The effect of heparin and poly-L-glutamate on the function of inhibitory M2 muscarinic autoreceptors on parasympathetic nerves in the lung was tested in antigen-challenged guinea pigs. After antigen challenge, M2 receptor function is decreased, thus increasing release of acetylcholine from the vagus and potentiating vagally induced bronchoconstriction. Guinea pigs were anesthetized, tracheostom...

The M2 proteins of a variety of influenza A viruses of different subtypes were shown to possess associated palmitate. Susceptibility to removal by reduction or treatment with hydroxylamine is consistent with attachment via a thioester linkage to cysteine. The absence of the acyl group from the M2 proteins of several equine viruses of the H3N8 subtype correlates with the replacement of cysteine ...

The effects of two diets, a control diet (commercial feed with 39% crude protein) and an experimental diet (prepared based on 42% soybean meal with 38% crude protein), on growth performance of western white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in six 0.4-ha-earthen ponds (three replications per treatment) with 25 per m2 density, were investigated. There was no significant difference in final weight (m...

The M2 channel protein on the influenza A virus membrane has become the main target of the anti-flu drugs amantadine and rimantadine. The structure of the M2 channel proteins of the H3N2 (PDB code 2RLF) and 2009-H1N1 (Genbank accession number GQ385383) viruses may help researchers to solve the drug-resistant problem of these two adamantane-based drugs and develop more powerful new drugs against...

Influenza virus assembly and budding occur in the 'budozone', a coalesced raft domain in the plasma membrane. The viral transmembrane protein M2 is implicated in virus particle scission, the ultimate step in virus budding, probably by wedge-like insertion of an amphiphilic helix into the membrane. In order to do this, M2 is hypothesized to be targeted to the edge of the budozone, mediated by ac...

We asked whether inclusion of the FLAG epitope in the fourth extracellular loop of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (M2-901/CFTR), which permits detection of cell surface expression, affected CFTR's biophysical properties or channel regulation by kinases, phosphatases, and nucleotides. Channel activity of M2-901/CFTR was evaluated in numerous cell types and expression sys...

We previously reported that persistent application of the non-specific cholinergic agonist carbachol (CAR) increased the frequency of calcium channel-mediated oscillatory activity in pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) neurons, which we identified as dependent on voltage-gated, high-threshold P/Q-type channels. Here, we tested the hypothesis that M2 muscarinic receptors and G-proteins associated wit...