Capillaries in Biological News

Where optics meets medicine

... then monitor the effect on blood flow in upstream capillaries in the brain. They find that blockages in venules ... that allows them to see blood flow within all capillaries of the light sensitive tissues in the retina at ... "Our work enables us to measure the smallest capillaries using near infrared light, without injection of ...

Olympus advances technology for laparo-endoscopic single-site surgery

... the world's first and only narrow band imaging (NBI) and high-definition technologies, the next generation of visualization which enhances minute capillaries and tissue during laparo-endoscopic procedures. Other laparoscopic tools that can be utilized with LESS surgery include HiQ+ Hand Instruments and the ...

A missing enzyme conveys major heart protection in pre-clinical work

... advantages to the animals, but there were no changes in their big blood vessels, no malformations. The answer was that small blood vessels the capillaries grew like crazy and established new pathways for blood flow." This was the case in six of the experimental animals studied compared with six normal ...

Symposium to look at genetic basis of exercise

... gene that limits the growth of small blood vessels, known as capillaries, in the muscles. Removing the gene allows greater capillary growth. The more capillaries in the muscle, the more oxygen the muscle will have available during exercise. In one study, Olfert compared sedentary mice that did not have the ...

New light shed on marine luminescence

... that keep the krill's photocytes supplied with oxygen, as well as in special closure muscles, sphincters, that are located at the point where these capillaries distribute blood to the photocytes. Experiments with agents that make the sphincters contract or relax show that when the sphincters relax, the krill ...

GEN reports on strategies to overcome blood-brain barrier

... and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). In RMT, molecules in the circulation may bind to specific receptors on the luminal surface of brain capillaries (i.e., the surface that interfaces with the bloodstream). Upon binding, the receptor-ligand complex is internalized into the endothelial cell by a ...

Mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and cancer give clues to new therapies

... the pathway known as the endothelin axis. The endothelium is the thin layer of cells lining every blood vessel of the body from the smallest capillaries to the largest arteries and even the heart itself. This layer separates the blood from the vessel walls and the smooth muscles whose contractions ...

Pittsburgh researchers identify source of multipotent stem cells with broad regenerative potential

... as pericytes that are multipotent, meaning they have broad developmental potential. Pericytes are found on the walls of small blood vessels such as capillaries and microvessels throughout the body and have the potential to be extracted and grown into many types of tissues, according to the study. "This ...

Normalizing tumor vessels to improve cancer therapy

... even after normal capillary cells stopped doing so. Because of these differences in "mechanosensing," the tumor capillary cells were able to form capillaries even when cell densities were very low, while normal cells failed to do so. At higher cell densities, normal cells formed nice capillaries, whereas ...

Johns Hopkins scientists discover what drives the development of a fatal form of malaria

... with the malaria parasite, they activate platelets to secrete the PF4 protein, which triggers the immune system to inflame blood vessels and obstruct capillaries in the brain; both are hallmarks of cerebral malaria. In their experiments, the Hopkins team first infected human red blood cells in culture with ...

Brain study may lead to improved epilepsy treatments

... said. Increased levels of P-glycoprotein in the BBB has been suggested as one probable cause of drug resistance in epilepsy. Using isolated brain capillaries from mice and rats and an animal model of epilepsy, the researchers found that glutamate, a neurotransmitter released when neurons fire during ...

ASU professor helps solve mystery of glassy water

... which is why ice floats. It can absorb a great deal of heat without getting hot, has very high surface tension (helping it move through roots and capillaries vital to maintaining life on Earth) and is virtually incompressible. A less commonly known distinction of water, but one of great interest to ...

MIT works toward engineered blood vessels

... cells grown on a flat surface, which form a network of capillary tubes extending in random directions, cells grown on the nano-patterned surface form capillaries aligned in the direction chosen by the researchers. The researchers believe the technique works best with EPCs because they are relatively ...

