Articles

Acknowledgment to reviewers

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Vitamin E supplementation decreases muscular and oxidative damage but not inflammatory response induced by eccentric contraction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin E supplementation on muscular and oxidative damage, as well as the inflammatory response induced by eccentric exercise (EE) in humans. Twenty...

Authors: Luciano A. Silva, Cleber A. Pinho, Paulo C. L. Silveira, Talita Tuon, Claudio T. De Souza, Felipe Dal-Pizzol and Ricardo A. Pinho

Light-induced COP9 signalosome expression in the Indian false vampire bat Megaderma lyra

The COP9 signalosome (CSN) is a multi-subunit protein complex conserved in plants and animals. CSN subunits have been identified as light-mediated master regulators of eukaryotic circadian clocks from fungi to...

Authors: K. Emmanuvel Rajan, R. Rajkumar, Chen-Chug Liao, A. Ganesh and G. Marimuthu

Endogenous transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1 promotes differentiation of smooth muscle cells from embryonic stem cells: stable plasmid-based siRNA silencing of TGF beta1 gene expression

Transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1 has been shown to promote differentiation of smooth muscle cells (SMC) from some precursor cells. Whether endogenous TGF beta1 also contributes to SMC differentiation dur...

Authors: Yaling Han, Na Li, Xiaoxiang Tian, Jian Kang, Chenghui Yan and Yanmei Qi

The effect of electroaucpuncture for 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced proteomic changes in the mouse striatum

Using a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) Parkinson’s disease mouse model, we investigated protein expression changes associated with the action of electroacupuncture (EA) in the mouse striat...

Authors: Seung-Tae Kim, Woongjoon Moon, Younbyoung Chae, Youn Jung Kim, Hyejung Lee and Hi-Joon Park

Centrally administered ghrelin potently inhibits water intake induced by angiotensin II and hypovolemia in rats

Ghrelin is a potent, centrally acting orexigenic hormone. Recently, we showed that centrally administered ghrelin is a potent antidipsogenic hormone in 24-h water deprived rats. In this study, we examined the ...

Authors: Hirofumi Hashimoto, Hiroki Otsubo, Hiroaki Fujihara, Hitoshi Suzuki, Toyoaki Ohbuchi, Toru Yokoyama, Yoshio Takei and Yoichi Ueta

Femoral bone mineral density and bone mineral content in bromocriptine-treated pregnant and lactating rats

Since hyperprolactinemia was found to induce osteopenia in the metaphysis of long bone in non-mated female rats, pregnant and lactating rats with sustainedly high plasma prolactin (PRL) levels might also exhib...

Authors: Panan Suntornsaratoon, Kannikar Wongdee, Nateetip Krishnamra and Narattaphol Charoenphandhu

No change in skeletal muscle satellite cells in young and aging rat soleus muscle

Satellite cells are muscle stem cells capable of replenishing or increasing myonuclear number. It is postulated that a reduction in satellite cells may contribute to age-related sarcopenia. Studies investigati...

Authors: Naomi E. Brooks, Mark D. Schuenke and Robert S. Hikida

Computational analysis of the effect of the type of LVAD flow on coronary perfusion and ventricular afterload

Authors: Ki Moo Lim, In Su Kim, Seong Wook Choi, Byung Goo Min, Yong Soon Won, Heon Young Kim and Eun Bo Shim

High levels of circulating angiotensin II shift the open-loop baroreflex control of splanchnic sympathetic nerve activity, heart rate and arterial pressure in anesthetized rats

Although an acute arterial pressure (AP) elevation induced by intravenous angiotensin II (ANG II) does not inhibit sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) compared to an equivalent AP elevation induced by phenylephri...

Authors: Toru Kawada, Atsunori Kamiya, Meihua Li, Shuji Shimizu, Kazunori Uemura, Hiromi Yamamoto and Masaru Sugimachi

Effect of combined resistance and aerobic training on reactive hyperemia in men

Reduced response to reactive hyperemia (RH) in the extremities reflects impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation of the microvasculature. The aims of the present study were to determine whether resistance t...

