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The kidney has an inherent ability for recovery and regeneration following acute damage. However, there has been much contention as to the source of regenerating renal cells. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize these cells. Normal rat kidneys were minced and cells were isolated with collagenase I and were cultured in an expansion medium. Adherent cells were isolated and expanded for more than 120 days in vitro. These cells had the potential of trans-lineage differentiation into neural cells, adipocytes and osteocytes. These cells also expressed Nucleostemin, Cyclin D1, Notch1 and Survivin which are commonly expressed in stem cells. The results of the current work show that the adult kidney contains a population of multipotent stem cells.

Objective: During the latency period of herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1), the virus can occasionally reactivate, travel back to the eye and cause recurrent ocular disease. As this condition arises from the ability of HSV-1 to produce a dormant infection, effective medication to prevent the virus enter a latent state should prevent it. In this study, we applied Echinacea polysaccharide (EP) fraction as prophylactic mediator for latency prevention., Methods: In order to investigate the protective properties of EP, we evaluated its immunostimulatory functions on different immune aspects that play important roles in latency prevention (particularly IFN-gamma as one of the main indicators of cellular immunity and latency). Finally, we assessed establishment of latency by detection of thymidine kinase gene in trigeminal ganglia of BALB/c mice., Results: We demonstrated that EP promotes immune response, leading to a reduced latency rate, and it has a promising effect on latency prevention., Conclusion: EP was able to exert an antiviral action on the development of recurrent HSV-1 disease when supplied prior to infection., (Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

It has been demonstrated that the detection of enteroviruses and mumps virus nucleic acid in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens improves the management of the patients with aseptic meningitis. To determine the effect of overnight enrichment of mumps and enteroviruses in CSF samples on cell culture for increasing the sensitivity of viral detection, we developed a multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). CSFs were collected from 100 patients younger than 7 years. The samples were tested for the presence of enteroviruses and mumps virus by multiplex RT-PCR method. Negative samples in Multiplex RT-PCR were enriched for viral template RNAs by overnight culture of CSF samples on cells and followed by the optimized Multiplex RT-PCR. Overall, 35% of the CSF samples were positive for enteroviruses, whereas only 1% of CSF samples were positive for both viruses. After enriching in cell culture, 34% of the negative samples showed a positive polymerase chain reaction band for enteroviruses, and a 3% increase was observed for both viruses. The results showed that enrichment of viral template RNAs in cell culture can increase the sensitivity of the multiplex RT-PCR assay and provide a rapid and sensitive method for detection of viral infections.

An intensive study is underway to evaluate different potential candidates for cell therapy of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Availability and lower immunogenicity compared to other sources for stem cell therapy such as bone marrow have made human umbilical cord blood stem cells a considerable source for cell therapy. The present study aimed to investigate differentiation of recently introduced pluripotent cord blood stem cells, known as unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSCs), into cells with neural features in serum-withdrawal medium. Using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry assays, we have shown the expression of neuron-specific genes following a 2week treatment of USSCs in serum-withdrawal induction medium. In addition, we have found that USSCs and USSC-derived neuron-like cells express transcripts of genes associated with development and/or survival of dopaminergic mesencephalic neurons including En1, En2, Nurr1, Ptx3, Pax2, Wnt1 and Wnt3a. The expression of dopamine-associated genes suggests that these cells may be potential candidates to be used for cell therapy of PD.

Gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) is among the most important immune factors for limiting of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections. However, our knowledge about the kinetics of IFN-gamma production after HSV infection is limited. The present study examines the kinetics of IFN-gamma expression following secondary infection with HSV-1. Using semiquantitative RT-PCR assay, the expression of IFN-gamma in spleen lymphocytes was significantly detected on 14 days but not 7 days after intraperitoneal inoculation of HSV-1, while ELISA detected IFN-gamma on both days. At various hours after in vitro re-stimulation of spleen cells, RT-PCR showed a decreasing pattern of mRNA transcripts, whereas, ELISA assayed an increasing amount of secreted protein through the experiment. Despite the contrast results of ELISA and RT-PCR, regarding the short half-life of mRNA, the data are in correlation with each other and need to interpret.

Objective: It has been reported that acute morphine administration modulates innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection. In this study, the effect of acute morphine on innate resistance and its probable mechanisms in increasing the mortality rate during HSV-1 infection were investigated., Methods: Mice were infected with HSV-1 24 h prior to different doses of morphine or saline administration and the mortality rate was recorded. Spleen cells were obtained from morphine- or saline-treated mice, then natural killer (NK) cell activity and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production were evaluated. The effect of morphine on white blood cells' capacity to induce protection against HSV-1 infection was evaluated by adoptive transfer of spleen cells to cyclophosphamide-treated mice that were previously infected with HSV-1. Furthermore, in a separate experiment, a different group of mice received corticosterone 24 h after HSV-1 infection., Results: Mortality rate in high-dose acute morphine-treated mice increased significantly compared to saline-treated mice (p = 0.035). NK cell cytotoxicity and IFN-gamma mRNA levels also showed a significant reduction compared to those of control groups (p < 0.001 and p = 0.014, respectively). Corticosterone administration reduces innate resistance against HSV-1 infection compared to saline-treated mice (p = 0.044). Furthermore, adoptive transfer of normal but not morphine-treated spleen cells induces resistance against HSV infection in cyclophosphamide-injected mice (p = 0.009)., Conclusions: The current study shows that acute morphine administration reduces white blood cells' capability to induce protection against HSV-1 infection via suppression of IFN-gamma production and NK cells activity. This may be due to the increase in corticosteroids. Further studies are needed to test the effect of acute morphine on other immune cells., (Copyright 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.)