VEGF-A165 is the predominant VEGF-A isoform in platelets, while VEGF-A121 is abundant in serum and plasma from healthy individuals.

Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) plays pivotal roles in regulating tumor angiogenesis as well as physiological vascular function. The major VEGF-A isoforms, VEGF-A121 and VEGF-A165, in serum, plasma, and platelets have not been exactly evaluated due to the lack of the appropriate assay system. Antibodies against human VEGF-A121 and VEGF-A165 (hVEGF-A121 and hVEGF-A165) were successfully produced and Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) for hVEGF-A121 and hVEGF-A165 were separately created by these monoclonal antibodies. The measurement of recombinant hVEGF-A121 and hVEGF-A165 by the created ELISA showed no cross-reaction between hVEGF-A121 and hVEGF-A165 in conditioned media from HEK293 cells transfected with either hVEGF-A121 or hVEGF-A165 expression vector. The levels of VEGF-A121 and VEGF-A165 in serum, plasma, and platelets from 59 healthy volunteers proved that VEGF-A121 level was higher than VEGF-A165 in both plasma and serum in all the cases. VEGF-A121 or VEGF-A165 in serum represented higher level than that in plasma. In contrast, the level of VEGF-A165 was higher than VEGF-A121 in platelets. The newly developed ELISAs for hVEGF-A121 and hVEGF-A165 revealed different ratios of VEGF isoforms in serum, plasma, and platelets. Measuring these isoforms in combination provides useful information as biomarkers for diseases involving VEGF-A121 and VEGF-A165.

An immnosuppressive drug, cyclosporine-A acts like anti-depressant for rats under unpredictable chronic stress.

Rats were subjected to unpredictable chronic stress (UCS), which was composed of 3 cycles of 7 kinds of stress for 21 days. Rats given UCS exhibited a depressive state in behavioral tests such as emergence tests and forced swim tests. Administration of cyclosporine-A (CsA), an immunosuppressive drug, gave rise to antidepressant effect in rats under the UCS, but not in stress-free rats. In other words, CsA shortened both the latency time in emergence tests and the immobility time in forced swim tests in rats given UCS. Analysis of brain tissue by HPLC revealed that CsA caused a significant increase in NE, 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels in the cortex of UCS treated rats, but treatment with either UCS or CsA alone resulted in the opposite effect. Comparing the data of monoamines and their metabolites in the brain, cascades may be different between CsA and imipramine, although both of them showed antidepressive effect in behavioral tests.