Authors: Hiroshi Kawano, Kouhei Fujimoto, Mitsuru Higuchi and Motohiko Miyachi

Effects of adrenaline on glycogenolysis in resting anaerobic frog muscles studied by ³¹P-NMR

The effects of adrenaline (also called epinephrine) on glycogenolysis in living anaerobic muscles were examined based on time-dependent changes of ³¹P-NMR spectra of resting frog skeletal muscles with and without...

Authors: Kimio Kikuchi, Takenori Yamada and Haruo Sugi

Myofiber apoptosis occurs in the inflammation and regeneration phase following eccentric contractions in rats

Eccentric contractions (ECC) induce myofibrillar collapse, edema, and inflammation in muscle cells. Although apoptosis of myonuclei following ECC is activated during the inflammatory phase, the apoptosis respo...

Authors: Mizuki Sudo and Yutaka Kano

Senescent endothelial progenitor cells from dogs with pulmonary arterial hypertension: a before–after self-controlled study

Previous studies have underlined the importance of endothelial dysfunction and microvascular occlusion in the pathogenesis of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). Since the endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) ...

Authors: Liang Xia, Jun-hui Zhu, Fu-yu Qiu, Ying Yang, Xu-dong Xie, Xing-xiang Wang, Jun-zhu Chen and Guo-sheng Fu

Neural mechanism of localized changes in skeletal muscle blood flow caused by moxibustion-like thermal stimulation of anesthetized rats

Moxibustion-like thermal stimulation (MTS) was applied to the gastrocnemius muscle to measure local muscle blood flow (MBF) in the stimulated region and the change in the MBF in the region, and its mechanism w...

Authors: Eitaro Noguchi, Hideo Ohsawa and Kentaro Takagi

An electrophysiological method for quantifying neuropathic pain behaviors in rats: measurement of hindlimb withdrawal EMG magnitude

In behavior methods to quantify neuropathic pain, visual observations of limb-withdrawal reflexes to stimuli are not always clear-cut, so this method is partly subjective. Our current data suggest that measure...

Authors: Hee Young Kim, Young Seob Gwak and Insop Shim

Adenovirus-mediated hypoxia-inducible factor 1α double-mutant promotes differentiation of bone marrow stem cells to cardiomyocytes

The hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) regulates transcriptional genes involved in cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation. Under normoxia, HIF-1α has a short half-life (t _½ ≈ ...

Authors: Yesong Wang, Chong Feng, Jiaojie Xue, Aijiao Sun, Jun Li and Juekan Wu

Reactive oxygen species mediate compensatory glomerular hypertrophy in rat uninephrectomized kidney

Hyperfiltration in glomeruli is the most common pathway to progressive renal dysfunction. Moreover, reduction of renal mass by unilateral nephrectomy results in an immediate increase in glomerular flow to the ...

Authors: Masahito Ozeki, Hajime Nagasu, Minoru Satoh, Tamehachi Namikoshi, Yoshisuke Haruna, Naruya Tomita, Tamaki Sasaki and Naoki Kashihara

Effects of dexamethasone on the expression of β₁-, β₂- and β₃-adrenoceptor mRNAs in skeletal and left ventricle muscles in rats

Glucocorticoids are known to increase the density and mRNA levels of β-adrenoceptors (β-AR) via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in many tissues. However, the effects of these changes in the skeletal and cardi...

Authors: Fuuun Kawano, Jun Tanihata, Shogo Sato, Sachiko Nomura, Akira Shiraishi, Kaoru Tachiyashiki and Kazuhiko Imaizumi

Passive mechanical properties of cardiac tissues in heart hypertrophy during pregnancy

We evaluated changes in passive mechanical properties in cardiac tissues during rat pregnancy. Left and right ventricular free walls were dissected from hearts of nonpregnant, late-pregnant, and postpartum rat...

Authors: Adolfo Virgen-Ortiz, J. L. Marin, A. Elizalde, E. Castro, E. Stefani, L. Toro and J. Muñiz

Endocrine profile and testicular histomorphometry in adult rat offspring of diabetic mothers

This investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of maternal diabetes on fetal testicular structure and function, and reproductive hormones levels. Sixteen female rats were divided into two groups. Diab...

