular cyclization reaction of 2-alkynylphenylphosphine oxides affords benzo[ b]phosphole oxides, which show intense blue-green fluorescence. Benzo[ b]phospholes are also prepared by the reduction of benzo[ b]phosphole oxides.

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Phosphole-cored dendrimers having poly(benzyl ether) units through the third generation have been synthesized. The dendrimers display intense blue photoluminescence, the quantum yield increasing with the increasing generation of the dendron units. The optical properties are easily tuned by oxidation of the phosphorus atom of the phosphole ring.

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