Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Autophagy Is Involved In Oligodendroglial Precursor-Mediated Clearance Of Amyloid Peptide, Wenxia Li, Yifen Tang, Zhiqin Fan, Ya Meng, Guang Yang, Jia Luo, Zun-Ji Ke

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Accumulation of β-amyloid peptides is an important hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tremendous efforts have been directed to elucidate the mechanisms of β-amyloid peptides degradation and develop strategies to remove β-amyloid accumulation. In this study, we demonstrated that a subpopulation of oligodendroglial precursor cells, also called NG2 cells, were a new cell type that can clear β-amyloid peptides in the AD transgene mice and in NG2 cell line.

RESULTS: NG2 cells were recruited and clustered around the amyloid plaque in the APPswe/PS1dE9 mice, which is Alzheimer's disease mouse model. In vitro, NG2 cell line and primary NG2 cells engulfed …

Cd40 Is Essential In The Upregulation Of Traf Proteins And Nf-Kappab-Dependent Proinflammatory Gene Expression After Arterial Injury, Zifang Song, Rong Jin, Shiyong Yu, Joshua J. Rivet, Susan S. Smyth, Anil Nanda, D. Neil Granger, Guohong Li

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Despite extensive investigations, restenosis, which is characterized primarily by neointima formation, remains an unsolved clinical problem after vascular interventions. A recent study has shown that CD40 signaling through TNF receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6) plays a key role in neointima formation after carotid artery injury; however, underlying mechanisms are not clearly elucidated. Because neointima formation may vary significantly depending on the type of injury, we first assessed the effect of CD40 deficiency on neointima formation in 2 injury models, carotid artery ligation and femoral artery denudation injury. Compared with wild-type mice, CD40 deficiency significantly reduced neointima formation and lumen stenosis …

Mpges-1 Null Mice Are Resistant To Bleomycin-Induced Skin Fibrosis, Matthew R. Mccann, Roxana Monemdjou, Parisa Ghassemi-Kakroodi, Hassan Fahmi, Gemma Perez, Shangxi Liu, Xu Shi-Wen, Sunil K. Parapuram, Fumiaki Kojima, Christopher P. Denton, David J. Abraham, Johanne Martel-Pelletier, Leslie J. Crofford, Andrew Leask, Mohit Kapoor

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1 (mPGES-1) is an inducible enzyme that acts downstream of cyclooxygenase (COX) to specifically catalyze the conversion of prostaglandin (PG) H2 to PGE2. mPGES-1 plays a key role in inflammation, pain and arthritis; however, the role of mPGES-1 in fibrogenesis is largely unknown. Herein, we examine the role of mPGES-1 in a mouse model of skin scleroderma using mice deficient in mPGES-1.

METHODS: Wild type (WT) and mPGES-1 null mice were subjected to the bleomycin model of cutaneous skin scleroderma. mPGES-1 expressions in scleroderma fibroblasts and in fibroblasts derived from bleomycin-exposed mice were assessed by Western …

Intestinal Epithelial Serum Amyloid A Modulates Bacterial Growth In Vitro And Pro-Inflammatory Responses In Mouse Experimental Colitis, Erik R.M. Eckhardt, Jassir Witta, Jian Zhong, Razvan Arsenescu, Violeta Arsenescu, Yu Wang, Sarbani Ghoshal, Marcielle C. De Beer, Frederick C. De Beer, Willem J.S. De Villiers

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Serum Amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute phase protein of unknown function. SAA is mostly expressed in the liver, but also in other tissues including the intestinal epithelium. SAA reportedly has anti-bacterial effects, and because inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) result from a breakdown in homeostatic interactions between intestinal epithelia and bacteria, we hypothesized that SAA is protective during experimental colitis.

METHODS: Intestinal SAA expression was measured in mouse and human samples. Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis was induced in SAA 1/2 double knockout (DKO) mice and in wildtype controls. Anti-bacterial effects of SAA1/2 were tested in intestinal epithelial …