With the introduction of fiberoptic bronchoscopy and the ability to carry out bronchoscopic biopsy and broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) in patients and control subjects, characterisation of inflammation in airways diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive respiratory di ...

Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of asthma (1,2), chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD) (3), and cystic fibrosis (4). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are unstable compounds with unpaired electrons, capable of initiating oxidation. Sever ...

Nitric oxide (NO) can be detected in the exhaled air and the concentration of exhaled NO is increased in patients with airway inflammation such as asthma and bronchiectasis. This suggests that exhaled NO may provide a noninvasive means of monitoring inflammation in the respiratory tract.

Exhaled air is saturated with water at 37�C, and cooling causes condensation of this water vapor. Breath condensate can be analyzed for the presence of inflammatory mediators and other putative markers of inflammation, among which are hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), leukotrienes (LT), prosta ...

The cells lining the airway consist of epithelial cells, of which there are several types including columnar cells, basal cells, and secretory/goblet cells. It is these cells which are the first lines of defense against airborne inflammatory agents. Initially, it was thought that the epithe ...

Cardiomyopathies are diseases of the heart resulting in impaired cardiac muscle function, which can lead to heart dilation or overt heart failure. These diseases represent a major cause of global morbidity and death. Innovative preventive and therapeutic measures are urgently need ...

The majority of cardiovascular proteomic investigations reported to date have employed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) with immobilized pH gradients to separate the sample proteins, combined with quantitative computer analysis to detect differentially exp ...

Ischemia-reperfusion injury occurs in acute myocardial infarction, cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, and heart transplantation. However the precise mechanisms still remain unclear. In order to identify proteins that are involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury, we compa ...

We outline a strategy for the optimization of buffer conditions for the solubilization, extraction, and isoelectric focusing (IEF) of proteins from cardiac tissue for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE). This strategy, which involves altering both the extraction and IEF bu ...

Arterial hypertension is the most frequent chronic disease and it is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Arterial hypertension is associated with such adverse effects as accelerated arteriosclerosis and pathological left ventricular hypertr ...

Complex I from the inner membranes of mammalian mitochondria is a complicated membrane-bound assembly of redox centers (flavin mononucleotide cofactor, iron sulphur centers) andat least 46 different proteins. The hydrophobic nature of its membranebound subunits and the comple ...

Proteomic analysis of large numbers of proteins is assisted if each protein species is present at approximately equal concentrations. As such, the extraction of proteins from tissue samples should be designed to maintain a limited dynamic range in the concentration of proteins present. ...

Whereas most strategies in proteomics deal with changes in protein levels, posttranslational modifications often represent pathological consequences at the molecular level without changes in abundance and, therefore represent a critical phenomenon to study. The present r ...

The successful combination of highly sensitive mass spectrometry and pre-fractionation techniques has provided a powerful tool to detect dynamic changes in low abundant regulatory proteins at the organelle level. Subcellular fractionation, being flexible, adjustable (bo ...

Proteomic analysis of heart tissue is complicated by the large dynamic range of its proteins. The most abundant proteins are the myofilament proteins, which comprise the contractile apparatus. This chapter describes a protocol for fractionation of heart tissue that extracts the myof ...

Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a key regulator of cardiac muscle contraction. Upon myocardial cell injury, cTnI is lost from the cardiac myocyte and can be detected in serum, in some cases with specific disease-induced modifications, making it an important diagnostic marker for acute myocardi ...

Atherosclerosis is one of the most common causes of death in developed countries. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory process that results in the development of complex lesions or plaques that protrude into the arterial lumen. Plaque rupture and thrombosis result in the acute clinical co ...

Endothelial cells form a continuous monolayer lining the inside face of all blood vessels, and present the ability to selectively control vascular permeability. The endothelium is involved in a wide variety of normal physiological and pathological processes. The endothelial dysf ...

High-throughput immunoblotting or Western array screening of tissue is a unique advancement in proteomics that may help researchers in their quest to elucidate the proteins and signaling pathways involved in complex human pathologies such as atherosclerosis. The technique enta ...

Atherosclerosis is one of the main causes of death in developed countries. Atheroma plaque formation is promoted by the interaction between the cells conforming the arterial wall, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells, together with lipoproteins and inflammatory cells (mainly ...