The common food additive carrageenan is not a ligand for Toll-Like- Receptor 4 (TLR4) in an HEK293-TLR4 reporter cell-line model.

Carrageenan (CGN) is widely used in the food manufacturing industry as an additive that stabilizes and thickens food products. Standard animal safety studies in which CGN was administered in diet showed no adverse effects. However, several in vitro studies have reported that intestinal inflammation is caused by CGN and that this effect is mediated through Toll-Like-Receptor 4 (TLR4).

Discovery of Dap-3 polymyxin analogues for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative nosocomial infections.

We report novel polymyxin analogues with improved antibacterial in vitro potency against polymyxin resistant recent clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa . In addition, a human renal cell in vitro assay (hRPTEC) was used to inform structure-toxicity relationships and further differentiate analogues. Replacement of the Dab-3 residue with a Dap-3 in combination with a relatively polar 6-oxo-1-phenyl-1,6-dihydropyridine-3-carbonyl side chain as a fatty acyl replacement yielded analogue 5x, which demonstrated an improved in vitro antimicrobial and renal cytotoxicity profiles relative to polymyxin B (PMB).

Evaluation of gene expression changes in human primary uroepithelial cells following 24-hr exposures to inorganic arsenic and its methylated metabolites.

Gene expression changes in primary human uroepithelial cells exposed to arsenite and its methylated metabolites were evaluated to identify cell signaling pathway perturbations potentially associated with bladder carcinogenicity. Cells were treated with mixtures of inorganic arsenic and its pentavalent or trivalent metabolites for 24 hr at total arsenic concentrations ranging from 0.06 μM to 18 μM.

Potential estrogenic and antiestrogenic activity of the cyclic siloxane octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and the linear siloxane hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS) in immature rats using the uterotrophic assay.

The cyclic siloxane octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and the linear siloxane hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS) have numerous industrial and consumer applications and thus have the potential for human exposure. The present study was undertaken to examine potential estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities of D4 and HMDS. To address potential differences in sensitivity between rat strains the study used both Sprague-Dawley (SD) and Fischer 344 (F-344) rats.

Repeated inhalation exposure to octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane produces hepatomegaly, transient hepatic hyperplasia, and sustained hypertrophy in female Fischer 344 rats in a manner similar to phenobarbital.

Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) has been described as a phenobarbital-like inducer of hepatic enzymes. Phenobarbital (PB) and phenobarbital-like chemicals induce transient hepatic and thyroid hyperplasia and sustained hypertrophy in rats and mice. The extent to which these processes are involved with D4-induced hepatomegaly is not known.