There is increasing evidence that apoptotic and necrotic hepatocyte death following endotoxin-induced liver injury act as signals for leukocyte sequestration in the liver vasculature. p53 has been implicated to promote apoptosis through trans-activation and down-regulation of specific pro- and anti-apoptotic genes. Here, we report that inhibition of p53 decreases apoptotic and necrotic tissue injury as well as inflammatory cell response. Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraperitoneally with 2.2 mg/kg pifithrin-alpha (PFT), a p53-inactivating agent, or the vehicle DMSO 30 min before intravenous exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In vehicle-pretreated animals, LPS induced significant apoptosis and necrosis of hepatocytes, which was associated with intrahepatic leukocyte recruitment, microvascular dysfunction, and enzyme release. Inhibition of p53 effectively attenuated (P<0.05) hepatocellular apoptosis and necrosis, but also reduced leukocyte recruitment and microvascular dysfunction. Western blot analysis revealed that PFT lowered the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic p53 ratio and reduced both activation of NF-kappaB and cleavage of procaspase 3 (P<0.05). In parallel, immunohistochemistry of PFT-pretreated, but not vehicle-pretreated, endotoxic animals exhibited nuclear p53 exclusion and reduced NF-kappaB p65 staining. This indicates that p53 mediates, at least in part, LPS-associated apoptosis and contributes to inflammatory endotoxic tissue injury through leukocyte activation and intraorgan sequestration.

Astrocytomas are the most common brain tumors of childhood. However, knowledge of the molecular etiology of astrocytomas WHO grade I and II is limited. Germline mutations in the Ras-guanosine triphosphatase-activating protein, neurofibromin, in individuals with neurofibromatosis type I predispose to pilocytic astrocytomas. This association suggests that constitutive activation of the Ras signaling pathway plays a fundamental role in astrocytoma development. We screened 25 WHO I and II astrocytomas for mutations of PTPN11, NRAS, KRAS, and HRAS genes and identified the somatic G12A KRAS mutation in one pilocytic astrocytoma. These data suggest that Ras is rarely mutated in these tumors. Analyzed astrocytomas without mutations in Ras or neurofibromin may harbor mutations in other proteins of this pathway leading to hyperactive Ras signaling.

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A new method for examining I/R-induced leucocyte responses in the colonic microcirculation is described. Oxygen free radicals play an important role in triggering leucocyte rolling and adhesion in colonic venules.

The present study demonstrated that stress conditioning by local heat-shock priming improves nutritive perfusion in osteomyocutaneous flaps by capillary dilatation, probably mediated through the vasoactive action of HSP-32.