The aim of the present study was to SBE-β-CD analyze EPC regeneration and mobilization in SLE patients with variable disease activity and undergoing different treatment regimens.
Methods: Forty-eight patients with SLE were analyzed. Healthy, age- and sex-matched individuals served as controls. Total circulating EPCs were enumerated by FACS analysis, and regenerative activity of the cells was analyzed by a colony-forming assay. Vasomodulatory mediators were quantified by
ELISA.
Results: SLE patients did not show lower or higher percentages of total circulating EPCs, but they displayed significantly lower colony numbers as compared with healthy controls, indicating impaired EPC regeneration and mobilization. Low and high disease activity were associated with decreased EPC regeneration, while moderate disease activity was not. Hypertension and, to some extent, renal involvement were associated with reduced colony formation. Patients not receiving hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) treatment and those Z-DEVD-FMK undergoing glucocorticoid therapy showed impaired EPC regeneration as well.
Conclusions: SLE patients suffer from both defective regeneration and mobilization of EPCs. Such an impairment of the EPC system, as one key regulatory element in the process of vasorepair, could
potentially promote microvascular damage in SLE. Long-term glucocorticoid therapy may Selleckchem AZD6738 further suppress the EPC system, while HCQ may prevent regeneration of the cells.”
“The aim of this study was evaluation of osteoinductive properties of demineralized bovine foetal growth plate in submuscular transplantation (ectopic osteoinduction) as a new xenogenic biomaterial in rat model. Demineralized bovine foetal growth plate was ectopically implanted in 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats. In 18 of the animals under aseptic conditions two submuscular pouches were created between external and internal oblique abdominal muscles in the two flanks: the right was left empty (sham) and the left was filled with 20 mg of demineralized bovine foetal growth plate powder.
Radiographs were taken in 2,4 and 6 weeks after the surgery, then six animals were pharmacologically euthanized after 2,4 and 6 weeks for histopathological evaluation. Results showed: (1) osteoinductivity of xenogenic demineralized bovine foetal growth plate powder, and (2) earlier mineralization of ectopically implanted demineralized bovine foetal growth plate in the submuscular implanted area. Our results show that submuscular implantation of xenogenic demineralized bovine foetal growth plate has osteoinductive properties in a rat model. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Background: Malaria vector sampling is the best method for understanding the vector dynamics and infectivity; thus, disease transmission seasonality can be established.