Search results for "choline"
showing 10 items of 1138 documents
Incorporation of the acetylcholine receptor dimer from Torpedo californica in a peptide supported lipid membrane investigated by surface plasmon and …
1998
Abstract The dimer species (Mr 580 000) of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, isolated from the electric organ of Torpedo californica, was incorporated into a thiopeptide supported lipid bilayer. The incorporation was achieved by fusion of liposomes with reconstituted receptor onto a gold-supported thiopeptide lipid monolayer. Surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPS) was used to monitor in real time the fusion process as well as the specific binding of the antagonist α-bungarotoxin. A recently developed extension of SPS offering enhanced sensitivity and specificity, surface plasmon fluorescence spectroscopy (SPFS), was then used to monitor subsequent binding of the monoclonal WF6 and…
Immunohistochemistry of cholinergic receptors.
1992
Acetylcholine and its receptors are involved in a variety of important signal transduction processes. As shown here paradigmatically for the human neuromuscular junction and the cerebral cortex, acetylcholine receptors can be visualized immunohistochemically at the cellular and subcellular level under physiological and pathological conditions. At normal motor endplates nicotinic cholinoceptors are localized at the surface of the postsynaptic junctional folds. In myasthenic syndromes investigation of muscle biopsies enables the diagnosis of receptor deficiencies at the ultrastructural level. In normal cerebral cortex pyramidal neurons are equipped with both nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcho…
Neuromuscular junction disassembly and muscle fatigue in mice lacking neurotrophin-4
2001
Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) is produced by slow muscle fibers in an activity-dependent manner and promotes growth and remodeling of adult motorneuron innervation. However, both muscle fibers and motor neurons express NT-4 receptors, suggesting bidirectional NT-4 signaling at the neuromuscular junction. Mice lacking NT-4 displayed enlarged and fragmented neuromuscular junctions with disassembled postsynaptic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clusters, reduced AChR binding, and acetylcholinesterase activity. Electromyographic responses, posttetanic potentiation, and action potential amplitude were also significantly reduced in muscle fibers from NT-4 knock-out mice. Slow-twitch soleus muscles from thes…
Cholesterol binds to synaptophysin and is required for biogenesis of synaptic vesicles.
1999
Here, to study lipid-protein interactions that contribute to the biogenesis of regulated secretory vesicles, we have developed new approaches by which to label proteins in vivo, using photoactivatable cholesterol and glycerophospholipids. We identify synaptophysin as a major specifically cholesterol-binding protein in PC12 cells and brain synaptic vesicles. Limited cholesterol depletion, which has little effect on total endocytic activity, blocks the biogenesis of synaptic-like microvesicles (SLMVs) from the plasma membrane. We propose that specific interactions between cholesterol and SLMV membrane proteins, such as synaptophysin, contribute to both the segregation of SLMV membrane constit…
Choline Fluxes to and from the Rat Cerebral Cortex Studied with the “Cup Technique” in Vivo
1986
Since MacIntosh and Oborin (11) and later Mitchell (12) introduced the “cup technique” as a mean to study acetylcholine release from the cerebral cortex in vivo, this technique has been widely used for investigating the release of various neurotransmitters in anaesthetized as well as unanaesthetized mammals (2, 13, 14). Recently we proposed the “cup technique” as a way for studying the efflux of endogenous choline (Ch) from the rat cerebral cortex (4, 5) and to estimate changes in the extracellular concentration of Ch, if we consider the fluid filling the cup as an extension of the extracellular space.
Short-term exposure of the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax to copper-based antifouling treated nets: copper bioavailability and biomarkers res…
2012
Abstract We studied if the levels of copper released from antifouling treated nets used in finfish mariculture could affect the immune defense mechanism and/or induce oxidative stress in Dicentrarchus labrax , after short term exposure in laboratory experiments. Dissolved copper concentration released from the treated nets, copper bioavailability and a set of biomarkers responses were measured. Biomarkers included hemoglobin concentration, activities of lysozyme, total complement, respiratory burst, glutathione S-transferase and acetycholinesterase and concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. Results indicated elevated copper concentration in seawater (184 μg L −1 ) but low…
Evidence that clustered phosphocholine head groups serve as sites for binding and assembly of an oligomeric protein pore.
2006
High susceptibility of rabbit erythrocytes toward the pore-forming action of staphylococcal alpha-toxin correlates with the presence of saturable, high affinity binding sites. All efforts to identify a protein or glycolipid receptor have failed, and the fact that liposomes composed solely of phosphatidylcholine are efficiently permeabilized adds to the enigma. A novel concept is advanced here to explain the puzzle. We propose that low affinity binding moieties can assume the role of high affinity binding sites due to their spatial arrangement in the membrane. Evidence is presented that phosphocholine head groups of sphingomyelin, clustered in sphingomyelin-cholesterol microdomains, serve th…
Relationship between the structure of amphiphilic copolymers and their ability to disturb lipid bilayers.
2005
Nonionic amphiphiles and particularly block copolymers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide (Pluronics) cause pronounced chemosensitization of tumor cells that exhibit multiple resistance to antineoplastic drugs. This effect is due to inhibition of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) responsible for drug efflux. It was suggested that the inhibition of P-gp might be due to changes in its lipid surrounding. Indeed, high dependence of P-gp activity on the membrane microviscosity was demonstrated [Regev et al. (1999) Eur. J. Biochem. 259, 18-24], suggesting that the ability of Pluronics to affect the P-gp activity is mediated by their effect on the membrane structure. We have found recently that adsorption …
Tail and Head Group Interactions in Phospholipid Monolayers
1996
Abstract The order/disorder transition of the phospholipid 1,2-dihexadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and its derivatives was studied by X-ray reflection and thermodynamic measurements. We find that increasing the length of an ethylene oxide spacer (zero to three EO groups) between the phosphate group and the hydrophobic chains (i) induces a slight shift of the main transition, (ii) reduces the influence of the head groups on the chain lattice, and (iii) increases the head group length and promotes its hydration. For DH(EO)3PC in the ordered phase we find that the small phosphate groups (which are the main source of contrast in X-ray reflectivity) are homogeneously distributed within the h…