Dopamine impairs functional integrity of rat hepatocytes through nuclear factor kappa B activity modulation: An in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro study.

Dopamine (DA) is commonly used to maintain the hemodynamic stability of brain-dead donors despite its controversial effects on organ functions. This study aimed at examining the hemodynamic effect of DA in a rat brain-dead model in vivo, alteration of hepatocyte integrity in liver grafts after ex vivo preservation, and changes in cultured clone-9 hepatocytes including cellular viability, cell cycle, apoptotic regulators, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling machinery. Although in vivo findings demonstrated enhanced portal venous blood flow and hepatic microcirculatory perfusion after DA infusion, no apparent advantage was noted in preserving hepatocyte integrity ex vivo.

Bone and joint protection ability of ceramic material with biological effects.

Ceramic materials with biological effects (bioceramic) have been found to modulate various biological effects, especially those effects involved in antioxidant activity and hydrogen peroxide scavenging. As arthropathy and osteopathy are the major chronic diseases of geriatric medicine, we explored the possible activity of bioceramic on these conditions using animal and cell models. Rabbits received intra-articular injections of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to induce inflammation that mimic rheumatic arthritis.

Electrokinetic remediation of arsenate spiked soil assisted by CNT-Co barrier--the effect of barrier position and processing fluid.

An enhanced electrokinetic (EK) remediation process coupled with permeable reaction barrier (PRB) of carbon nanotube coated with cobalt (CNT-Co) has been investigated for As(V) removal from soil under potential gradient of 2.0 V/cm for 5 days treatment. Results showed that removal efficiency of As(V) was greater than 70% in EK/CNT-Co system with EDTA as processing fluid, which was enhanced by a factor of 2.