Interferon-gamma, interleukin-10, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and chemokine receptor 5, but not interleukin-4, attenuate the development of periapical lesions

This study examines the role of Th1 (interferon-gamma [IFN-gamma]) and Th2 (interleukin-4 [IL-4] and IL-10) cytokines, an intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), and a chemokine receptor (CCR5) in the pathogenesis of periapical lesions at different stages of development in knockout mice. For lesion induction, the first molar was opened and inoculated with 4 bacterial strains and left open to the oral environment. After 21 and 42 days, the IFN-gamma, IL-10, ICAM-1, and CCR5 knockout animals presented periapical lesions larger than those of wild-type animals. There was no statistically significant difference between periapical lesions induced in IL-4 knockout and wild-type animals during the periods evaluated. Our findings suggest an important role for IFN-gamma, IL-10, ICAM-1, and CCR5 in the pathogenesis of experimentally induced pulp infection and bone destruction as endogenous suppressor of periapical lesion development, whereas IL-4 appears to present a nonsignificant effect on periapical lesion modulation.

Transient disruption of liver gap junctional intercellular communication and induction of apoptosis after administration of 1,4-bis[2-(3,5 dichloropyridyloxy)]benzene in mice

Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and connexin expression (Cx26 and Cx32) in mouse liver were studied after administration of 4-bis[2-(3,5 dichloropyridyloxy)]benzene (TCPOBOP), a phenobarbital-like enzyme inducer. Female C57BI/6 mice were administered TCPOBOP (5.8 mg/kg BW) and euthanized 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours later. Liver samples were snap frozen, or fixed in formalin, or submitted to GJIC analysis. The proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunohistochemistry and the Western blotting for Cx26 and Cx32 were performed. After 48 and 72 h of drug administration the liver-to-body weight ratio was increased 70% and 117% (p < 0.0001), respectively. There were temporal-dependent alterations in liver histopathology and a significant increase in cell proliferation was noted after 48h and sustained after 72h, though to a lesser extent (p < 0.0001). In addition. TCPOBOP administration induced apoptosis, which appeared to be time-dependent showing statistical significance only after 72h (p < 0.0001). Interestingly, a transient disruption by nearly 50% of GJIC capacity was detected after 48 h of drug ingestion, which recovered after 72 h (p = 0.003). These GJIC changes were due to altered levels of Cx26 and Cx32 in the livers of TCPOBOP-treated mice. We concluded that a single administration of TCPOBOP transiently disrupted the levels of GJIC due to decreased expression of connexins and increased apoptotic cell death in mouse liver. (C) 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Reduced expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in ovarian adenocarcinomas

Ovarian adenocarcinomas develop as the result of multiple genetic, and epigenetic changes in the precursor ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells which result in a malignant phenotype. We investigated changes in gene expression in ovarian adenocarcinoma using a cDNA array containing 588 known human genes. We found that intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was expressed at lower levels in the ovarian tumour cell lines OAW42, PEO1 and JAM than in the immortalised human ovarian surface epithelial cell line HOSE 17.1. Further investigation revealed ICAM-1 was expressed in the surface epithelium of normal ovaries and both mRNA and protein expression levels were reduced in the majority of ovarian adenocarcinoma cell lines and primary tumours. ICAM-1 expression was increased in 8/8 cell lines treated with the de novo methyltransferase inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidiine, indicating that methylation of CpG islands may play a role in the down-regulation of its expression in primary tumours. 'There was a significant association between patients whose tumours expressed ICAM-1 and survival (P = 0.03), suggesting that expression levels of ICAM-1 may have clinical relevance. (C) 2001 Cancer Research Campaign.

Quantitative evaluation of altered hepatic spaces and membrane transport in fibrotic rat liver

Four animal models were used to quantitatively evaluate hepatic alterations in this study: (1) a carbon tetrachloride control group (phenobarbital treatment only), (2) a CCl4-treated group (phenobarbital with CCl4 treatment), (3) an alcohol-treated group (liquid diet with alcohol treatment), and (4) a pair-fed alcohol control group (liquid diet only). At the end of induction, single-pass perfused livers were used to conduct multiple indicator dilution (MID) studies. Hepatic spaces (vascular space, extravascular albumin space, extravascular sucrose space, and cellular distribution volume) and water hepatocyte permeability/surface area product were estimated from nonlinear regression of outflow concentration versus time profile data. The hepatic extraction ratio of H-3-taurocholate was determined by the nonparametric moments method. Livers were then dissected for histopathologic analyses (e.g., fibrosis index, number of fenestrae). In these 4 models, CCl4-treated rats were found to have the smallest vascular space, extravascular albumin space, H-3-taurocholate extraction, and water hepatocyte permeability/surface area product but the largest extravascular sucrose space and cellular distribution volume. In addition, a linear relationship was found to exist between histopathologic analyses (fibrosis index or number of fenestrae) and hepatic spaces. The hepatic extraction ratio of H-3-taurocholate and water hepatocyte permeability/surface area product also correlated to the severity of fibrosis as defined by the fibrosis index. In conclusion, the multiple indicator dilution data obtained from the in situ perfused rat liver can be directly related to histopathologic analyses.

Fixed point theorems of upper semicontinuous multivalued mappings with applications in hyperconvex metric spaces

In the present paper, we establish two fixed point theorems for upper semicontinuous multivalued mappings in hyperconvex metric spaces and apply these to study coincidence point problems and minimax problems. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Universal simulation of Hamiltonian dynamics for quantum systems with finite-dimensional state spaces

What interactions are sufficient to simulate arbitrary quantum dynamics in a composite quantum system? Dodd [Phys. Rev. A 65, 040301(R) (2002)] provided a partial solution to this problem in the form of an efficient algorithm to simulate any desired two-body Hamiltonian evolution using any fixed two-body entangling N-qubit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries. We extend this result to the case where the component systems are qudits, that is, have D dimensions. As a consequence we explain how universal quantum computation can be performed with any fixed two-body entangling N-qudit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries.