A self-purifying microfluidic system for identifying drugs acting against adult schistosomes.

The discovery of novel antihelmintic molecules to combat the development and spread of schistosomiasis, a disease caused by several flatworm species, mobilizes significant research efforts worldwide. With a limited number of biochemical assays for measuring the viability of adult worms, the antischistosomicidal activity of molecules is usually evaluated by a microscopic observation of worm mobility and/or integrity upon drug exposure. Even if these phenotypical assays enable multiple parameters analysis, they are often conducted during several days and need to be associated with image-based analysis to minimized subjectivity.

Microfluidic blood vasculature replicas using backside lithography.

Blood vessels in living tissues are an organized and hierarchical network of arteries, arterioles, capillaries, veinules and veins. Their sizes, lengths, shapes and connectivity are set up for an optimum perfusion of the tissues in which they deploy. In order to study the hemodynamics and hemophysics of blood flows and also to investigate artificial vasculature for organs on a chip, it is essential to reproduce most of these geometric features.

Repeated otilonium bromide administration prevents neurotransmitter changes in colon of rats underwent to wrap restraint stress.

Otilonium bromide (OB) is a spasmolytic drug successfully used for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Its efficacy has been attributed to the block of L- and T-type Ca channels and muscarinic and tachykinin receptors in the smooth muscle. Furthermore, in healthy rats, repeated OB administration modified neurotransmitter expression and function suggesting other mechanisms of action.

Changes of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the colon of rats underwent to the wrap partial restraint stress.

Background: Animal models proposed to reproduce some of the human irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms are based on the hypothesis that psychosocial stressors play a pivotal role in the IBS etio-pathology. We investigated the wrap restraint stress (WRS) model with the aim to analyze the morphological changes of the entire colonic wall of these animals that showed some of the human IBS symptoms such as visceral hypersensitivity.

Methods: Male Wistar rats were used and WRS was maintained for 2 h.

Influence of tachykinin NK2 receptors on intestinal sensitivity and motility in newborn rats.

The effect of tachykinin neurokinin NK(2) receptors activation on intestinal propulsion and colorectal sensitivity was studied in 7-15 days old newborn rats. In a first set of experiments investigating the intestinal transit, the selective NK(2) receptor agonist, [betaAla(8)]NKA-(4-10) was used. It produced an increase of the small intestinal transit measured by charcoal test of 54%, that was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by nepadutant ([N(4)-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-L-asparaginyl-L-aspartyl-L-tryptophyl-L-phenylalanyl-L-2,3-diaminopropionyl-L-leucyl]-C-4.