2012 25th SIBGRAPI Conference on Graphics, Patterns and Images Tutorials, 2012
This survey provides GLSL information for beginners, by means of a series of commented codes and ... more This survey provides GLSL information for beginners, by means of a series of commented codes and technical explanations, providing an effective way for learning GLSL, one of the main multi-platform and multi-hardware shader programming languages available. The examples increase in complexity through the text. They may run in several shader tools, including Shaderlabs, a shader development environment, which was developed aiming at helping those willing to learn and practice GLSL development.
Com o objetivo de conhecer alguns dados sobre a infecção pelo HIV entre os pacientes do Serviço d... more Com o objetivo de conhecer alguns dados sobre a infecção pelo HIV entre os pacientes do Serviço de Assistência Especializada em HIV e Aids da cidade de São Carlos (SP) e apoiar a sua gestão, foi consolidado e analisado um conjunto de aspectos epidemiológicos sobre as pessoas, a transmissão do vírus e a morbi-mortalidade entre os usuários desse serviço. Para isso, foram estudados 1.405 registros de dados secundários, cobrindo os primeiros 20 anos de experiência do ambulatório. Utilizou-se um desenho agregado observacional transversal ecológico. Em seguida, os achados foram confrontados com a literatura. Detectou-se que a infecção pelo HIV afetou predominantemente adultos jovens com nível de escolaridade fundamental, que tinham mais de um parceiro sexual e ignoravam o perfil de soro-rreatividade dos seus parceiros ao HIV. Envolveu mais homens que mulheres e teve como via de transmissão mais frequente o coito heterossexual. Levou à morte mais de um terço dos infectados, especialmente em se tratando de homens que iniciaram o acompanhamento médico com CD4 abaixo de 200 células/mm 3 . Por outro lado, degeneração quantitativa dessas células foi mais intensa em pessoas mais velhas. Foi possível compreender que a principal estratégia para a sobrevivência dos portadores do HIV pode ser a garantia de acesso precoce a um cuidado de saúde ampliado e integral, com qualidade suficiente para agregar eficácia e eficiência ao tratamento antirretroviral. Em relação à vigilância clínica individual, quanto mais velha a pessoa, maior a frequência com que precisa ter seu estado imunovirológico monitorado.
Amoebiasis, a disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica, is usually diagnosed by microscopic examin... more Amoebiasis, a disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica, is usually diagnosed by microscopic examination, which does not differentiate the morphologically identical species of the E. histolytica/E. dispar complex. Furthermore, morphologically similar species such as Entamoeba hartmanni contribute to misidentification. Therefore, there is a need for more sensitive and specific methods. This study standardized a multiplex real-time PCR system for E. histolytica and E. dispar and a single real-time PCR for E. hartmanni. The multiplex protocol detected up to 0.0143 pg of E. histolytica DNA and 0.5156 pg of E. dispar DNA, and the average melting temperature (T(m)) was 73 °C and 70 °C, respectively. For E. hartmanni, the T(m) was 73 °C and the amplification was successful down to 0.03 fg of plasmid DNA. Negative controls and other intestinal parasites presented no amplification. Among the 48 samples tested, E. dispar DNA was detected in 37; none exhibited E. histolytica DNA and 11 were nega...
Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial, 2009
Estudo de p27, p21, p16 em epitélio escamoso normal, papiloma escamoso e carcinoma de células esc... more Estudo de p27, p21, p16 em epitélio escamoso normal, papiloma escamoso e carcinoma de células escamosas da cavidade oral Comparative analysis of the immunohistochemistry expression of p27, p21WAF/Cip1, and p16INK4a in oral normal epithelium, squamous papilloma and squamous cell carcinoma Introdução e objetivo: O tipo de câncer oral mais frequente é o carcinoma de células escamosas, que corresponde a 95% dos casos . O papiloma escamoso oral é uma neoplasia benigna normalmente associada à infecção pelo papilomavírus humano (HPV) . A análise da literatura mostra alterações nos genes reguladores do ciclo celular p27, p21WAF/Cip1 e p16INK4a, porém sem uma definição de seus papéis na carcinogênese oral. O objetivo foi caracterizar imuno-histoquimicamente p27, p21WAF/Cip1 e p16NK4a em epitélio escamoso normal, papilomas escamosos e carcinomas de células escamosas da cavidade oral. Métodos: Imuno-histoquímica para p27, p21WAF/Cip1 e p16NK4a em 32 casos de epitélio escamoso normal, 30 casos de papiloma escamoso e 34 de carcinoma de células escamosas da cavidade oral. Resultados: p27: 97,06% dos casos de carcinoma de células escamosas apresentaram imunopositividade focal. O grupo papiloma escamoso apresentou 33,33% e o grupo controle, 18,75%. p21WAF/Cip1: 100% de imunopositividade focal tanto no grupo controle como no grupo carcinoma de células escamosas, e 90% no grupo papiloma escamoso. p16INK4a: 100% de imunopositividade focal para os grupos controle e papiloma escamoso, e 94% para o grupo carcinoma de células escamosas. Conclusão: Imuno-histoquimicamente demonstrouse diferença significativa para p27 quando feita comparação dos grupos controle e papiloma escamoso com o grupo carcinoma de células escamosas. O p21WAF/Cip1 não demonstrou poder de diferenciar os grupos analisados. O p16INK4a apresentou imunopositividade difusa em uma minoria dos casos do grupo carcinoma de células escamosas. O grupo papiloma escamoso se comportou de maneira similar ao grupo controle em relação aos três marcadores. resumo unitermos Carcinoma de células escamosas Papiloma de células escamosas Imuno-histoquímica Proteína oncogênica p21 Inibidor de quinase dependente de ciclina p27 Genes p16
Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial, 2008
The tissue microarray (TMA) technique allows multiple tissue samples in a single block. Commercia... more The tissue microarray (TMA) technique allows multiple tissue samples in a single block. Commercial adhesive tape is used to avoid the loss of tissue samples during the immunostaining process. Few reports exist in the literature comparing the use of these adhesive tapes to other adhesive techniques. The objective of this study was to compare loss of sections adhered to slides using commercial adhesive tapes versus using silanized only slides. TMA was constructed with varying tissues using a fixed-base device (Beecher Instruments), placing 108 cylinders of 1 mm diameter in duplicate, spaced 1.2 mm apart. Section of 4 mm were cut from the TMA block and adhered to 30 silanized slides and 30 commercial glass slides using adhesive tape, according to manufacturer's recommendations. Vimentin immunoexpression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Antigenic recovery was realized in citrate buffer using a microwave oven. Cylinder loss in the immunohistochemical process was quantified and expressed as: total (.80%), almost complete (75-79%), or partial (50-74%). The commercial adhesive tape group presented lesser total loss (1.1 versus 6.4%), almost complete loss (2.2 versus 3.5%), and partial loss (2.1 versus 3.8%) than the silanized slide group (ANOVA, P,0.05). The sum of total and almost complete losses in the silanized slide group was 9.9%, greater than the losses in slides using commercial adhesive tapes (3.3%) and less than reported and considered acceptable in the literature (10-30%). In conclusion, the use of silanized only slides presents very satisfactory results, requires less training, and reduces costs significantly, thus justifying their use in research.
Galectin-3 a member of the galectin family is an endogenous β-galactoside binding lectin. It has ... more Galectin-3 a member of the galectin family is an endogenous β-galactoside binding lectin. It has been found to be associated with cell adhesion, recognition, proliferation, differentiation, immunomodulation, angiogenesis, apoptosis and can be a reliable marker for cancer aggressiveness. The aim of this study was to verify protein expression in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues and correlate the results with the clinical aspects in the study population. Galectin-3 expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in 57 samples of gastric adenocarcinomas tissues. Galectin-3 protein expression was observed in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of examined tissues. Thirty one (54.4%) samples had strong or moderate staining and 26 (45.6%) tumours had negative or weak staining. The galectin-3 did not show association with the sex (p=0.347), age (p=0.999), Lauren's classification (p=0.731) and TNM stage (p=0.222). Regarding the TNM stage, 66.7 per cent of stage I tumours had strong or moderate s...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of FASL, FAS and FADD and caspase-3 in oesop... more The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of FASL, FAS and FADD and caspase-3 in oesophagus, stomach and colonic tissues of mice irradiated in vivo by immunohistochemistry. A total of 48 adult male C57BL mice were distributed into four groups: Ami(-)/Rad(-): Mice received 0.5 ml of 0.9% physiological saline solution (PPS) intraperitioneally (i.p.); Ami(+)/Rad(-): mice received amifostine (400mg/kg i.p.) freshly dissolved in double-distilled water; Ami(-)/Rad(+): mice received 0.5 ml of PSS i.p. 30 min before a single whole-body radiation dose of 7 Gy; Ami(+)/Rad(+): mice received 0.5 ml of an aqueous solution of 400 mg/kg amifostine i.p.30 min prior to irradiation. All groups were assigned into subgroups sacrificed at 0.5 h, 1 h, 2 h and 4 h after irradiation. In oesophagus and stomach tissues, we did not observe any difference between Ami(-)/ad(-), Ami(+)/Rad(-), Ami(-)/Rad(+) and Ami(+)/Rad(+) groups in the expression of FASL, FAS and FADD. The colonic tissue was the on...
Adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) increases the survival rates significantly, but i... more Adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) increases the survival rates significantly, but it also increases morbidity. Molecular markers may help on prognosis evaluation and treatment choice. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the imunoexpression of p53 and Ki-67 in rectal cancer tissue after CRT treatment. Stage II or III rectal cancer patients were evaluated and treated with RT and 5-FU preoperatively (neoadjuvant treatment, NG) or after surgical resection of the cancer (adjuvant treatment, AG). Thirty-one patients were enrolled in the NG and 30 in the AG; 63.95% were between 50 and 70 years, 50.8% were male, and 53% were in stage III. Of the tumors, 64.5% of the NG and 63.34% of the AG had not overexpressed p53 (p = 0.865) and 9.67% of NG and 33.33% of the AG tumors had a high proliferative index (HPI) of Ki67, p = 0.052. We have not found any difference among metastasis development in the groups (p = 0.708). After 5 years, patients with low proliferative index (LPI) ...
The aim of the present study was to detect the relative expressions of p53, p21(Waf1/Cip1), p27(K... more The aim of the present study was to detect the relative expressions of p53, p21(Waf1/Cip1), p27(Kip1) Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase-3 in cervical lesion samples from Brazilian women by immunohistochemistry. A total of 230 cervical biopsies in paraffin-embedded blocks were studied: 43 were invasive squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), 52 carcinomas in situ/cervical intraepithelial neoplasias III (CIN III), 54 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias II (CIN II), 51 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias I (CIN I) and 30 non-neoplastic lesions (NN) with benign cellular changes. Significant differences were observed in the p53 expression between the different groups: NN and CIN I (p=0.010); NN and CIN II (p<0.00001); CIN II and CIN III (p=0.02); CIN II and CIS (p=0.0220); CIN II and CEC (p=0.010). Regarding p21(WAF1/Cip1), significant differences were observed between NN and CEC (p=0.001); CIN I and CEC (p=0.001); CIN II and CIN III (p=0,001); CIN II and CIS (p=0.0004) and CIN II and CEC (p<0.000...
Normal pregnancy is associated with systemic and intrarenal vasodilatation resulting in an increa... more Normal pregnancy is associated with systemic and intrarenal vasodilatation resulting in an increased glomerular filtration rate. This adaptive response occurs in spite of elevated circulating levels of angiotensin II (Ang II). In the present study, we evaluated the potential mechanisms responsible for this adaptation. The reactivity of the mesangial cells (MCs) cultured from 14-day-pregnant rats to Ang II was measured through changes in the intracellular calcium concentration ([Cai]). The expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), the Ang II-induced vasodilatation receptor AT2, and the relaxin (LGR7) receptor were evaluated in cultured MCs and in the aorta, renal artery and kidney cortex by real time-PCR. The intrarenal distribution of LGR7 was further analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The MCs displayed a relative insensitivity to Ang II, which was paralleled by an impressive increase in the expression level of iNOS, AT2 and LGR7. These results suggest that the MCs also adapt to the pregnancy, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the glomerular surface area even in the presence of high levels of Ang II. The mRNA expression levels of AT2 and LGR7 also increased in the aorta, renal artery and kidney of the pregnant animals, whereas the expression of the AT1 did not significantly change. This further suggests a role of these vasodilatation-induced receptors in the systemic and intrarenal adaptation during pregnancy. LGR7 was localized in the glomeruli and on the apical membrane of the tubular cells, with stronger labeling in the kidneys of pregnant rats. These results suggest a role of iNOS, AT2, and LGR7 in the systemic vasodilatation and intrarenal adaptation to pregnancy and also suggest a pivotal role for relaxin in the tubular function during gestation.
