Dexamethasone protects from renal ischemia/reperfusion injury: a possible association with SGK-1.

Previous experimental data suggest that steroids might have protective effects during hypoxic/ischemic injury of various organs. In this study, the association between dexamethason (Dexa) treatment and the anti-apoptotic SGK-1 was tested in ischemic renal injury. In vitro, HK-2 cells were exposed to 24 h hypoxia, and the effect of Dexa incubation on SGK-1 expression / activation and on cell death was studied. In an in vivo rat model of unilateral renal IR, animals were treated with Dexa, and serum renal function parameters, tissue injury and SGK-1 expression and localization were examined after different reperfusion times (2 h, 4 h and 24 h). Dexa at a dose of 2 mg/L exerted a protective effect on cell survival assessed by LDH release and vital staining paralleled by marked up-regulation of SGK-1. In rats, 2 mg/kg Dexa treatment 24 h prior to ischemia resulted in less severe tissue injury and ameliorated urea nitrogen levels 24 h after reperfusion. Furthermore, SGK-1 expression and phosphorylation were higher in Dexa animals demonstrated by Western blot and immunofluorescence technique. Our results provide novel data on the signalling mechanism of Dexa under hypoxia / ischemia and further support that Dexa emerges as an attractive pharmacological agent for the prevention of ischemic injury.

Maternal cytokine balance on the third postpartum day is not affected by the mode of delivery after healthy pregnancies.

Previous reports have suggested that delivery is associated with the induction of inflammatory cytokines. The present study was designed to investigate whether increased cytokine production was present on postpartum day 3 after a normal pregnancy and whether any changes were associated with the mode of delivery. In total, 33 pregnant women were enrolled; 18 delivered vaginally and 15 underwent an elective caesarean section (C-section). The levels of 17 cytokines and growth hormones were measured at the beginning of delivery or before anaesthesia and on postpartum day 3. While interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 levels decreased significantly postpartum, other cytokine concentrations were comparable before and after delivery. Only IL-7 levels were significantly increased in the C-section patients compared with the vaginal birth patients postpartum. In conclusion, there was no risk of a prolonged maternal inflammatory reaction after an uncomplicated vaginal birth or elective C-section, so it is probably not necessary to consider this as an issue when making a decision on the mode of delivery following uncomplicated pregnancy.

A filtration method for plasmid isolation using microtiter filter plates.

A method for the simultaneous isolation of plasmid DNA from as many as 96 Escherichia coli clones in less than 2 h is described. It is based on a modified version of the alkaline lysis procedure originally described by Birnboim and Doly (Nucleic Acids Res. 7, 1513-1523, 1979). The handling of DNA samples is facilitated by the use of microtiter plates with membrane filter bottoms. All centrifugation steps are replaced by filtrations ("the filtration method"). The yield of plasmid DNA from 0.35 ml of an overnight culture is sufficient for restriction analysis of the plasmid clones. Up to 400 nucleotides' readable sequences could be obtained in cycle sequencing reactions with an unmodified sequencing protocol on an automated ABI sequencer.