Search results for "SIGNALLING"

Peripheral innervation of the heart

1987

The present immunohistochemical study demonstrates the multiplicity, histotopography and origin of peptidergic innervation in the mammalian heart. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is the major representative of peptides in cardiac sympathetic efferents. Sympathetic afferents are characterized by the presence of tachykinins, calcitonin gene-related peptide and apparently also some opioid peptides. Predominant peptides of the vagal system are tachykinins. The intrinsic peptidergic system predominantly consists of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide/peptide histidine isoleucine. Paracrine systems are merely opioid-ergic. Target relations of extrinsic and intrinsic peptidergic nerves were found to be more di…

2021

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) rank the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Obesity and its related metabolic syndrome are well-established risk factors for CVDs. Therefore, understanding the pathophysiological role of adipose tissues is of great importance in maintaining cardiovascular health. Oxidative stress, characterized by excessive formation of reactive oxygen species, is a common cellular stress shared by obesity and CVDs. While plenty of literatures have illustrated the vascular oxidative stress, very few have discussed the impact of oxidative stress in adipose tissues. Adipose tissues can communicate with vascular systems, in an endocrine and paracrine manner, throu…

Tricks and Tracks in the Identification and Quantification of Endocannabinoids

2013

Abstract The endocannabinoid system serves pivotal roles in a diverse range of physiological and pathophysiological states, including behavior, pain, schizophrenia, obesity, Alzheimer disease, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease. A number of endocannabinoids (eCBs) and their receptors have been characterised and identified in a plethora of biological matrices. The eCBs include N-arachidonoyl ethanolamine (anandamide), 2-arachidonoyl glycerol, 2-arachidonoyl glyceryl ether (noladin ether), O-arachidonoyl ethanolamine (virodhamine) and N-arachidonoyl dopamine. Advanced targeted mass spectrometry methods, particularly the selected reaction monitoring, has facilitated sensitive quanti…

The Role of the α Cell in the Pathogenesis of Diabetes: A World beyond the Mirror

2021

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most prevalent chronic metabolic disorders, and insulin has been placed at the epicentre of its pathophysiological basis. However, the involvement of impaired alpha (α) cell function has been recognized as playing an essential role in several diseases, since hyperglucagonemia has been evidenced in both Type 1 and T2DM. This phenomenon has been attributed to intra-islet defects, like modifications in pancreatic α cell mass or dysfunction in glucagon’s secretion. Emerging evidence has shown that chronic hyperglycaemia provokes changes in the Langerhans’ islets cytoarchitecture, including α cell hyperplasia, pancreatic beta (β) cell dedifferentiati…

New biological aspects of Chromogranin A-derived peptides: Focus on vasostatins

2007

Chromogranin A (CgA), one component of the granin family, represents the major soluble protein co-stored and co-released with catecholamines, within chromaffin cells secretory granules. It is considered a diagnostic and prognostic marker of several diseases, including a variety of tumours and cardiac heart failure. It also represents a precursor of biologically active fragments, generated after proteolytic cleavage at the level of the multiple pairs of dibasic sites which enrich its sequence. CgA, and its derived fragments show an old evolutionary history being ubiquitously present throughout the animal word, from mammals to invertebrates. Their biological functions include control of hormo…

Human Oviductal Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone: Possible Implications in Fertilization, Early Embryonic Development, and Implantation1

2000

The oviduct is host to gametes and early embryos at a critical point in their lives. It is clear that the interactions of gametes/early embryo with the maternal oviduct in an autocrine and paracrine manner provide a microenvironment that enhances fertilization, early embryonic development, and implantation. Moreover, there is considerable evidence that an extrahypothalamic GnRH may play a substantial role as a molecular autocrine/paracrine regulator in these events. Gametes and preimplantation embryos express GnRH and GnRH receptor at both messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein levels. However, whether GnRH is produced by the human oviduct has not yet been demonstrated. We used RT-PC…

Cellular response to external signals in S. cerevisiae

2015

En esta tesis, se utilizó como organismo modelo la levadura Saccharomyces cerevisiae para obtener conocimiento fundamental sobre una variedad de mecanismos moleculares utilizados por la célula para responder y adaptarse a los estímulos externos. En respuesta al aumento de la osmolaridad externa, la ruta de señalización MAPK High Osmolarity Glycerol (HOG) se activa para mediar cambios en diversas funciones celulares, incluyendo la reprogramación global de la transcripción y traducción, con el fin último de lograr la adaptación. Tras la detección de alta osmolaridad externa, la señal se transduce a través de dos ramas funcionalmente redundantes pero mecanísticamente distintas, SLN1 y SHO1, pa…

Moving RTS/CTS to the frequency domain: an efficient contention scheme for 802.11ax networks

2019

In this paper, we propose a contention mechanism based on the execution of multiple contention rounds in the frequency domain (ReCHo), which is designed to offer high throughput performance and robustness with respect to imperfect carrier sensing. The main idea is using narrow tones as signalling messages for performing channel access contentions and allowing the Access Point (AP) to echo these signals, in order to extend the sensing capabilities to all the stations associated to the AP. In particular, we refer to the emerging IEEE 802.11ax standard, showing how our scheme can boost performance of random access with respect to the current version of IEEE 802.11ax OFDMA Back-Off (OBO), even …

'Good to Repeat': Making Random Access Near-Optimal with Repeated Contentions

2020

Recent advances on WLAN technology have been focused mostly on boosting network capacity by means of a more efficient and flexible physical layer. A new concept is required at MAC level to exploit fully the new capabilities of the PHY layer. In this article, we propose a contention mechanism based on Repeated Contentions (ReCo) in frequency domain. It provides a simple-to-configure, robust and short-term fair algorithm for the random contention component of the MAC protocol. The throughput efficiency of ReCo is not sensitive to the number of contending stations, so that ReCo does not require adaptive tuning of the access parameters for performance optimization. Efficiency and robustness is …

IP 3 signalling regulates exogenous RNA i in C aenorhabditis elegans

2015

RNA interference (RNAi) is a widespread and widely exploited phenomenon. Here, we show that changing inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) signalling alters RNAi sensitivity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Reducing IP3 signalling enhances sensitivity to RNAi in a broad range of genes and tissues. Conversely up-regulating IP3 signalling decreases sensitivity. Tissue-specific rescue experiments suggest IP3 functions in the intestine. We also exploit IP3 signalling mutants to further enhance the sensitivity of RNAi hypersensitive strains. These results demonstrate that conserved cell signalling pathways can modify RNAi responses, implying that RNAi responses may be influenced by an animal's physiology…