Apoptosis is one of the major events that contribute to the regulation of the immune system. For human neutrophils, evidence has been produced that the transcription factor NF-κB is critical in influencing the ultimate outcome of a cell’s fate. However, such research has not yet been performed on bovine neutrophils. This urged us to examine the possible involvement of NF-κB in apoptosis of thes...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate for the first time the efficacy of safe-sourced phosphatidylserine-containing omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (PS-omega-3) in improving memory abilities. METHODS PS-omega-3 was administered daily for 6 weeks to eight elderly volunteers with subjective memory complaints. The Cognitive Drug Research test battery was used to assess the effect on their cognitiv...

The Ca(2+)-ATPase from the synaptosomal plasma membrane has been purified nearly to homogeneity from pig brain by a new procedure involving the calmodulin-affinity-chromatography technique. This is a convenient alternative to the standard methods for the purification of the plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase from different sources that were unsuitable to purify the enzyme from pig brain. The main fe...

Tissue factor (TF) encryption is the post-translational suppression of TF procoagulant activity (PCA) on the cell surface. There is emerging evidence of encrypted TF in normal blood associated with monocytes and platelets. Expression of this latent TF PCA during the propagation phase of blood coagulation may contribute to hemostasis. One pathway leading to the decryption of TF PCA begins with a...

We introduce a minimal free energy describing the interaction of charged groups and counterions including both classical electrostatic and specific interactions. The predictions of the model are compared against the standard model for describing ions next to charged interfaces, consisting of Poisson-Boltzmann theory with additional constants describing ion binding, which are specific to the cou...

We introduce a microscopic model of a lipid with a charged headgroup and flexible hydrophobic tails, a neutral solvent, and counter ions. Short-ranged interactions between hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties are included as are the Coulomb interactions between charges. Further, we include a short-ranged interaction between charges and neutral solvent, which mimics the short-ranged, thermally a...

Vectamidine is a liposome-forming double-chain cationic amphiphile. The present work was aimed to microscopically study the interactions of Vectamidine liposomes with the human erythrocyte plasma membrane. Vectamidine rapidly induced stomatocytic shapes. Attachment of Vectamidine liposomes to the erythrocyte induced a strong local invagination of the membrane. This frequently resulted in a comp...

Three mutants of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which require exogenous ethanolamine or choline were isolated. The mutants map to a single locus (cho1) on chromosome V. The lipid composition suggests that cho1 mutants do not synthesize phosphatidylserine under any growth conditions. If phosphatidylethanolamine or phosphatidylcholine, which are usually derived from phosphatidylserine, were s...

the recognition of apoptotic cells by phagocytes is a complex, yet highly orchestrated event. Many receptors have been identified that recognize phosphatidylserine (pS; Fig 1)—which is exposed on early apoptotic cells—leading to downstream signalling and apoptotic cell engulfment. in this issue of EMBo reports, the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (ragE) is described as a new pS rece...

Apoptotic cells expose phosphatidylserine on their surface as an "eat me" signal, and macrophages respond by engulfing them. Although several molecules that specifically bind phosphatidylserine have been identified, the molecular mechanism that triggers engulfment remains elusive. Here, using a mouse pro-B cell line, Ba/F3, that grows in suspension, we reconstituted the engulfment of apoptotic ...