Role of cyclooxygenases in oedema-forming activity of bothropic venoms.

The venoms of Bothrops asper (BaV) and Bothrops jararaca (BjV), two of the most medically important poisonous snakes of Latin America, cause pronounced oedema in the victims through poorly understood mechanisms. In the present study, we examined the possible role of cyclooxygenases (COX) in the genesis of mouse paw oedema caused by BaV and BjV injections. BaV at 2.

Renal and macrophage aminopeptidase activities in cyclosporin-treated mice.

Cyclosporin, an immunosuppressive drug, is known to affect macrophage and to exert a nephrotoxic effect. Aminopeptidases play important roles for renal and macrophage functions. In this work, we attempt to test the hypothesis that the aminopeptidases participate within macrophage and renal effects induced by cyclosporin.

Representative aminopeptidases and prolyl endopeptidase from murine macrophages: comparative activity levels in resident and elicited cells.

Macrophages are considered the main effector cells of immune system. Under stimulation these cells are known to be activated by a process involving morphological, biochemical and functional changes. Since altered peptidase activities could be among the factors leading to the differentiation and activation of these cells, in the present work seven naphthylamide derivative substrates were employed to assess representative aminopeptidase and prolyl endopeptidase activities in resident and elicited macrophages of mice.