Hormones, autacoids, neurotransmitters, and growth factors.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Nitric oxide signaling during the past two decades has been one of the most rapidly growing areas in biology. This simple free radical gas with an unshared electron can regulate an ever-growing list of biological processes. In most instances, nitric oxide mediates its biological effects by activating guanylyl cyclase and increasing cyclic GMP synthesis. However, effects of nitric oxide that are independent of cyclic GMP are also growing at a rapid rate. Nitric oxide can interact with transition metals such as iron, thiol groups, other free radicals, oxygen, superoxide anion, unsaturated fatty acids, and other reactive species. The effects of nitric oxide can mediate important physiological regulatory events in cell regulation, cell-cell communication, and signaling. However, as with any messenger molecule, there can be too much or too little of the substance and pathological events ensue. Methods to regulate either nitric oxide formation, metabolism, or function have been used therapeutically for more than a century, as with nitroglycerin therapy. Current and future research should permit the development of an expanded therapeutic armamentarium for the physician to manage effectively a number of important disorders. These expectations have undoubtedly fueled the vast research interests in this simple molecule.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Connective tissue activating peptide-III (CTAP-III) isolated from human platelets is a potent mitogen for human connective tissue cells in culture in addition to stimulating glycosaminoglycan synthesis, glucose consumption, and lactate formation. The amino acid composition of apparently homogeneous CTAP-III was determined, confirming the presence of two disulfide links and providing a calculated molecular weight of 11,633 daltons. Comparison of the mitogenic activity of serum and plasma-serum suggests that CTAP-III is a major mitogenic component of human serum. Seventeen strains of human connective tissue cells (synovial, cartilage, dermal and thyroid) incorporated [3H]-thymidine at up to 30 times control at levels under the influence of microgram quantities of CTAP-III and caused detectable increases in thymidine incorporation at levels as low as 10-29 ng/ml. Prostaglandin E1 (0.01 microgram/ml) and dibutyryl cyclic AMP (25 microgram/ml) potentiated the glycosaminoglycan stimulating effect of CTAP-III, but not its mitogenic effect. Cycloheximide and actinomycin D blocked the biologic actions of CTAP-III. Cortisol and penicillamine had little effect on the mitogenic activity of CTAP-III, whereas antirheumatic agents such as acetylsalicylic acid and phenylbutazone opposed the mitogenic activity when added to cultures at clinically relevant concentrations. A weak antiheparin factor secreted by platelets, low affinity platelet factor 4 (LA-PF4), was shown to be similar to CTAP-III in biologic actions, electrophoretic mobility, amino acid composition, and antigenic determinants.
A silicone rubber assay is used in conjunction with morphometric measurements to characterize in vitro the contractile properties of retinal pericytes in response to endothelial secreted factors. Factor(s) present in conditioned media derived from pulmonary and retinal microvascular endothelial cells and pulmonary artery endothelial cells promote pericyte contractions. Using a radioimmunoassay significant levels of endothelin immunoreactivity are measured in conditioned media obtained from all three cell lines. Thrombin treatment enhanced endothelin-like secretions by pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells, but significantly reduced levels of endothelin-like immunoreactivity secreted by retinal microvascular endothelial cells. Synthetic endothelin and thromboxane A2 (TxA2) stimulate pericyte contractions, whereas prostaglandin I2 (PGI2) promotes pericyte relaxation. Thrombin and angiotension II (ang II) have no effect on pericyte contractility. However, using cocultures of pericytes and endothelial cells we observe endothelial-dependent pericyte contractions in response to thrombin and ang II. Thrombin and ang II stimulate the release of endothelial-derived contracting factors, with characteristics similar to endothelin. These data suggest microvascular endothelial cell-pericyte interactions may regulate, at least in part, microvessel contractility.
