Expression of matrix metalloproteinases during vascularization and ossification of normal and impaired avian growth plate.

Enzymes of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) family regulate angiogenesis and are involved in the endochondral ossification process. Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) and rickets are 2 disorders associated with impairments in this process, mainly in the vascularization of the avian growth plate. In this paper, we induced TD and rickets and studied the expression patterns of 4 members of the MMP family known to be important for endochondral ossification, MMP-2, 3, 9, and 13, in normal and impaired avian growth plates.

A common pathway mediated through Toll-like receptors leads to T- and natural killer-cell immunosuppression.

T- and natural killer (NK)-cell immunosuppression associated with zeta-chain down-regulation has been described in cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases. However, the precise stimuli leading to this bystander phenomenon in such different pathogen-dependent and sterile pathologies remained unresolved. Here, we demonstrate that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a major role in the induction of innate and adaptive immune system suppression; repetitive administration of single TLR 2, 3, 4, or 9 agonists, which do not exhibit any virulent or immune invasive properties, was sufficient to induce a bystander NK- and T-cell immunosuppression associated with zeta-chain down-regulation mediated by myeloid suppressor cells, as observed in the course of active pathologies.

Prevention of liver cirrhosis in rats by curcumin.

Background And Aim: Curcumin, the major polyphenolic compound in turmeric, has been shown to attenuate hepatic damage in several animal models of liver injury. The aim of the present study was to examine the efficacy of curcumin in preventing thioacetamide-induced cirrhosis and to unravel the mechanism of curcumin's effect on hepatic fibrosis in rats.

Methods: Liver cirrhosis was induced by thioacetamide (TAA; 200 mg/kg, i.

Matrix metalloproteinase expression and localization in turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) during the endochondral ossification process.

Vertebrate long bones are formed by endochondral ossification, a process accompanied by changes in extracellular matrix synthesis and remodeling, performed mainly by the matrix metalloproteinases (MMP). The temporal/spatial expression patterns of 5 members of the MMP family known to be important for endochondral ossification were studied, for the first time, in the turkey growth plate during embryonic and juvenile stages. The expression of MMP-2 was detected in the proliferative zone, MMP-3, MMP-9, and MMP-13 in cells lining the blood vessels; MMP-13 was also detected in hypertrophic chondrocytes.

Gene expression during chemically induced liver fibrosis: effect of halofuginone on TGF-beta signaling.

Hepatic fibrosis is associated with the activation of stellate cells (HSCs), the major source of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), signaling via Smad3, is the most profibrogenic cytokine and the major promoter of ECM synthesis. Halofuginone, an inhibitor of liver fibrosis, inhibits TGF-beta-dependent Smad3 phosphorylation in human HSCs in culture.