In the last decade, the investigation of marine natural products has resulted in a remarkable number of compounds with promising biological activities. Marine natural products have been shown to display antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antiviral, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory activity and several other pharmacological activities of benefit to humankind. In this project, an investigation ...

Hookworms are parasitic nematodes that reside in the intestines of their host, where they feed on host blood. The large number of infected individuals and the long survival time inside the host makes it interesting to study the immunomodulatory activities of the hookworms. The excretory/secretory (ES) products are suspected to be responsible for these effects. One aim of this project was to fractionate ...

Gentamicin er hyppig brukt til å behandle alvorlige infeksjoner, men kan ved langvarig behandling eller ved høy serumkonsentrasjon gi vevsskade i både nyrer og ører. Måling av serumkonsentrasjonen skjer rutinemessig med en immunologisk metode som krever et blodvolum på 500 µl. Hyppige målinger er i noen tilfeller nødvendig for å få god kontroll på behandlingen. Premature barn har lav kroppsvekt og ...

Krill er rik på omega-3 fettsyrene EPA og DHA, noe som forklarer den store kommersielle interesse for fangst og foredling av krill. I krillolje er det mye fosfolipider sammenliknet med fiskeoljer. Flere hevder at EPA og DHA utnyttes bedre når de er bundet i fosfolipider enn når de fins i triacylglyserol (Bunea et al, 2004; Werner, Havinga et al, 2004). Det er gjort lite forskning på krillolje og ...

Calanus finmarchicus is a vast resource that until recently have been exploited to a minimal degree only. In the last few years harvesting and processing methods have been developed. There is a large market and great interest in products derived from marine oils. Most of the products today are derived from organisms at a high trophic level, i.e. products derived from cod liver oil. One disadvantage ...

The relaxin family of peptides consists of seven structurally related peptides, with a wide variety of biological functions, ranging from involvement in reproductive processes to functions as neuroendocrine modulators. Because of the complex, two-chained structure of the relaxins, and their lack of specificity for the various relaxin family receptors (RXFPs), design of simpler, more selective ...

Abstract Background– All solid organ transplanted patients are treated with immuno suppression medications to keep the immune system from rejecting the transplanted organ. Unfortunately the suppressed immune system makes the body more exposed for cancer and opportunistic infections. Among the most important viruses that causes one of these opportunistic infections is cytomegalovirus (CMV). A local ...

Introduction There is little data on immuno-suppressant administration and prescribing to transplant patients. It was considered a high risk area because errors in prescribing and administration of immuno-suppressants can potentially have serious consequences like graft loss, side effects and even death. The reality was however that the lack of data meant that no one knew whether this was an area ...

In this thesis, the method development and investigation of different liposomal formulations to incorporate and retain Camptothecin (CPT) is described. CPT is a potent anticancer drug that has shown to be active against a broad spectrum of cancers. However, due to its challenging physicochemical properties, like poor water solubility, severe toxic effects to normal tissues and instability, its ...

Bacterial vaginosis is a common cause of vaginitis, condition often treated with oral metronidazole. However, due to unpleasant side effects, patient compliance is often reduced. Vaginal tablet with bioadhesive properties could enable a prolonged residence time and a sustained release of a drug at the site of infection. Vagina as a drug administration site is attractive due to high surface area, ...