The effects of chlorpromazine, prochlorperazine, and trifluoperazine on the pressor actions of serotonin, angiotensin, and bradykinin in the perfused vessels of full-term human placentas were investigated. A significant inhibition of the effect of serotonin was observed with trifluoperazine and chlorpromazine but not with prochlorperazine. The inhibition is attributed to the ability of phenothiazines to cause adrenergic blockade. Because both bradykinin and angiotensin could not be consistently antagonized, it is concluded that they must act primarily via musculotropic mechanisms and only secondarily by stimulation of adrenergic receptors.
We have studied the ability of a quaternary antihistamine, thiazinamium, to inhibit the nociceptive sensitization that occurs early, during the first hour, following intraplantar injection of the polysaccharide carrageenin in the rat. Parallel studies were performed with an electrophysiological model (changes in responsiveness of ventro-basal thalamic cells driven by noxious stimulation of the paws), and a behavioural test (changes in threshold stimulus necessary to elicit vocalization by gradually increased pressure to the paws). When thiazinamium was given intravenously 10 min before carrageenin, no sensitization due to inflammation was found in either test. By contrast, when thiazinamium was administered 20 min after carrageenin, there was a clear sensitization in both tests that did not differ from that found in animals not treated with the antagonist. Paw oedema was also slightly decreased by pretreatment with thiazinamium. These results suggests that early inflammatory sensitization of peripheral nociceptors is mainly dependent on an initial release of histamine (and/or serotonin, since thiazinamium could also have some antiserotoninergic activity).
A putative endacoid capable of displacing [3H]imipramine from its high affinity binding site and of inhibiting [3H]serotonin (5HT) uptake has been partially purified from rat brain tissue. It appears to be unevenly distributed in various rat brain structures following a pattern that only partially matches the extent of the serotonergic innervation in the rat brain structures investigated. The highest amounts have been recovered in striatum followed by hippocampus, cerebral cortex, brain stem and less in diencephalon, cerebellum, hypothalamus, olfactory bulb. Virtually no inhibitory activity on [3H]imipramine binding or on [3H]5HT uptake in addition to 5HT has been found in rat pineal extracts. Its absence in the pineal and various chemicophysical properties discussed in this report suggest that the rat brain endacoid for the imipramine binding site is not 5-methoxytryptoline, a compound previous proposed as the candidate for the role of endogenous ligand of [3H]imipramine recognition site. Moreover, the study of a series of tryptoline derivatives indirectly supports these conclusions.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6) is highly enriched in brain, synapses, and retina and is a major omega-3 fatty acid. Deficiencies in this essential fatty acid are reportedly associated with neuronal function, cancer, and inflammation. Here, using new lipidomic analyses employing high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode-array detector and a tandem mass spectrometer, a novel series of endogenous mediators was identified in blood, leukocytes, brain, and glial cells as 17S-hydroxy-containing docosanoids denoted as docosatrienes (the main bioactive member of the series was 10,17S-docosatriene) and 17S series resolvins. These novel mediators were biosynthesized via epoxide-containing intermediates and proved potent (pico- to nanomolar range) regulators of both leukocytes reducing infiltration in vivo and glial cells blocking their cytokine production. These results indicate that DHA is the precursor to potent protective mediators generated via enzymatic oxygenations to novel docosatrienes and 17S series resolvins that each regulate events of interest in inflammation and resolution.
A method for rapidly evaluating functional interactions between ligands and G-protein--coupled receptors has been developed. The technology is based on the ability of animals to change color by controlling the position of pigmented organelles within skin cells called melanophores. cDNA coding for a receptor to be studied is expressed in immortalized frog melanophores. Stimulation of a receptor that normally functions to activate either adenyl cyclase or phospholipase C induces centrifugal melanosome translocation and cell darkening. Conversely, application of an agonist to cells expressing a receptor that operates to inhibit adenyl cyclase induces centripetal pigment movement and cell lightening. The simple optical change can be used to investigate ligand-receptor interactions at several levels, including single-cell analysis and high-throughput chemical screening. Current efforts are focused on (1) identifying small peptides that activate or block thromboxane. A(2) and platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptors and (2) cloning eicosanoid receptors.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.