2012 25th SIBGRAPI Conference on Graphics, Patterns and Images Tutorials, 2012
This survey provides GLSL information for beginners, by means of a series of commented codes and ... more This survey provides GLSL information for beginners, by means of a series of commented codes and technical explanations, providing an effective way for learning GLSL, one of the main multi-platform and multi-hardware shader programming languages available. The examples increase in complexity through the text. They may run in several shader tools, including Shaderlabs, a shader development environment, which was developed aiming at helping those willing to learn and practice GLSL development.
Com o objetivo de conhecer alguns dados sobre a infecção pelo HIV entre os pacientes do Serviço d... more Com o objetivo de conhecer alguns dados sobre a infecção pelo HIV entre os pacientes do Serviço de Assistência Especializada em HIV e Aids da cidade de São Carlos (SP) e apoiar a sua gestão, foi consolidado e analisado um conjunto de aspectos epidemiológicos sobre as pessoas, a transmissão do vírus e a morbi-mortalidade entre os usuários desse serviço. Para isso, foram estudados 1.405 registros de dados secundários, cobrindo os primeiros 20 anos de experiência do ambulatório. Utilizou-se um desenho agregado observacional transversal ecológico. Em seguida, os achados foram confrontados com a literatura. Detectou-se que a infecção pelo HIV afetou predominantemente adultos jovens com nível de escolaridade fundamental, que tinham mais de um parceiro sexual e ignoravam o perfil de soro-rreatividade dos seus parceiros ao HIV. Envolveu mais homens que mulheres e teve como via de transmissão mais frequente o coito heterossexual. Levou à morte mais de um terço dos infectados, especialmente em se tratando de homens que iniciaram o acompanhamento médico com CD4 abaixo de 200 células/mm 3 . Por outro lado, degeneração quantitativa dessas células foi mais intensa em pessoas mais velhas. Foi possível compreender que a principal estratégia para a sobrevivência dos portadores do HIV pode ser a garantia de acesso precoce a um cuidado de saúde ampliado e integral, com qualidade suficiente para agregar eficácia e eficiência ao tratamento antirretroviral. Em relação à vigilância clínica individual, quanto mais velha a pessoa, maior a frequência com que precisa ter seu estado imunovirológico monitorado.
Amoebiasis, a disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica, is usually diagnosed by microscopic examin... more Amoebiasis, a disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica, is usually diagnosed by microscopic examination, which does not differentiate the morphologically identical species of the E. histolytica/E. dispar complex. Furthermore, morphologically similar species such as Entamoeba hartmanni contribute to misidentification. Therefore, there is a need for more sensitive and specific methods. This study standardized a multiplex real-time PCR system for E. histolytica and E. dispar and a single real-time PCR for E. hartmanni. The multiplex protocol detected up to 0.0143 pg of E. histolytica DNA and 0.5156 pg of E. dispar DNA, and the average melting temperature (T(m)) was 73 °C and 70 °C, respectively. For E. hartmanni, the T(m) was 73 °C and the amplification was successful down to 0.03 fg of plasmid DNA. Negative controls and other intestinal parasites presented no amplification. Among the 48 samples tested, E. dispar DNA was detected in 37; none exhibited E. histolytica DNA and 11 were nega...
Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial, 2009
Estudo de p27, p21, p16 em epitélio escamoso normal, papiloma escamoso e carcinoma de células esc... more Estudo de p27, p21, p16 em epitélio escamoso normal, papiloma escamoso e carcinoma de células escamosas da cavidade oral Comparative analysis of the immunohistochemistry expression of p27, p21WAF/Cip1, and p16INK4a in oral normal epithelium, squamous papilloma and squamous cell carcinoma Introdução e objetivo: O tipo de câncer oral mais frequente é o carcinoma de células escamosas, que corresponde a 95% dos casos . O papiloma escamoso oral é uma neoplasia benigna normalmente associada à infecção pelo papilomavírus humano (HPV) . A análise da literatura mostra alterações nos genes reguladores do ciclo celular p27, p21WAF/Cip1 e p16INK4a, porém sem uma definição de seus papéis na carcinogênese oral. O objetivo foi caracterizar imuno-histoquimicamente p27, p21WAF/Cip1 e p16NK4a em epitélio escamoso normal, papilomas escamosos e carcinomas de células escamosas da cavidade oral. Métodos: Imuno-histoquímica para p27, p21WAF/Cip1 e p16NK4a em 32 casos de epitélio escamoso normal, 30 casos de papiloma escamoso e 34 de carcinoma de células escamosas da cavidade oral. Resultados: p27: 97,06% dos casos de carcinoma de células escamosas apresentaram imunopositividade focal. O grupo papiloma escamoso apresentou 33,33% e o grupo controle, 18,75%. p21WAF/Cip1: 100% de imunopositividade focal tanto no grupo controle como no grupo carcinoma de células escamosas, e 90% no grupo papiloma escamoso. p16INK4a: 100% de imunopositividade focal para os grupos controle e papiloma escamoso, e 94% para o grupo carcinoma de células escamosas. Conclusão: Imuno-histoquimicamente demonstrouse diferença significativa para p27 quando feita comparação dos grupos controle e papiloma escamoso com o grupo carcinoma de células escamosas. O p21WAF/Cip1 não demonstrou poder de diferenciar os grupos analisados. O p16INK4a apresentou imunopositividade difusa em uma minoria dos casos do grupo carcinoma de células escamosas. O grupo papiloma escamoso se comportou de maneira similar ao grupo controle em relação aos três marcadores. resumo unitermos Carcinoma de células escamosas Papiloma de células escamosas Imuno-histoquímica Proteína oncogênica p21 Inibidor de quinase dependente de ciclina p27 Genes p16
Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial, 2008
The tissue microarray (TMA) technique allows multiple tissue samples in a single block. Commercia... more The tissue microarray (TMA) technique allows multiple tissue samples in a single block. Commercial adhesive tape is used to avoid the loss of tissue samples during the immunostaining process. Few reports exist in the literature comparing the use of these adhesive tapes to other adhesive techniques. The objective of this study was to compare loss of sections adhered to slides using commercial adhesive tapes versus using silanized only slides. TMA was constructed with varying tissues using a fixed-base device (Beecher Instruments), placing 108 cylinders of 1 mm diameter in duplicate, spaced 1.2 mm apart. Section of 4 mm were cut from the TMA block and adhered to 30 silanized slides and 30 commercial glass slides using adhesive tape, according to manufacturer's recommendations. Vimentin immunoexpression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Antigenic recovery was realized in citrate buffer using a microwave oven. Cylinder loss in the immunohistochemical process was quantified and expressed as: total (.80%), almost complete (75-79%), or partial (50-74%). The commercial adhesive tape group presented lesser total loss (1.1 versus 6.4%), almost complete loss (2.2 versus 3.5%), and partial loss (2.1 versus 3.8%) than the silanized slide group (ANOVA, P,0.05). The sum of total and almost complete losses in the silanized slide group was 9.9%, greater than the losses in slides using commercial adhesive tapes (3.3%) and less than reported and considered acceptable in the literature (10-30%). In conclusion, the use of silanized only slides presents very satisfactory results, requires less training, and reduces costs significantly, thus justifying their use in research.
Galectin-3 a member of the galectin family is an endogenous β-galactoside binding lectin. It has ... more Galectin-3 a member of the galectin family is an endogenous β-galactoside binding lectin. It has been found to be associated with cell adhesion, recognition, proliferation, differentiation, immunomodulation, angiogenesis, apoptosis and can be a reliable marker for cancer aggressiveness. The aim of this study was to verify protein expression in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues and correlate the results with the clinical aspects in the study population. Galectin-3 expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in 57 samples of gastric adenocarcinomas tissues. Galectin-3 protein expression was observed in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of examined tissues. Thirty one (54.4%) samples had strong or moderate staining and 26 (45.6%) tumours had negative or weak staining. The galectin-3 did not show association with the sex (p=0.347), age (p=0.999), Lauren's classification (p=0.731) and TNM stage (p=0.222). Regarding the TNM stage, 66.7 per cent of stage I tumours had strong or moderate s...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of FASL, FAS and FADD and caspase-3 in oesop... more The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of FASL, FAS and FADD and caspase-3 in oesophagus, stomach and colonic tissues of mice irradiated in vivo by immunohistochemistry. A total of 48 adult male C57BL mice were distributed into four groups: Ami(-)/Rad(-): Mice received 0.5 ml of 0.9% physiological saline solution (PPS) intraperitioneally (i.p.); Ami(+)/Rad(-): mice received amifostine (400mg/kg i.p.) freshly dissolved in double-distilled water; Ami(-)/Rad(+): mice received 0.5 ml of PSS i.p. 30 min before a single whole-body radiation dose of 7 Gy; Ami(+)/Rad(+): mice received 0.5 ml of an aqueous solution of 400 mg/kg amifostine i.p.30 min prior to irradiation. All groups were assigned into subgroups sacrificed at 0.5 h, 1 h, 2 h and 4 h after irradiation. In oesophagus and stomach tissues, we did not observe any difference between Ami(-)/ad(-), Ami(+)/Rad(-), Ami(-)/Rad(+) and Ami(+)/Rad(+) groups in the expression of FASL, FAS and FADD. The colonic tissue was the on...
Adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) increases the survival rates significantly, but i... more Adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) increases the survival rates significantly, but it also increases morbidity. Molecular markers may help on prognosis evaluation and treatment choice. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the imunoexpression of p53 and Ki-67 in rectal cancer tissue after CRT treatment. Stage II or III rectal cancer patients were evaluated and treated with RT and 5-FU preoperatively (neoadjuvant treatment, NG) or after surgical resection of the cancer (adjuvant treatment, AG). Thirty-one patients were enrolled in the NG and 30 in the AG; 63.95% were between 50 and 70 years, 50.8% were male, and 53% were in stage III. Of the tumors, 64.5% of the NG and 63.34% of the AG had not overexpressed p53 (p = 0.865) and 9.67% of NG and 33.33% of the AG tumors had a high proliferative index (HPI) of Ki67, p = 0.052. We have not found any difference among metastasis development in the groups (p = 0.708). After 5 years, patients with low proliferative index (LPI) ...
The aim of the present study was to detect the relative expressions of p53, p21(Waf1/Cip1), p27(K... more The aim of the present study was to detect the relative expressions of p53, p21(Waf1/Cip1), p27(Kip1) Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase-3 in cervical lesion samples from Brazilian women by immunohistochemistry. A total of 230 cervical biopsies in paraffin-embedded blocks were studied: 43 were invasive squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), 52 carcinomas in situ/cervical intraepithelial neoplasias III (CIN III), 54 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias II (CIN II), 51 cervical intraepithelial neoplasias I (CIN I) and 30 non-neoplastic lesions (NN) with benign cellular changes. Significant differences were observed in the p53 expression between the different groups: NN and CIN I (p=0.010); NN and CIN II (p<0.00001); CIN II and CIN III (p=0.02); CIN II and CIS (p=0.0220); CIN II and CEC (p=0.010). Regarding p21(WAF1/Cip1), significant differences were observed between NN and CEC (p=0.001); CIN I and CEC (p=0.001); CIN II and CIN III (p=0,001); CIN II and CIS (p=0.0004) and CIN II and CEC (p<0.000...
Normal pregnancy is associated with systemic and intrarenal vasodilatation resulting in an increa... more Normal pregnancy is associated with systemic and intrarenal vasodilatation resulting in an increased glomerular filtration rate. This adaptive response occurs in spite of elevated circulating levels of angiotensin II (Ang II). In the present study, we evaluated the potential mechanisms responsible for this adaptation. The reactivity of the mesangial cells (MCs) cultured from 14-day-pregnant rats to Ang II was measured through changes in the intracellular calcium concentration ([Cai]). The expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), the Ang II-induced vasodilatation receptor AT2, and the relaxin (LGR7) receptor were evaluated in cultured MCs and in the aorta, renal artery and kidney cortex by real time-PCR. The intrarenal distribution of LGR7 was further analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The MCs displayed a relative insensitivity to Ang II, which was paralleled by an impressive increase in the expression level of iNOS, AT2 and LGR7. These results suggest that the MCs also adapt to the pregnancy, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the glomerular surface area even in the presence of high levels of Ang II. The mRNA expression levels of AT2 and LGR7 also increased in the aorta, renal artery and kidney of the pregnant animals, whereas the expression of the AT1 did not significantly change. This further suggests a role of these vasodilatation-induced receptors in the systemic and intrarenal adaptation during pregnancy. LGR7 was localized in the glomeruli and on the apical membrane of the tubular cells, with stronger labeling in the kidneys of pregnant rats. These results suggest a role of iNOS, AT2, and LGR7 in the systemic vasodilatation and intrarenal adaptation to pregnancy and also suggest a pivotal role for relaxin in the tubular function during gestation.
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