St. Jude settles century-old debate on origin of mammalian network of lymphatic vessels

... at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital settled a century-old debate on the origin of the mammalian lymphatic vasculaturethe network of vessels and capillaries critical to various essential housekeeping functions in the body. The finding holds the promise for the development of new therapies for lymphatic ...

Geron Demonstrates hESC-derived cardiomyocytes improve heart function after myocardial infarction

... enhancing their regenerative efficiency. The grafts also induced a brisk, host-derived angiogenic response: all the implants contained numerous capillaries lined with rat endothelial cells. Safety No teratomas, tumor masses, or aberrant structures were seen in any of the hearts receiving ...

Scientists tackle mystery mountain illness

... when somebody becomes ill. Blood vessels inside the lungs constrict in response to low oxygen to such an extent that fluid is forced from the capillaries (narrow tubes through which blood cells pass), leading to flooding of the lungs air sacs. Risk factors include rapid ascent, physical exertion and ...

Researchers show that veins stiffen as we age

... about five quarts of blood through the 60,000-mile network of arteries, capillaries and veins in your body. The muscular arteries carry blood away from the heart and out to your organs and limbs. Microscopic capillaries connect the arteries to the veins. The veins then transport the blood back ...

Mutant gene causes severe kidney disease in infants

... main blood filtration unit. There are about one million of these filtration units in each human kidney. As blood flows through a network of tiny capillaries in the glomerulus, excess water, salts and toxic molecules are removed and flushed out in urine, while important blood proteins like albumin are ...

Common carp sheds new light on surviving in extreme environments

... so exaggerated and displayed so clearly. We now need to investigate whether the protein is involved in sustaining normal blood flow through tissue capillaries and oxygen delivery during difficult times." ...

New treatment for severe malaria

... caused when the malaria bacteria P.falciparium infects the red blood cells, which then accumulate in large amounts, blocking the flow of blood in the capillaries of the brain and other organs. The reason that the blood cells conglomerate and lodge in the blood vessels is that once in the blood cell the ...

Triple threat polymer captures and releases

... allow the guests to partition off into one domain and then another guest partition into another domain. "We have these channels to serve as capillaries to take in guest molecules and hold them inside the material,," said Wooley, a member of Washington University's Center for Materials Innovation, ...

Potential heart benefit found in stem cells

... weeks, the animals were euthanized and the hearts were removed to measure the left ventricle wall thickness and the density of the corresponding capillaries in four areas: the damaged or infarct area, the healthy myocardium (cardiac muscle), and in two parts of the border zone. As predicted, the ...

Group proves it's possible to grow new lung alveoli by growing new blood vessels

... In microscopic images, the scientists have charted the growth of alveoli and lung capillaries. In a typically healthy lung, a complex network of capillaries encircles the alveoli. Oxygen flows from the lungs through ultra-fine epithelial and endothelial tissues into the blood; carbon dioxide diffuses from ...

Gene therapy reverses genetic mutation responsible for heart failure in muscular dystrophy

... a therapeutic gene throughout the body. "Previous attempts at systemic gene therapy for muscle have not been very effective because blood vessel capillaries act much like a mosquito net, blocking the gene drugs from reaching the muscle cells. Fortunately, we found a virus that is just small and sneaky ...

Beetle-inspired switch uses water for bonding

... a flat plate surface using electricity from electrodes. The electricity moves positively charged atoms, called ions, in the water through the minute capillaries of a thin disk of porous glass embedded in the plate. The water moves and wells up into a micrometer-sized droplet on the plate surface. The exposed ...

Scientists show that tick-borne flaviviruses use a novel mechanism to evade host defenses

... to 25 percent in some regions. Viruses that cause encephalitis lead to inflammation of the brain. Hemorrhagic fevers are viral infections that cause capillaries to burst, leading to unusual bleeding on or under the skin or in various organs. The study released this week online in the Journal of Virology ...

Protein offers way to stop microscopic parasites in their tracks

... Malaria, which is spread by mosquito bites, kills at least 1 million people per year through damage to red blood cells and clogging of the capillaries that feed the brain and other organs. Cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms, is one of the most common causes of ...