obliqua venom (1–3 μg/ml). The number of rolling, adherent, and emigrated leukocytes was determined off-line during playback analysis of videotaped images. Rolling leukocytes were defined as cells moving

at a velocity significantly slower Alectinib research buy than center line velocity. Adherent leukocytes were determined as cells that were completely stationary for at least 30 s. A whole-mount preparation of hamster cheek pouch was produced following a protocol optimized for rats. Tissues were fixed in ice-cold 4% neutral-buffered formalin for 30 min, blocked with 1% BSA for 15 min, permeabilized in PBS, and supplemented with 1% BSA and 0.1% Triton X-100 for 1 h at 4 °C. Following the preparation, it was incubated with goat polyclonal anti-VCAM-1 Ab or mouse monoclonal anti-E-selectin Ab (1:400) overnight at 4 °C. Tissues were washed and incubated with appropriate secondary antibodies conjugated to Alexa Fluor 488 (Invitrogen, Paisley, UK) at 4 °C for 1 h. Samples were, then, mounted using ProLong Gold antifade reagent with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) for nuclear staining (Invitrogen, Paisley, UK) (Sampaio et al., 2010). In all

www.selleckchem.com/products/z-vad-fmk.html studies, appropriate irrelevant control mAb were used in parallel with the specific primary antibodies. Samples were viewed using a Zeiss LSM 710 confocal laser scanning microscope (Carl Zeiss Micro Imaging). Statistical significance was assessed by ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni’s

t test, and P < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. The effects of L. obliqua venom on microcirculatory network and endothelial–leukocyte interaction were investigated in hamster cheek pouch by intravital digital microscopy. Administration of the venom (1–3 μg/ml) on the cheek pouch did not induce arteriolar dilation throughout 30 min of observation. However, few minutes after the application of L. obliqua venom, occurred a significant decrease in venular blood flow ( Supl. Fig. 7) that is accompanied by an increase in leukocyte rolling ( Fig. 1A) and endothelial adhesion ( Fig. 1B), which are evident within 10 min after treatment, persisting until 30 min ( Fig. 1; Supl. Fig. 7). This response was DCLK1 dose concentration- and time-dependent, affecting the tissue perfusion in later time points (60 min, data not shown), slowing blood flux and gradually leading to stasis in some confluent venules of hamster cheek pouch ( Supl. Fig. 7). Leukocyte rolling, firm adhesion and transmigration through the endothelium involve a sequential and multistep adhesion cascade modulated by cell adhesion molecules present on both leukocytes and endothelium (McEver and Cheng, 2010). Using immunofluorescence confocal microscopy, we observed that 30 min after the venom administration (3 μg/ml) there was a significant increase in E-selectin (Fig. 2A) and VCAM-1 (Fig.