Differences in dexamethasone-sensitivity between lymphocytes from patients with Alzheimer's disease and patients with multi-infarct dementia

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 40 consecutive patients entering a screening program on cognitive impairment were studied in vitro with respect to their sensitivity to dexamethasone (DEX). Phytohemagglutinin-induced proliferation by PBMC from patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) was less sensitive to the...

Abrogation of the suppressive effects of dexamethasone by PKC activation or CD28 triggering

The suppressive effect of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) on purified CD4+ T cells was found to depend on the activation pathway. In contrast to anti-CD3- or PHA-induced T cell proliferation, the alternative pathway of T cell activation, i.e., through anti-CD2 and anti-CD28, appeared largely resistant to DEX. By titrating anti-CD28 or the...

Mutational analysis of pea lectin: Substitution of Asn125 for Asp in the monosaccharide-binding site eliminates mannose/glucose-binding activity

As part of a strategy to determine the precise role of pea (Pisum sativum) lectin, Psl, in nodulation of pea by Rhizobium leguminosarum, mutations were introduced into the genetic determinant for pea lectin by site-directed mutagenesis using PCR. Introduction of a specific mutation, N125D, into a central area of the sugar-binding site resulted...

Effect of variable protein contents in diets containing Phaseolus vulgaris beans on performance, organ weights and blood variables in piglets, rats and chickens

A comparison was made of the effects of antinutritional factors present in Phaseolus vulgaris on piglets, rats and chickens. Also the hypothesis of whether the negative effect on weight gain due to the inclusion of raw Phaseolus vulgaris in the diet can be attributed to an insufficient supply of amino acids was tested. Test diets containing 200...

Comparison of growth, nitrogen metabolism and organ weights in piglets and rats fed on diets containing Phaseolus vulgaris beans

The effects of lectins in the diet have been mainly studied in rats. An important question is whether results obtained in rats can be extrapolated to larger animals like the pig. Phaseolus vulgaris beans are rich in toxic lectins. Therefore a study was carried out to compare the effects of diets containing 200 g Phaseolus vulgaris beans (raw or...

Thymic factors and T cell maturation in vitro: A comparison of the effects of thymic epithelial cultures with thymic extracts and thymus dependent serum factors

In the present review the results obtained so far with thymic epithelial culture supernatants (TES) or cocultivation of potential precursor T cells with TE cells will be discussed and compared with the effects reported for other thymic factors in studies on T cell differentiation in vitro. These studies can be divided into those involved with T...

Further studies on mobilization of CFUs

Mobilization of CFUs from haemopoietic tissues into circulation was studied after injection of different bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), zymosan, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), trypsin and di-isopropyl-fluorophosphate-inhibited trypsin. All bacterial LPS used gave an increase of CFUs in the peripheral blood at 1 h after...