The telencephalon is formed in the most anterior part of the central nervous system (CNS) and is organised into ventral subpallial and dorsal pallial domains. In mice, it has been demonstrated that Fgf signalling has an important role in induction and patterning of the telencephalon. However, the precise role of Fgf signalling is still unclear, owing to overlapping functions of Fgf family genes...

It has been known for some time that chronic treatment of neuronal cells and tissues with opioids, contrary to their acute effect, leads to an increase in cAMP accumulation. This phenomenon, defined as adenylyl cyclase superactivation, has been implicated in opiate addiction, yet the mechanism by which it is induced remains unclear. Here, we show that this phenomenon can be reproduced and studi...

It has previously been shown in T cells that stimulation of protein kinase C (PKC) or the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) induces the rapid accumulation of the active guanosine triphosphate-bound form of p21ras. These stimuli also induce the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2), a serine/threonine kinase that is rapidly activated via a kinase cascade in response to a varie...

A fundamental feature of cell polarity in response to spatial cues is asymmetric amplification of molecules generated by positive feedback signaling. We report a positive feedback loop between the guanosine triphosphatase Cdc42, a central determinant in eukaryotic cell polarity, and H(+) efflux by Na-H(+) exchanger 1 (NHE1), which is necessary at the front of migrating cells for polarity and di...

CCK stimulates pleiotrophic responses in pancreatic acinar cells; however, the intracellular signaling pathways involved are not well understood. To evaluate the role of the ras gene product in CCK actions, a strategy involving in vitro adenoviral-mediated gene delivery of a dominant-negative mutant Ras (RasN17) was utilized. Isolated acini were infected with various titers of either a control ...

Crystals of an ion-channel-forming peptaibol peptide in a partial membrane environment have been obtained by cocrystallizing antiamoebin with n-octanol. The antiamoebin molecule has a bent helical conformation very similar to that established for Leu-zervamicin, despite a significantly different sequence for residues 1-8. The bent helices assemble to form a polar channel in the shape of an hour...

The effects of active and passive finger movements on somatosensory potentials evoked by stimulation of the median nerve at the wrist or of finger I were investigated in 15 healthy volunteers. As compared to the resting condition, both active and passive movements of the stimulated hand fingers induced a marked reduction in the amplitude of the primary cerebral response (N20-P25 complex) as wel...

Fcgamma Receptor (FcR)-mediated phagocytosis by macrophages requires phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and activation of the Rho-family GTPases Cdc42 and Rac1. Cdc42 is activated at the advancing edge of the phagocytic cup, where actin is concentrated, and is deactivated at the base of the cup. The timing of 3' phosphoinositide (3'PI) concentration changes in cup membranes suggests a role fo...

Moesin is a member of the ERM family, a family of cross-linkers between the plasma membrane and the actin cytoskeleton, which are known to be activated by phosphorylation. Previously, we reported the RhoA and Rho kinase-dependent phosphorylation of moesin at Thr-558 in hippocampal neuronal cells by glutamate. Here we studied the induction of moesin phosphorylation by KCl (60 mm) in PC12 cells. ...