Chronic hindlimb ischemia impairs functional vasodilation and vascular reactivity in mouse feed arteries.

Vasodilation of lower leg arterioles is impaired in animal models of chronic peripheral ischemia. In addition to arterioles, feed arteries are a critical component of the vascular resistance network, accounting for as much as 50% of the pressure drop across the arterial circulation. Despite the critical importance of feed arteries in blood flow control, the impact of ischemia on feed artery vascular reactivity is unknown.

Cytokines secreted in response to Toll-like receptor ligand stimulation modulate differentiation of human Th17 cells.

Objective: Th17 cells (interleukin-17 [IL-17]-secreting T helper cells) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, but the soluble factors that influence human Th17 differentiation have yet to be fully elucidated. This study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that the cytokines secreted by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in response to a subset of Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands would influence Th17 polarization.

Methods: Supernatants from human PBMCs treated with a panel of TLR agonists were tested for their ability to induce de novo IL-17 production in naive T helper cells.