Pharmacology Commons^™

Mechanism Of Ascorbate Protection Against Sepsis-Induced Capillary Blood Flow Impairment, Dan Secor

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to an infection. The overwhelming inflammation has many deleterious effects, including cessation of capillary blood flow. This cessation may lead to organ failure and subsequent death, but the cause of cessation during sepsis is not fully understood. Ascorbate (reduced vitamin C) has been shown to restore capillary blood flow by an unknown mechanism. I hypothesized that activation of both platelets and the coagulation pathway in sepsis contributes to the cessation of capillary blood flow and that ascorbate protects against cessation by reducing platelet activation.

Using intravital microscopy in the mouse hindlimb skeletal muscle in ...

Diet-Induced Obesity: Dopaminergic And Behavioral Mechanisms As Outcomes And Predictors, Vidya Narayanaswami

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Obesity and drug abuse share common neural circuitries including the mesocoticolimbic and striatal dopamine reward system. In the current study, a rat model of diet-induced obesity (DIO) was used to determine striatal dopamine function, impulsivity and motivation as neurobehavioral outcomes and predictors of obesity. For the outcome study, rats were randomly assigned a high-fat (HF) or a low-fat (LF) diet for 8 wk. Following the 8-wk HF-diet exposure, rats were segregated into obesity-prone and obesity-resistant groups based on maximum and minimum body weight gain, respectively, and neurobehavioral outcomes were evaluated. For the predictor study, neurobehavioral antecedents were evaluated prior to ...

Correlation Of In-Vitro Drug Dissolution And In-Vivo Drug Absorption Of Various Therapeutically Equivalent Pharmaceutical Solid Dosage Forms Of Simvastatin, Aphrodite Kotrotsios

PCOM Biomedical Studies Student Scholarship

Simvastatin is a well known anti-cholesterol drug that is commercially available in the United States in various strengths including Simvastatin Tablets, USP 80 mg, that are under the brand name Zocor (manufactured by Merck Pharmaceutical Co.) and various generic equivalent products for example those manufactured by Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Ltd. When generic products are tested in the United States, they must be found to be equivalent with their branded products by the FDA. Therefore, generic Simvastatin Tablets, USP 80 mg, have been tested and approved by the FDA as equivalents to, and substitutable with, the ...

Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling Of Acetaminophen Metabolism And Toxicity, David M. Ng, Ali Navid

STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program Posters

Acetaminophen is a common analgesic and antipyretic. Metabolism of acetaminophen and acetaminophen-induced liver necrosis are predicted using physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling. Pharmacokinetic means the model determines where the drug is distributed in the body over time. Physiologically-based means the anatomy and physiology of the human body is reflected in the structure and functioning of the model. Acetaminophen is usually safe and effective when taken as recommended, but consumption at higher levels may lead to liver damage. Additionally, other factors such as alcoholic liver disease, smoking, and malnutrition affect the maximum safe dose of acetaminophen.

Characterization Of Eif2be And Its Interaction With Rgs2, William H. Xue

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

RGS2 is a GTPase accelerating protein for Gαq and its expression can be upregulated in response to different types of stress. We recently showed that RGS2 can bind to the translation initiation factor, eIF2Bε, and decrease global protein synthesis. The objective of this study is to characterize the RGS2 binding domain of eIF2Bε, and investigate the functional consequences as a result of their interaction. To identify the RGS2 binding domain of eIF2Bε, I generated various truncated eIF2Be-GST fusion proteins and used them in an in vitro pulldown assay. The results of my study revealed that the binding domain lies within ...

The Role Of Grk2 In Hypertension And Regulation Of Gpr30, Bonan Liu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the hypertensive state, the expression of G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) level is elevated. On the other hand, the expression of GPR30, a recently discovered GPCR is greatly impaired. The current study focuses on investigating the roles of these two proteins in regulating G protein signaling under the normal and hypertensive states. Angiotensin II and vasopressin were used to examine the effects of GRK2 on G_q coupled GPCR signaling. ERK phosphorylation was proportionally enhanced with GRK2 over-expression. On the other hand, using arborization and wrinkle assays, I have shown that GRK2 acts as a negative regulator of ...