Publications by authors named "Valeria Pozzato"
Article Synopsis
- Young airway smooth muscle (ASM) is typically hyperresponsive, but this responsiveness decreases as individuals mature into adulthood.
- The study tested whether neonatal allergic sensitization, specifically to ovalbumin in guinea pigs, could prevent this decline in responsiveness when there are no later allergen challenges.
- Results showed that while neonatal sensitization did not affect ASM force generation, it did maintain a heightened ability for shortening velocity and resistance, indicating that early-life sensitization preserves the hyperresponsive ASM phenotype into adulthood.
Airway smooth muscle (ASM) from infant guinea pigs has less spontaneous relaxation during stimulation than ASM from adults. Inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX), which catalyzes the production of prostanoids, increases this relaxation in infant ASM and abolishes age differences, thus suggesting that prostanoids reduce relaxation in infant ASM. In this study, we investigated whether leukotrienes are also involved in reducing spontaneous relaxation; whether the two COX isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2, differentially regulate spontaneous relaxation; and whether prostanoid release is developmentally regulated in guinea pig ASM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe previously reported in guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle that maximal shortening velocity decreases from 3 weeks of age to adulthood. It is not known whether myosin light chain kinase (MLCK), a key enzyme determining the velocity of smooth muscle contraction, undergoes maturational changes. In the present work, we investigated MLCK protein content and mRNA expression in 1-week-old, 3-week-old, and adult guinea pigs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Polymorphism at the pi class glutathione-S-transferase locus (GSTP1) is associated with allergen-induced asthma and related phenotypes.
Objective: We sought to determine whether GSTP1 polymorphism influences susceptibility to asthma induced by toluene diisocyanate (TDI).
Methods: The role of GSTP1 was assessed in 131 workers exposed to TDI, 92 with TDI-induced asthma and 39 asymptomatic subjects.