αB-crystallin is a target for adaptive immune responses and a trigger of innate responses in preactive multiple sclerosis lesions

We present the first comparative analysis of serum immunoglobulinG reactivity profiles against the full spectrum of human myelin-associated proteins in multiple sclerosis patients and healthy control subjects. In both groups, serum antibodies display a consistent and prominent reaction to αB-crystallin (CRYAB) versus other myelin proteins. As an...

Identification of multiple post-translational modifications in the porcine brain specific p25alpha

P25alpha is a protein normally expressed in oligodendrocytes and subcellular relocalization of p25alpha occurs in multiple system atrophy, Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia along with ectopic expression in neurons. Moreover, it accumulates in Lewy body inclusions with aggregated alpha-synuclein and is a potent stimulator of alpha...

T- and B-cell nonresponsiveness to self-αB-crystallin in SJL mice prevents the induction of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis

The myelin-associated stress protein αB-crystallin triggers strong proliferative responses and IFN-γ production by human T cells and it is considered a candidate autoantigen in multiple sclerosis. In this study we examined the capacity of αB-crystallin or peptides derived thereof to induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in SJL...

Effect of viscosity on digestion of nutrients in conventional and germ-free chicks

A study was conducted with conventional and germ-free broiler chicks to obtain more information on the role of the intestinal microflora in the anti-nutritive effects of NSP in broiler chicks. As the NSP source, highly methylated citrus pectin (HMC) was used at a dose level of 30 g/kg in a maize-based diet. The diets fed to the germ-free chicks...

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha regulates expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 and of its co-receptor neuropilin-1 in human vascular endothelial cells

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) modulates gene expression in endothelial cells and is angiogenic in vivo. TNF-alpha does not activate in vitro migration and proliferation of endothelium, and its angiogenic activity is elicited by synthesis of direct angiogenic inducers or of proteases. Here, we show that TNF-alpha up-regulates in a dose-...

Multiple sclerosis: An altered immune response or an altered stress response?

The pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the major neurological disease of young adults in the Western world, is still poorly understood, and no effective therapy to block MS is available as yet. The clinical symptoms of MS result from inflammatory damage to the insulating myelin sheath of axons in the CNS and - at later stages - to axons...

Ultrastructure of free nerve endings in respiratory and squamous epithelium on the rat nasal septum

The distribution of nerve fibres in the mucosa of the nasal septum of the rat was investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy on transverse and tangential ultrathin sections. Near the basement membrane of respiratory and squamous epithelium, a rather dense network of unmyelinated nerve fibres occurs. Some fibres in the respiratory...

Protein metabolism in the rat cerebral cortex in vivo and in vitro as affected by the acquisition enhancing drug piracetam

The effect of Piracetam on rat cerebral protein metabolism in vivo and in vitro was studied. It was found that the drug stimulates the uptake of labelled leucine by cerebral cortex slices, has no effect on the incorporation of leucine into cerebral protein, neither in slices nor in vivo, but inhibits the breakdown of newly formed protein in...