Authors: Gholamali Jelodar, Zabiholah Khaksar and Mohammad Pourahmadi

Cough reflex is additively potentiated by inputs from the laryngeal and tracheobonchial receptors and enhanced by stimulation of the central respiratory neurons

The cough is an essential airway defense reflex. In this study we investigated the coordination of inputs from the laryngeal and tracheobronchial receptors in the cough reflex. In 15 beagle dogs (7–9 kg) light...

Authors: Tetsuri Kondo and Naoki Hayama

Aerosolized methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction and pulmonary hyperinflation in rats

The body plethysmography (BPG) is a useful tool for analyzing pulmonary function in small animals because it simultaneously measures airway resistance (R _aw) and functional residual capaci...

Authors: Tetsuri Kondo, Toshimori Tanigaki, Chizuko Tsuji, Hiroshi Ishii, Gen Tazaki and Yuusuke Kondo

Ca²⁺ regulation of endocochlear potential in marginal cells

We examined the effect of the cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_c) in marginal cells on the asphyxia- or furosemide-induced decrease in the endocochlear potential (EP) by perfusing the endolymph with or without...

Authors: Yoshiaki Mori, Masahito Watanabe, Takaki Inui, Yoshitsugu Nimura, Michitoshi Araki, Manabu Miyamoto, Hiroshi Takenaka and Takahiro Kubota

c-Fos expression in the supraoptic nucleus is the most intense during different durations of restraint water-immersion stress in the rat

Restraint water-immersion stress (RWIS) can induce anxiety, hypothermia, and severe vagally-mediated gastric dysfunction. The present work explored the effects of different durations of RWIS on neuronal activi...

Authors: Yu-Yu Zhang, Wen-Xing Zhu, Guo-Hong Cao, Xi-Yun Cui and Hong-Bin Ai

Dexamethasone decreases the transmesothelial electrical resistance of the parietal and visceral pleura

The effect of dexamethasone on the transmesothelial electrical resistance (R _TM) of sheep pleura was investigated by Ussing chamber experiments. Our results show that dexamethasone decreas...

Authors: Sotirios Zarogiannis, Triantafyllia Deligiorgi, Ioannis Stefanidis, Vassilios Liakopoulos, Konstantinos Gourgoulianis, Paschalis Adam Molyvdas and Chrissi Hatzoglou

Factors affecting SOCE activation in mammalian skeletal muscle fibers

Enzymatically dissociated mouse FDB muscle fibers, loaded with Fura-2 AM, were used to study the effect of mitochondrial uncoupling on the capacitative Ca²⁺ entry, SOCE. Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca²⁺ stores we...

Authors: Pura Bolaños, Alis Guillén, Reinaldo DiPolo and Carlo Caputo

An exploratory study of gold wire implantation at acupoints to accelerate ulnar fracture healing in rats

By causing long-term stimulation, gold wire implantation at acupoints has been used empirically to prolong the effects of acupuncture. This study shows that subcutaneous gold wire implantation at acupoints has...

Authors: Hee-Young Kim, Boo-Yong Sohn, Un-Kyo Seo, Hyejung Lee, Dae-Hyun Hahm and Insop Shim

Computational analysis of the effect of the type of LVAD flow on coronary perfusion and ventricular afterload

We developed a computational model to investigate the hemodynamic effects of a pulsatile left ventricular assist device (LVAD) on the cardiovascular system. The model consisted of 16 compartments for the cardi...

Authors: Ki Moo Lim, In Su Kim, Seong Wook Choi, Byung Goo Min, Yong Soon Won, Heon Young Kim and Eun Bo Shim

Typical dipole locations can be estimated using averaged somatosensory-evoked potentials and a standard brain model

It is reasonable to hypothesize that dipoles estimated from grand averaged event-related potentials based on summed-up data obtained from multiple subjects and standard head models could correspond to typical ...

Authors: Yuri Masaoka, Hiroyoshi Yajima, Miho Takayama, Akiko Kawase, Nobuari Takakura and Ikuo Homma

Spinal cholinergic mechanism of the relieving effects of electroacupuncture on cold and warm allodynia in a rat model of neuropathic pain

This study was performed to determine whether spinal cholinergic systems mediate the relieving effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on cold and warm allodynia in a rat model of neuropathic pain. For neuropathic ...

