Search results for " Western"
showing 10 items of 687 documents
Amyloid precursor protein in platelets of patients with Alzheimer disease: effect of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor treatment.
2001
BACKGROUND:Amyloid precursor protein (APP) forms with apparent molecular weights of 130, 110, and 106 kd are present in human platelets. It has been demonstrated that Alzheimer disease (AD) is specifically associated with a decreased APP forms ratio in platelets. OBJECTIVE:To investigate whether acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor treatment modifies the ratio of platelet APP forms in patients with AD. PATIENTS AND METHODS:From a large sample of patients with probable AD, 30 with mild to moderate AD were selected. Each patient underwent a clinical evaluation including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and platelet APP forms analysis at baseline and after 30 days. During this interva…
Amelioration of spinal cord compressive injury by pharmacological preconditioning with erythropoietin and a nonerythropoietic erythropoietin derivati…
2006
Object Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating clinical syndrome for which no truly efficacious therapy has yet been identified. In preclinical studies, erythropoietin (EPO) and its nonerythropoietic derivatives asialoEPO and carbamylated EPO have markedly improved functional outcome when administered after compressive SCI. However, an optimum treatment paradigm is currently unknown. Because the uninjured spinal cord expresses a high density of EPO receptor (EPOR) in the basal state, signaling through these existing receptors in advance of injury (pharmacological preconditioning) might confer neuroprotection and therefore be potentially useful in situations of anticipated damage. Methods…
DNA methylation and histone acetylation of rat methionine adenosyltransferase 1A and 2A genes is tissue-specific.
2000
Methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) catalyzes the biosynthesis of S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet). In mammals MAT activity derives from two separate genes which display a tissue-specific pattern of expression. While MAT1A is expressed only in the adult liver, MAT2A is expressed in non-hepatic tissues. The mechanisms behind the selective expression of these two genes are not fully understood. In the present report we have evaluated MAT1A and MAT2A methylation in liver and in other tissues, such as kidney, by methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion of genomic DNA. Our data indicate that MAT1A is hypomethylated in liver and hypermethylated in non-expressing tissues. The opposite situ…
Differentiative pathway activated by 3-aminobenzamide, an inhibitor of PARP, in human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells
2004
AbstractThis study describes the molecular mechanism by which treatment with 3-AB, a potent inhibitor of PARP, allows human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells to restrict growth and enter differentiation. Our findings show that in MG-63 cells, aberrant gene expression keeps Rb protein constitutively inactivated through hyperphosphorylation and this promotes uncontrolled proliferation of the cells. After 3-AB-treatment, the poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear proteins markedly decreases and this results in an increase in both the hypophosphorylated active form of Rb and pRb/E2F complexes. These effects are accompanied by G1 arrest, downregulation of gene products required for proliferation (cyclin D1, β…
Pharmacokinetics of acute and sub-chronic aripiprazole in P-glycoprotein deficient mice
2010
Abstract Background P-glycoprotein (P-gp), an efflux transporter localized in the blood–brain barrier, limits the access of multiple xenobiotics to the central nervous system (CNS). For the new antipsychotic aripiprazole and its active metabolite dehydroaripiprazole differences in disposition in blood and brain were investigated after acute and sub-chronic administration in a P-gp knockout mouse model. Methods Serum and brain concentrations of both drugs were measured at several time points 1–24 h after i.p. injection of 10 mg/kg aripiprazole and after 11 days of sub-chronic administration in several tissues. Moreover, the expression of P-gp was determined by Western blot analysis after sub…
Reaggregation and binding of cell wall proteins from Candida albicans to structural polysaccharides
1998
Urea or hot sodium dodecyl sulphate extracted a significant amount of the same proteins from the matrix of the cell wall of the yeast form and mycelial cells of Candida albicans. Gel filtration analysis of the urea-extracted proteins revealed that they occurred in the form of large complexes which were unaffected by up to 8 M urea. Among them, proteins en route to becoming covalently associated within the wall scaffold were identified by their reaction with specific antibodies. When urea was removed by dialysis, some of these proteins specifically reassociated into large aggregates which bound strongly with ConA, whereas others remained soluble in smaller associated products. The ability of…
The transcriptional programme of contact-inhibition.
2010
Proliferation of non-transformed cells is regulated by cell-cell contacts, which are referred to as contact-inhibition. Vice versa, transformed cells are characterised by a loss of contact-inhibition. Despite its generally accepted importance for cell-cycle control, little is known about the intracellular signalling pathways involved in contact-inhibition. Unravelling the molecular mechanisms of contact-inhibition and its loss during tumourigenesis will be an important step towards the identification of novel target genes in tumour diagnosis and treatment. To better understand the underlying molecular mechanisms we identified the transcriptional programme of contact-inhibition in NIH3T3 fib…
Shortstop Recruits EB1/APC1 and Promotes Microtubule Assembly at the Muscle-Tendon Junction
2003
Abstract Background: Shot (previously named Kakapo), is a Drosophila Plakin family member containing both Actin binding and microtubule binding domains. In Drosophila , it is required for a wide range of processes, including axon extension, dendrite formation, axonal terminal arborization at the neuromuscular junction, tendon cell development, and adhesion of wing epithelium. Results: To address how Shot exerts its activity at the molecular level, we investigated the molecular interactions of Shot with candidate proteins in mature larval tendon cells. We show that Shot colocalizes with EB1/APC1 and with a compact microtubule array extending between the muscle-tendon junction and the cuticle…
ABG1 , a Novel and Essential Candida albicans Gene Encoding a Vacuolar Protein Involved in Cytokinesis and Hyphal Branching
2005
ABSTRACT Immunoscreening of a Candida albicans expression library resulted in the isolation of a novel gene encoding a 32.9-kDa polypeptide (288 amino acids), with 27.7% homology to the product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae YGR106c, a putative vacuolar protein. Heterozygous mutants in this gene displayed an a ltered b udding g rowth pattern, characterized by the formation of chains of buds, decreasingly in size towards the apex, without separation of the daughter buds. Consequently, this gene was designated ABG1 . A conditional mutant for ABG1 with the remaining allele under the control of the MET3 promoter did not grow in the presence of methionine and cysteine, demonstrating that ABG1 was e…
The down-regulation of miR-125b in chronic lymphocytic leukemias leads to metabolic adaptation of cells to a transformed state
2012
AbstractMiR-125b-1 maps at 11q24, a chromosomal region close to the epicenter of 11q23 deletions in chronic lymphocytic leukemias (CLLs). Our results establish that both aggressive and indolent CLL patients show reduced expression of miR-125b. Overexpression of miR-125b in CLL-derived cell lines resulted in the repression of many transcripts encoding enzymes implicated in cell metabolism. Metabolomics analyses showed that miR-125b overexpression modulated glucose, glutathione, lipid, and glycerolipid metabolism. Changes on the same metabolic pathways also were observed in CLLs. We furthermore analyzed the expression of some of miR-125b–target transcripts that are potentially involved in the…