The proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin-17A, augments mitochondrial function and neurite outgrowth of cultured adult sensory neurons derived from normal and diabetic rats.

Background: Diabetic neuropathy comprises dying back of nerve endings that reflects impairment in axonal plasticity and regenerative nerve growth. Metabolic changes in diabetes can lead to a dysregulation of hormonal mediators, such as cytokines, that may constrain distal nerve fiber growth. Interleukin-17 (IL-17A), a proinflammatory and neurotropic cytokine produced by T-cells, was significantly reduced in sciatic nerve of streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic rats.

Optimal tobramycin dosage in patients with cystic fibrosis--evidence for predictability based on previous drug monitoring.

A retrospective analysis of files of patients with cystic fibrosis and pulmonary exacerbations was performed to investigate whether an individual dosage of tobramycin once established by serum level determination allows a reliable prediction of the adequate dosage in a consecutive exacerbation. All patients hospitalized > or = 2 times between May 1997 and September 1998 with pulmonary exacerbation due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection susceptible to tobramycin were included. The initial dosage to tobramycin was 5 mg/kg body weight every 12 h followed by drug level determinations to establish the optimal dose.

Interactions of Glucocorticoids, NPY and Hypothalamic Serotonin.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), insulin, corticosterone (CORT) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), or serotonin, are all involved in energy homeostasis. To show how they might interact, the effects of NPY on plasma insulin and on 5-HT metabolism in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN), the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN), the arcuate nucleus (ARC), and the locus coeruleus (LC) were measured in separate groups of intact, adrenalectomized (ADX), or ADX and CORT replaced Sprague-Dawley rats. Fifteen minutes after ICV injection of NPY, no effect on 5-HT metabolism in the intact animal was observed.

Discriminative-stimulus effects of morphine in combination with alpha- and beta-noradrenergic agonists and antagonists in rats.

Studies have shown that the noradrenergic system is involved in the analgesic effects of opioids and in the expression and development of physical signs of opioid withdrawal. The purpose of the present experiment was to determine if the noradrenergic system was involved in the discriminative effects of morphine in rats trained to discriminate 5.6 mg/kg morphine from saline under a fixed-ratio schedule of food presentation.