In the present study, we characterized oxidative stress-dependent cellular events in dopaminergic cells after exposure to an organic form of manganese compound, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT). In pheochromocytoma cells, MMT exposure resulted in rapid increase in generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within 5--15 min, followed by release of mitochondrial cytochrome C in...

Methamphetamine (METH) is an illicit drug that causes neurodegenerative effects in humans. In rodents, METH induces apoptosis of striatal glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) -containing neurons. This paper provides evidence that METH-induced cell death occurs consequent to interactions of ER stress and mitochondrial death pathways. Specifically, injections of METH are followed by an almost immedi...

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) interferes with host cell signaling by injecting virulence effector proteins into enterocytes via a type III secretion system (T3SS). NleB1 is a novel T3SS glycosyltransferase effector from EPEC that transfers a single N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) moiety in an N-glycosidic linkage to Arg(117) of the Fas-associated death domain protein (FADD). GlcNAcylati...

OBJECTIVE Myocardial ischemia has been shown to induce apoptosis of endothelial cells (EC). However, the mechanism of this endothelial injury is still poorly understood. To analyse the signaling pathway of ischemia-induced EC apoptosis was the aim of the present study. METHODS The primary culture of rat coronary EC was exposed to simulated ischemia (glucose-free anoxia at pH(o) 6.4). Apoptosi...

Protein cleavage is a common feature in human neurodegenerative disease. Ataxin-3 protein with an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) repeat causes spinocerebellar ataxia type-3 (SCA3), also called Machado-Joseph disease, and is cleaved in mammalian cells, transgenic mice and SCA3 patient brain tissue. However, the pathological significance of Ataxin-3 cleavage has not been carefully examined. To ga...