Peptides
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This paper is the thirty-fourth consecutive installment of the annual review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system. It summarizes papers published during 2011 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides, opioid receptors, opioid agonists and opioid antagonists. The particular topics that continue to be covered include the molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors related to behavior (Section 2), and the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia (Section 3); stress and social status (Section 4); tolerance and dependence (Section 5); learning and memory (Section 6); eating and drinking (Section 7); alcohol and drugs of abuse (Section 8); sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology (Section 9); mental illness and mood (Section 10); seizures and neurologic disorders (Section 11); electrical-related activity and neurophysiology (Section 12); general activity and locomotion (Section 13); gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions (Section 14); cardiovascular responses (Section 15); respiration (Section 16); and immunological responses (Section 17).
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Human β-defensin 2 (hBD-2) has antimicrobial activity and may play a role in airway mucosal defense, but studies have not yet examined its expression in lung tissue of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Here we investigated hBD-2 levels in lung tissues of COPD patients and analyzed their correlations with IL-8, IL-1β, cigarette smoking and lung function in order to see whether the protein may be involved in pathogenesis of the disease. Peripheral lung tissue specimens were obtained from 51 patients who underwent lung resection for peripheral lung cancer: healthy non-smokers (n=8), healthy current smokers (n=7), non-smokers with COPD (n=11), and current smokers with COPD (n=25). ⋯ Levels of hBD-2 mRNA positively correlated with levels of IL-8 mRNA (r=0.545, p=0.002), and negatively correlated with FEV1/FVC ratios and with predicted FEV1% values (r=-0.406, p=0.011). Our results indicate that hBD-2 expression is elevated in distal airways of COPD patients and that it may be involved in pathogenesis of the disease. Our data implicate cigarette smoking as a factor that may elevate hBD-2 levels in lung tissues of COPD patients.