BMC Pharmacology - Latest articlesThe latest articles from BMC Pharmacology (ISSN 1471-2210) published by BioMed CentralComparison of four different colorimetric and fluorometric cytotoxicity assays in a zebrafish liver cell line- May 30, 2008 Background: A broad spectrum of cytotoxicity assays is currently used in the fields of (eco)toxicology and pharmacology. To choose an appropriate assay, different parameters like test compounds, detection mechanism, specificity, and sensitivity have to be considered. Furthermore, tissue or cell line can influence test performance. For zebrafish (Danio rerio), as emerging model organism, cell lines are now increasingly used, but few studies examined cytotoxicity in these cell systems. Therefore,.http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2210/8/8 RU486 did not exacerbate cytokine release in mice challenged with LPS nor in dbdb mice- May 12, 2008 Background: Glucocorticoids down-regulate cytokine synthesis and suppress inflammatory responses. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist RU486 may exacerbate the inflammatory response, and concerns over this exacerbation have limited the development and clinical use of GR antagonists in the treatment of diabetes and depression. We investigated the effects of RU486 on serum cytokines in dbdb mice and on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced circulating TNF levels in both normal AKR mice and...http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2210/8/7 |