Authors: Jung Hyuk Park, Sun Kwang Kim, Ha Neul Kim, Boram Sun, Sungtae Koo, Sun Mi Choi, Hyunsu Bae and Byung-Il Min

Endogenous angiotensin II has fewer effects but neuronal nitric oxide synthase has excitatory effects on renal sympathetic nerve activity in salt-sensitive hypertension-induced heart failure

The effects of endogenous angiotensin II (Ang II) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) on tonic sympathetic activity were studied in salt-sensitive hypertension-induced heart failure. Dahl salt-sensitive ...

Authors: Takehito Kemuriyama, Megumi Tandai-Hiruma, Kazuo Kato, Hiroyuki Ohta, Satoshi Maruyama, Yoshiaki Sato and Yasuhiro Nishida

Significant roles of microtubules in mature striated muscle deduced from the correlation between tubulin and its molecular chaperone αB-crystallin in rat muscles

To elucidate the significance of cytoskeletal microtubule networks in striated muscles, we analyzed correlation between the content of tubulin (building block of microtubules) and αB-crystallin (a molecular ch...

Authors: Hyunseok Jee, Takashi Sakurai, Shigeo Kawada, Naokata Ishii and Yoriko Atomi

CaMKII phosphorylates a threonine residue in the C-terminal tail of Cav1.2 Ca²⁺ channel and modulates the interaction of the channel with calmodulin

We have previously found that both CaMKII-mediated phosphorylation and calmodulin (CaM) binding to the channels are required for maintaining basal activity of the Cav1.2 Ca²⁺ channels. In this study, we investiga...

Authors: Wu-Yang Wang, Li-Ying Hao, Etsuko Minobe, Zahangir Alam Saud, Dong-Yun Han and Masaki Kameyama

β-Phorbol ester-induced enhancement of exocytosis in large mossy fiber boutons of mouse hippocampus

β-Phorbol esters (BPE), synthetic analogues of diacylglycerol (DAG), induce the potentiation of transmission in many kinds of synapses through activating the C₁ domain-containing receptors. However, their effects...

Authors: Takuya Hikima, Rikita Araki, Toru Ishizuka and Hiromu Yawo

Inhomogeneous distribution of action potential characteristics in the rabbit sino-atrial node revealed by voltage imaging

The sino-atrial node (SAN) is the natural pacemaker of the heart. Mechanisms of the leading pacemaker site generation and dynamic pacemaker shifts in the SAN have been so far studied with an electrophysiologic...

Authors: Haruko Masumiya, Yoshitaka Oku and Yasumasa Okada

Human astrocytes and aortic endothelial cells actively convert the oxidized form of albumin to the reduced form: reduced albumin might participate in redox regulation of nerve and blood vessel systems

Human serum albumin (HSA) is a mixture of mercaptalbumin (HMA, reduced form) and nonmercaptalbumin (HNA, oxidized form), i.e., a protein-thiol redox couple in the extracellular fluid (ECF), and it might have a...

Authors: Yukie Matsuyama, Tomoya Hayashi, Hiroyuki Terawaki, Tsuneo Negawa, Tomoyoshi Terada, Yukio Okano and Seiichi Era

Dimethyl amiloride, a Na⁺–H⁺ exchange inhibitor, and its cardioprotective effects in hemorrhagic shock in in vivo resuscitated rats

Stimulation of the Na⁺–H⁺ exchanger plays an important role in the pathway of myocardial dysfunction and injury following hemorrhagic shock. Inhibition of the Na⁺–H⁺ exchanger appears to be a new pharmacological ...

Authors: Mona Soliman

Systems biology, the Physiome Project and oriental medicine

Systems biology, particularly at the higher levels that are the domain of the Physiome Project, offers a more promising basis for constructive dialogue with traditional oriental medicine than does reductive mo...

Authors: Denis Noble

The opposite roles of nNOS in cardiac ischemia–reperfusion-induced injury and in ischemia preconditioning-induced cardioprotection in mice

The role of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in cardiac ischemia–reperfusion (IR) and ischemia preconditioning (IP) is still controversial. Here, we focused on the possible roles of nNOS in cardiac IR and...

