The endothelium contributes to the maintenance of vasodilator
tone by releasing endothelium-derived relaxing factors, including
nitric oxide (NO). In hypertension, endothelial nitric oxide
synthase (eNOS) produces less NO and could be one of the
contributing factors to the increased peripheral vascular
resistance. Agonist-induced Ca2+ entry is essential for the
activation of eNOS. The transient receptor potential vanilloid
type 4 (TRPV4) channel, a Ca2+-permeant cation channel, is
expressed in the endothelial cells and involved in the regulation
of vascular tone. The present study aimed to investigate the role
of TRPV4 channel in endothelium-dependent NO-mediated
relaxation of the resistance artery in hypertensive rats. Using
a wire myograph, relaxation response to the TRPV4 activator,
4α-phorbol-12,13-didecanoate (4αPDD) was assessed in
mesenteric arteries obtained from Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and
spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Compared to WKY, SHR
demonstrated a significantly attenuated 4αPDD-induced
endothelium-dependent NO-mediated relaxation. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed positive staining for TRPV4 in the
endothelium of mesenteric artery sections in both WKY and SHR.
Furthermore, TRPV4 mRNA and protein expressions in SHR were
significantly lower than their expression levels in WKY rats.
We conclude that 4αPDD-induced endothelium-dependent
NO-mediated vasorelaxation is reduced in SHR and downergulation of TRPV4 could be one of the contributing mechanisms.
The hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide-gated
non-selective cation (HCN) channels play a potential role in the
neurological basis underlying drug addiction. However, little is
known about the role of HCN channels in methamphetamine
(METH) abuse. In the present study, we examined the changes
in working memory functions of METH re-exposed mice through
Morris water maze test, and investigated the protein expression
of HCN1 channels and potential mechanisms underlying the
modulation of HCN channels by Western blotting analysis. Mice
were injected with METH (1 mg/kg, i.p.) once per day for
6 consecutive days. After 5 days without METH, mice were
re-exposed to METH at the same concentration. We found that
METH re-exposure caused an enhancement of working memory,
and a decrease in the HCN1 channels protein expression in both
hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The phosphorylated
extracellular regulated protein kinase 1/2 (p-ERK1/2),
an important regulator of HCN channels, was also obviously
reduced in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of mice with METH
re-exposure. Meanwhile, acute METH exposure did not affect the
working memory function and the protein expressions of HCN1
channels and p-ERK1/2. Overall, our data firstly showed the
aberrant protein expression of HCN1 channels in METH
re-exposed mice with enhanced working memory, which was
probably related to the down-regulation of p-ERK1/2 protein
expression.
This paper is a continuation of [6], where irreducibility in the sense of Duffus and Rival (DR-irreducibility) of monounary algebras was defined. The definition is analogous to that introduced by Duffus and Rival [1] for the case of posets. In [6] we found all connected monounary algebras A possessing a cycle and such that A is
DR-irreducible. The main result of the present paper is Thm. 4.1 which describes all connected monounary algebras A without a cycle and such that A is DR-irreducible.Other types of irreducibility of monounary algebras defined by means of the notion of a retract were studied in [2]–[5].
20. srpna 2013 oslavil RNDr. Miloš Lokajíček, DrSc., vědecký pracovník Fyzikálního ústavu AV ČR, v. v. i., v rodinném kruhu devadesát let. Jeho dosavadní osobní i odborný život je bohatý na události, které nejsou známé především mladší generaci. Proto bychom se rádi trochu podrobněji o nich zmínili. and Libor Judas, Vojtěch Kundrát.
Attractive and repulsive forces acting in the slurry due to different ions absorbed on surface of fine particles, especially colloidal ones, strongly affect the flow behaviour of highly concentrated fine-grained slurries. The attractive forces between the fine-grained solid particles initiate the coagulation process, which gives rise to voluminous aggregates where a large amount of water is fixed. A modification of the physicalchemical environment of the slurry by addition of a peptizing agent produces repulsive forces between particles. They result in destruction of the aggregates, water originally fixed in the aggregates is liberated, the viscous friction can play a larger role in the slurry, which is liquefied. To prove these process three different kaolin-water mixtures were tested with an overpressure capillary viscometer, rotational viscometer, and experimental pipeline loop. The effect of two peptizing agents and their concentration was investigated. It was demonstrated that even very low concentration of peptizing agent results in a significant reduction in the apparent viscosity and in the yield stress. and Přitažlivé a odpudivé síly působící mezi částicemi v suspenzi v důsledku různých iontů absorbovaných povrchem jemných, zejména koloidních částic, silně ovlivňují tokové chování vysoce koncentrovaných jemnozrnných suspenzí. Přitažlivé síly mezi jemnými částicemi iniciují proces koagulace, umožňují vznik objemných agregátů, v nichž je vázáno značné množství vody. Změna fyzikálně-chemického prostředí suspenze přidáním peptizačního činidla podpoří vznik odpudivých sil mezi částicemi, které způsobí rozbití objemných agregátů a voda vázaná v agregátech se uvolní, vazké tření tak bude hrát v suspenzi významnější roli a dojde k ztekucení suspenze. Tento proces byl ověřen experimentálním výzkumem třech různých kaolinových suspenzí jednak na kapilárním přetlakovém viskozimetru, na rotačním viskozimetru a na experimentální potrubní trase. Byl ověřen účinek dvou peptizačních činidel a bylo ukázáno, že velmi nízká koncentrace peptizačního činidla vede k významné redukci zdánlivé viskozity a počátečního napětí.