Nojirimycin suppresses inflammation via regulation of NF-κ B signaling pathways.

Nojirimycin (NJ) is a compound in which the oxygen of the ring is replaced with an NH group in the D-glucose structure. NJ, which has a structure similar to D-glucose, is a powerful glucosidase inhibitor and an interesting compound. However, no anti-inflammatory effects of NJ have been reported. Therefore, to investigate its anti-inflammatory effect, the production and expression of inflammatory cytokines, as well as inflammatory mediators, such as iNOS and COX-2, were measured in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. In addition, the effects on the representative inflammatory signaling pathways, the suppression of NF-κ B, and the activation of MAPK were studied. The production of iNOS, COX-2, and inflammatory cytokines (PGE2, IL-6, IL-1ß, and TNF-α) after NJ treatment was significantly inhibited. In addition, NJ showed anti-inflammatory effects through suppression of LPS-induced NF-κ B activation. D-Glucose is structurally similar to NJ. The effects of these substances on RAW264.7 macrophages were evaluated. NJ reduced nitric oxide (NO) levels, whereas D-glucose had no significant effect. Overall, the results suggested that NJ is a potential anti-inflammatory compound.

Proposed Motor Scoring System in a Porcine Model of Parkinson's Disease induced by Chronic Subcutaneous Injection of MPTP.

Destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) is a common pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). Characteristics of PD patients include bradykinesia, muscle rigidity, tremor at rest and disturbances in balance. For about four decades, PD animal models have been produced by toxin-induced or gene-modified techniques. However, in mice, none of the gene-modified models showed all 4 major criteria of PD. Moreover, distinguishing between PD model pigs and normal pigs has not been well established. Therefore, we planned to produce a pig model for PD by chronic subcutaneous administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), neurotoxin. Changes in behavioral patterns of pigs were thoroughly evaluated and a new motor scoring system was established for this porcine model that was based on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) in human PD patients. In summary, this motor scoring system could be helpful to analyze the porcine PD model and to confirm the pathology prior to further examinations, such as positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT), which is expensive, and invasive immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the brain.

The assessment of efficacy of porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome virus inactivated vaccine based on the viral quantity and inactivation methods.

BACKGROUND: There have been many efforts to develop efficient vaccines for the control of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Although inactivated PRRSV vaccines are preferred for their safety, they are weak at inducing humoral immune responses and controlling field PRRSV infection, especially when heterologous viruses are involved. RESULTS: In all groups, the sample to positive (S/P) ratio of IDEXX ELISA and the virus neutralization (VN) titer remained negative until challenge. While viremia did not reduce in the vaccinated groups, the IDEXX-ELISA-specific immunoglobulin G increased more rapidly and to significantly greater levels 7 days after the challenge in all the vaccinated groups compared to the non-vaccinated groups (p < 0.05). VN titer was significantly different in the 106 PFU/mL PRRSV vaccine-inoculated and binary ethylenimine (BEI)-inactivated groups 22 days after challenge (p < 0.05). Consequently, the inactivated vaccines tested in this study provided weak memory responses with sequential challenge without any obvious active immune responses in the vaccinated pigs. CONCLUSIONS: The inactivated vaccine failed to show the humoral immunity, but it showed different immune response after the challenge compared to mock group. Although the 106 PFU/mL-vaccinated and BEI-inactivated groups showed significantly greater VN titers 22 days after challenge, all the groups were already negative for viremia.