Zoë Gaffen

• MRSB (App. Biol. Analytical Biochem., N'pharm.) RSci
• Senior Laboratory Technician and Registered Scientist at King's College London

Development Of the Flexilid Approach to Investigate Antimicrobials Aboard the International Space Station

Simplified design and reduced costs to launch has initiated a revolution that now enables significantly enhanced access to space for bioscience students in the UK.

The cost of sending an experiment to the International Space Station (ISS) has historically prevented any but the most well-funded of UK laboratories from sending bioscience experiments to space. Simplified design and reduced costs to launch has initiated a revolution that now enables significantly enhanced access to space for bioscience students i...

Evaluation of a safer alternative to formalin for preserving and storing tissues and organs for teaching purposes.

The presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the central nervous system (CNS) is associated with the development of HIV-1-associated dementia (HAD), a major cause of HIV-related mortality. To eradicate HIV in the CNS, anti-HIV drugs need to reach the brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in therapeutic concentrations. This involves passage t...

Leptin is a 16 kDa hormone that is produced by adipose tissue and has a central effect on food intake and energy homeostasis. The ability of leptin to cross the blood–brain and blood–cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barriers and reach or leave the CNS was studied by the bilateral in situ brain perfusion and isolated incubated choroid plexus techniques in...

The ability of a range of substituted imidazole compounds to inhibit mouse cerebellar neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), bovine aortic endothelial NOS (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) from lungs of endotoxin‐pretreated rats was investigated. In each case the substrate (L‐arginine) concentration employed was 120 nM. 1‐(2‐Trifluoromethylphenyl) im...

1-(2-trifluoromethylphenyl)imidazole (TRIM) is a potent inhibitor of neuronal (mouse cerebellar) and inducible (lung from endotoxin-pretreated rats) isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) with IC50 values of 28.2 microM and 27.0 microM, respectively. In contrast, TRIM is a poor inhibitor of bovine aortic endothelial NOS with an IC50 of 1057.5 micr...

Co-administration of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, 7-nitro indazole (1 mg/kg i.p.), with the cyclooxygenase inhibitor, flurbiprofen (5-75 mg/kg i.p.), resulted in significantly enhanced antinociceptive activity in mice (formalin-induced hindpaw licking assay) without affecting hindpaw inflammation. No antinociception was observed in animals...

The effect of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, 7‐nitro indazole (7‐NI), on sympathetic and purinergic neurotransmission in the rat isolated vas deferens preparation has been studied. 7‐NI (50–200 μ m ) caused a dose‐ and frequency‐dependent inhibition of the phasic (predominantly purinergic) contractile response of the rat vas deferens to...

7‐Nitro indazole (7‐NI, 10–50 mg kg ⁻¹ ), 6‐nitro indazole and indazole (25–100 mg kg ⁻¹ ) administered i.p. in the mouse produce dose‐related antinociception in the late phase of the formalin‐induced hindpaw licking and acetic acid‐induced abdominal constriction assays. The ED 50 values (mg kg ⁻¹ ) were as follows: 7‐NI (27.5 and 22.5), 6‐nitro in...

Tryptase and chymase released from activated mast cells degrade the neuropeptides calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) to peptide fragments. We have examined whether nedocromil sodium can modulate the ability of rat activated peritoneal mast cells to degrade 125I-CGRP and 125I-VIP. Mast cell-dependent degra...

L-NG-nitro arginine p-nitroanilide (L-NAPNA), L-NG nitro arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and L-NG-monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA) inhibit rat cerebellar nitric oxide synthase (NOS) with IC50s of 1.4 +/- 0.1 microM, 0.81 +/- 0.16 microM and 5.1 +/- 0.07 microM respectively. L-NAPNA inhibits the late phase of formalin-induced hindpaw licking (ED50, 57.2...

7-Nitro indazole (7-NI) inhibits mouse cerebellar nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in vitro with an IC50 of 0.47 microM. Following i.p. administration in mice, 7-NI (10-50 mg kg-1) produces dose-related anti-nociception as evidenced by an inhibition of late phase (15-30 min) but not early phase (0-5 min) hindpaw licking time following subplantar injecti...

l ‐N G ‐nitro arginine methyl ester ( l ‐NAME) administered i.p. produces anti‐nociception in the mouse assessed by the formalin‐induced paw licking and acetic acid‐induced abdominal constriction models. The non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID), flurbiprofen, was similarly anti‐nociceptive in both models. Combination of a sub‐threshold dose...

An increase in anti-aggregatory but not spasmogenic activity was observed when 6 keto prostaglandin E1 (but not PGE1) was incubated at 37 degrees C with rat kidney 100 000 X g supernatant. No such biological activation was observed in boiled rat kidney supernatant. After high-pressure liquid chromatography two absorbance peaks with anti-aggregatory...