Authors: Xiao-Mei Lu, Guo-Xing Zhang, Yan-Qiu Yu, Shoji Kimura, Akira Nishiyama, Hiroko Matsuyoshi, Juichiro Shimizu and Miyako Takaki

Late Na⁺ current produced by human cardiac Na⁺ channel isoform Na_v1.5 is modulated by its β₁ subunit

Experimental data accumulated over the past decade show the emerging importance of the late sodium current (I _NaL) for the function of both normal and, especially, failing myocardium, in w...

Authors: Victor A. Maltsev, John W. Kyle and Albertas Undrovinas

Monopolar surface electromyography: a better tool to assess motoneuron excitability upon passive muscle stretching

Bipolar and monopolar surface electromyography (sEMG) are known procedures to measure the H-reflex. However, signal cancellation is a potential experimental problem of bipolar sEMG. The results of our study sh...

Authors: Hikmat Hadoush, Yoshiko Tobimatsu, Akiyoshi Nagatomi, Hiroaki Kimura, Yoshihiro Ito and Hiroshi Maejima

Low [NaCl]-induced neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) expression and NO generation are regulated by intracellular pH in a mouse macula densa cell line (NE-MD)

Changes in the luminal NaCl concentration ([NaCl]) at the macula densa (MD) modulate the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) responses via an affect on the release of nitric oxide (NO). This study was performed in...

Authors: Hideaki Kawada, Yukiko Yasuoka, Hidekazu Fukuda and Katsumasa Kawahara

Short-term effects of electrically induced tachycardia on antioxidant defenses in the normal and hypertrophied rat left ventricle

Increased oxidative stress resulting from enhanced production of reactive oxygen species and/or inadequate mechanisms of antioxidant defenses has been recognized as an important factor contributing to the init...

Authors: Barbara Kłapcińska, Ewa Sadowska-Krępa, Sławomir Jagsz, Andrzej Sobczak, Małgorzata Żendzian-Piotrowska, Jan Górski and Józef Langfort

17β-Estradiol-induced enhancement of estrogen receptor biosynthesis via MAPK pathway in mouse skeletal muscle myoblasts

The skeletal muscle is one of the important target tissues for the actions of estrogen via both nuclear and extranuclear (non-genomic) pathways. However, there is a paucity of information about the receptor (E...

Authors: J. Hatae, N. Takami, Hai Lin, Akira Honda and R. Inoue

Compression on trigger points in the leg muscle increases parasympathetic nervous activity based on heart rate variability

Massotherapy, the therapeutic use of massage, is used to treat various chronic pain syndromes. One type of massotherapy, pressure stimulus applied over trigger points (TPs), is reported to have excellent thera...

Authors: Kohichi Takamoto, Shigekazu Sakai, Etsuro Hori, Susumu Urakawa, Katsumi Umeno, Taketoshi Ono and Hisao Nishijo

Abdominal expiratory muscle activity in anesthetized vagotomized neonatal rats

The pattern of respiratory activity in abdominal muscles was studied in anesthetized, spontaneously breathing, vagotomized neonatal rats at postnatal days 0–3. Anesthesia (2.0% isoflurane, 50% O₂) depressed breat...

Authors: Makito Iizuka

Water proton spin-lattice relaxation time during the apoptotic process in ultraviolet-irradiated murine erythroleukemia cells

Ultraviolet (UV) light-induced apoptosis has been extensively examined, but data on properties of intracellular water are insufficient. Thus, we examined the ¹H spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) of intracellular ...

Authors: Takeo Yamaguchi, Takayuki Koga and Satoshi Katsuki

Spike sorting by a minimax reduced feature set based on finite differences

Spikes are classified according to their finite differences in various orders. The fundamental idea that makes it work is that finite differences can extract and isolate features from spikes. This method showe...

Authors: Chien-Chang Yen, Wei-Chang Shann, Chen-Tung Yen and Meng-Li Tsai

Association of Ala589Ser polymorphism of WNK4 gene with essential hypertension in a high-risk Chinese population

Recent studies on the association between particular single nucleotide polymorphisms of serine–threonine kinase with no lysine (K) 4 gene (WNK4) and essential hypertension have yielded controversial results. Her...

Authors: Zhi-Jun Sun, Yan Li, Jing-Yu Lu, Qian Ding, Yu Liang, Jing-Pu Shi, Jesse Li-Ling and Yan-Yan Zhao