Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a lipid mediator released from the phospholipid membranes that mediates important physiological functions in the nervous system via activation of four EP receptors (EP1-4). There is growing evidence for the important role of the PGE2/EP4 signaling in the nervous system. Previous studies in our lab show that the expression of the EP4 receptor is significantly higher du...

Pollen germination of Vitis vinifera L., of the family Vitaceae was examined in fresh and stored pollen upto 48 weeks at different temperature i.e., refrigerator (+4C), freezer (-20C, -30C) and freeze drier (-60C). Pollen stored at low temperature showed better germination percentage as compared to pollen stored at +4C and fresh. Freeze dried pollen (-60C) showed the highest germination percent...

Novel 1, 5-benzothiazepine derivatives were synthesized and characterized by spectral studies. The newly synthesized compounds (4a–g) were screened for in vivo anti-inflammatory activity at a dose of 10 mg/kg BW. Among those tested, compounds 4c, 4d and 4g exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity in models of acute inflammation such as rat paw edema, while compounds 4c and 4g showed con...

Geldanamycin (GM) is a natural antibiotic that binds Hsp90 and induces the degradation of receptor tyrosine kinases, steroid receptors, and Raf. It is a potent inhibitor of cancer cells that overexpress HER-kinases, but its effects on other important proteins may cause significant toxicity and limit its clinical use. We report the synthesis and identification of a GM dimer, GMD-4c, which had se...

Parallel visual pathways in the primate brain known as the dorsal and ventral streams receive retinal inputs mainly through the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus. Inputs from these layers terminate within distinct parts of layer 4C of V1 (visual area 1). Due to the complexity of M- and P-derived neural connectivity in V1 and higher visual areas, th...

Subunit proteins that comprise functional AMPA receptors were localized by immunocytochemical methods in the adult macaque primary visual cortex (V1). GluR1, GluR2/3/4c, and GluR4 immunoreactivity consisted of rich plexuses of punctate profiles scattered throughout the neuropil, in radial arrays, and outlining the membrane of somata and proximal dendrites. Cytoplasmic immunoreactivity was limit...

We cloned a major aliphatic glucosinolate (GSL) gene, BoGSL-ELONG in Brassica oleracea, using the Arabidopsis sequence database. We based our work on an Arabidopsis candidate gene forming part of a gene family coding for isopropyl malate synthetase-like enzymes (IPMS). This gene is presumably responsible for synthesis of GSL possessing side chains consisting of four carbons (4C). The similarity...

Visual inputs from the 2 eyes in most primates activate alternating bands of cortex in layer 4C of primary visual cortex, thereby forming the well-studied ocular dominance columns (ODCs). In addition, the enzymatic reactivity of cytochrome oxidase (CO) reveals "blob" structures within the supragranular layers of ODCs. Here, we present evidence for compartments within ODCs that have not been cle...

Define the Apéry polynomial of degree n by A n (x) = n k=0 n k 2 n + k k 2. We determine p−1 k=0 (−1) k A k (1/4) and p−1 k=0 (−1) k A k (1/16) modulo a prime p > 3. Let b and c be integers and let the generalized trinomial coefficient T n (b, c) be the coefficient of x n in the expansion of (x 2 +bx+c) n. We establish the following new congruence p−1 k=0 T k (b, c) 2 (b 2 − 4c) k ≡ c(b 2 − 4c)...

The formation of methylglyoxal from triose phosphates was studied in dialyzed whole cell homogenates of rat liver. In the cell-free system, methylglyoxal is largely derived from dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP). The addition of the cofactor of glyoxalase activity, reduced glutathione (GSH), to the system inhibits the accumulation of methylglyoxal from DHAP, whereas the absence of GSH promo...