Although inhibition of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger normally increases [Ca2+]i in neonatal cardiac myocytes, application of the inhibitor Ni2+ appears to reduce [Ca2+] measured by fluo-3. To investigate how the apparent reduction in [Ca2+]i occurs we examined Ca2+ transport by the human Na+/Ca2+ exchanger expressed in Sf9 cells. Transport of Ca2+ by the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger was examined using a laser-s...

Equine luteinizing hormone (eLH) and chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) are composed of identical alpha and beta polypeptide chains, but eCG subunits are much more heavily glycosylated and sialylated. Consequently, eCG exhibits a much longer half-life than eLH in blood. Recombinant eLH/CG, expressed in Sf9 and Mimic insect cells, were compared with one another and to the natural hormones eCG and eLH....

Pseudomonas taiwanensis is a broad-host-range entomopathogenic bacterium that exhibits insecticidal activity toward agricultural pests Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera exigua, Spodoptera litura, Trichoplusia ni and Drosophila melanogaster. Oral infection with different concentrations (OD = 0.5 to 2) of wild-type P. taiwanensis resulted in insect mortality rates that were not significantly differ...

Understanding the interaction between soluble factors and cells in the cellular microenvironment is critical to understanding a wide range of diseases. Microchannel culture systems provide a tool for separating diffusion and convection based transport making possible controlled studies of the effects of soluble factors in the cellular microenvironment. In this paper we compare the proliferation...

The receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatase, PTPmu, displays structural similarity to cell-cell adhesion molecules of the immunoglobulin superfamily. We have investigated the ability of human PTPmu to function in such a capacity. Expression of PTPmu, with or without the PTPase domains, by recombinant baculovirus infection of Sf9 cells induced their aggregation. However, neither a chimeric fo...

The ways in which the various microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) contribute to cellular function are unknown beyond the ability of these proteins to modify microtubule dynamics. One member of the MAP family, tau protein, is restricted in its distribution to the axonal compartment of neurons, and has therefore prompted studies that attempt to relate tau function to the generation or maintena...

cDNAs coding for the full-length human 65 and 67 kDa glutamic acid decarboxylases (GAD65 and GAD67) were amplified from pancreas and hippocampus cDNA libraries by polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Both cDNAs were inserted into a baculovirus vector which mediated highly efficient expression of the human GAD65 and GAD67 with histidine-hexapeptides as affinity ligands at their C-termini in ...

2-Chloro-N(6)-methyl-(N )-methanocarba-2'-deoxyadenosine-3',5'- bisphosphate (MRS2279) was developed previously as a selective high-affinity, non-nucleotide P2Y(1) receptor (P2Y1-R) antagonist (J Med Chem 43:829-842, 2002; Br J Pharmacol 135:2004-2010, 2002). We have taken advantage of the N(6)-methyl substitution in the adenine base to incorporate [(3)H]methylamine into the synthesis of [(3)H]...