Search results for "techniques"
showing 10 items of 4426 documents
Synthesis of complement by macrophages and modulation of their functions through complement activation.
1983
During the last decade considerable progress has been made to characterize intimate functional links between macrophages, a major cellular component of immunoinflammatory responses, and the complement system representing the major humoral mediator of inflammation. Macrophages of various species and tissue sites have been shown to synthesize and release most of the complement components providing these cells with their own \ldpericellular\rd complement system. Circumstantial evidence for the assembly of both classical and alternative pathway convertases has been adduced. An intricate network of feedback loops involving endogenous and extrinsic factors operates to adjust complement production…
Polyacrylonitrile block copolymers for the preparation of a thin carbon coating around TiO2 nanorods for advanced lithium-ion batteries.
2013
Herein, a new method for the realization of a thin and homogenous carbonaceous particle coating, made by carbonizing RAFT polymerization derived block copolymers anchored on anatase TiO2 nanorods, is presented. These block copolymers consist of a short anchor block (based on dopamine) and a long, easily graphitizable block of polyacrylonitrile. The grafting of such block copolymers to TiO2 nanorods creates a polymer shell, which can be visualized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Thermal treatment at 700 °C converts the polyacrylonitrile block to partially graphitic structures (as determined by Raman spectroscopy), establishing a thin carbon coating (as determined by transmission electron m…
IL-21 Regulates the Differentiation of a Human γδ T Cell Subset Equipped with B Cell Helper Activity
2012
Vγ9Vδ2 T lymphocytes recognize nonpeptidic antigens without presentation by MHC molecules and display pleiotropic features. Here we report that coculture of Vγ9Vδ2 cells with phosphoantigen and IL-21 leads to selective expression of the transcription repressor Bcl-6 and polarization toward a lymphocyte subset displaying features of follicular B-helper T (T(FH)) cells. T(FH) like Vγ9Vδ2 cells have a predominant central memory (CD27(+)CD45RA(-)) phenotype and express ICOS, CD40L and CXCR5. Upon antigen activation, they secrete IL-4, IL-10 and CXCL13, and provide B-cell help for antibody production in vitro. Our findings delineate a subset of human Vγ9Vδ2 lymphocytes, which, upon interaction w…
The Active Human Gut Microbiota Differs from the Total Microbiota
2011
The human gut microbiota is considered one of the most fascinating reservoirs of microbial diversity hosting between 400 to 1000 bacterial species distributed among nine phyla with Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria representing around of the diversity. One of the most intriguing issues relates to understanding which microbial groups are active players in the maintenance of the microbiota homeostasis. Here, we describe the diversity of active microbial fractions compared with the whole community from raw human fecal samples. We studied four healthy volunteers by 16S rDNA gene pyrosequencing. The fractions were obtained by cell sorting based on bacterial RNA concentration. Bacteria…
Central role of IL-6 and MMP-1 for cross talk between human intestinal mast cells and human intestinal fibroblasts.
2012
Mast cells (MC) are key effector cells in allergic reactions but also involved in host defence, tissue remodeling, angiogenesis, and fibrogenesis. Here, we show that human intestinal fibroblasts (FB) suppress apoptosis in human intestinal MC dependent on IL-6. Intestinal FB produced IL-6 upon direct stimulation by intestinal MC in co-culture or by MC mediators such as TNF-α, IL-1β, tryptase or histamine. MC incubated with IL-6 survived for up to 3 weeks similar to MC co-cultured with FB and MC survival could be blocked by neutralizing anti-IL-6 Abs. Moreover, FB stimulated by MC mediators upregulated their expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), a key fibrolytic enzyme. Noteworthy…
Rapid vascularization of starchâ poly(caprolactone) in vivo by outgrowth endothelial cells in co-culture with primary osteoblasts
2011
The successful integration of in vitro-generated tissues is dependent on adequate vascularization in vivo. Human outgrowth endothelial cells (OECs) isolated from the mononuclear cell fraction of peripheral blood represent a potent population of circulating endothelial progenitors that could provide a cell source for rapid anastomosis and scaffold vascularization. Our previous work with these cells in co-culture with primary human osteoblasts has demonstrated their potential to form perfused vascular structures within a starch–poly(caprolactone) biomaterial in vivo. In the present study, we demonstrate the ability of OECs to form perfused vascular structures as early as 48 h following subcut…
Human Hepatic Cell Cultures: In Vitro and In Vivo Drug Metabolism
2003
Drug metabolism is the major determinant of drug clearance, and the factor most frequently responsible for inter-individual differences in drug pharmacokinetics. The expression of drug metabolising enzymes shows significant interspecies differences, and variability among human individuals (polymorphic or inducible enzymes) makes the accurate prediction of the metabolism of a new compound in humans difficult. Several key issues need to be addressed at the early stages of drug development to improve drug candidate selection: a) how fast the compound will be metabolised; b) what metabolites will be formed (metabolic profile); c) which enzymes are involved and to what extent; and d) whether dr…
Protection by extra virgin olive oil against oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo. Chemical and biological studies on the health benefits due to a m…
2017
Abstract We report the results of in vivo studies in Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes in which addition of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to their diet significantly increased their life span with respect to the control group. Furthermore, when nematodes were exposed to the pesticide paraquat, they started to die after two days, but after the addition of EVOO to their diet, both survival percentage and lifespans of paraquat-exposed nematodes increased. Since paraquat is associated with superoxide radical production, a test for scavenging this radical was performed using cyclovoltammetry and the EVOO efficiently scavenged the superoxide. Thus, a linear correlation (y = -0.0838x +19.73, regres…
Factors influencing the interaction of herpes simplex virus glycoprotein C with the third component of complement.
1992
The factors influencing the interaction of herpes simplex virus (HSV) glycoprotein C (gC) with the third component of complement (C3) were investigated in this study. The ability of gC of HSV type 1 (gC-1) to bind to the C3b fragment of C3 was found to be influenced by cell specific processing of gC-1 in a different manner, binding being remarkably enhanced in some cell lines following removal of sialic acid residues. Testing several intertypic recombinants of HSV we found that only strains expressing gC-1 exhibited binding to C3b, even though their genome consisted mainly of HSV-2 sequences in some recombinants. Expression of type-2 glycoproteins gB, gD, gE, gG, gH, and gI did not alter th…