0000000000985204
AUTHOR
J. E. O'connor
Inhibitory effects of N-acetylcysteine on the functional responses of human eosinophils in vitro
Background Oxidative stress appears to be relevant in the pathogenesis of inflammation in allergic diseases like bronchial asthma. Eosinophils are oxidant-sensitive cells considered as key effectors in allergic inflammation. Objective The aim of this work was to study the effects of the clinically used antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) on the functional responses of human-isolated eosinophils. Methods Human eosinophils were purified from the blood of healthy donors by a magnetic bead separation system. The effects of NAC were investigated on the generation of reactive oxygen species (chemiluminescence and flow cytometry), Ca2+ signal (fluorimetry), intracellular glutathione (GSH; flow c…
Phenotypic characterization of the progenies of rice plants derived from cryopreserved calli
The progenies of rice plants (Oryza sativa L.) differentiated from calli that had been cryopreserved and from control (non-cryopreserved) calli were used to study the influence of selection pressure during cryopreservation. The phenotypic evaluation of these progenies was based mainly on the response of seedlings and calli to freezing stress and on the characterization of protoplast and cell populations by flow cytometric analyses. The patterns of response to freezing stress, as well as the variations in some morphological and physiological cell parameters, were unrelated to the origin (cryopreserved or control calli) of the parental plants.