Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy is used in the long-term treatment of children with growth disorders, but there is considerable treatment response variability. The exon 3-deleted growth hormone receptor polymorphism (GHR(d3)) may account for some of this variability. The authors performed a systematic review (to April 2011), including investigator-only data, to quantify the effe...

Although both growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling were shown to regulate life span in lower organisms, the role of GH signaling in human longevity remains unclear. Because a GH receptor exon 3 deletion (d3-GHR) appears to modulate GH sensitivity in humans, we hypothesized that this polymorphism could play a role in human longevity. We report a linear increased...

Opioid receptors (OR) are part of the class A of G-protein coupled receptors and the target of the opiates, the most powerful analgesic molecules used in clinic. During a protracted use, a tolerance to analgesic effect develops resulting in a reduction of the effectiveness. So understanding mechanisms of tolerance is a great challenge and may help to find new strategies to tackle this side effe...

Methamphetamine is a potent psychomotor stimulant and a major drug of abuse. There is currently no effective medication available for treatment for methamphetamine addiction. The present study investigated the role of the dopamine D3 receptor on IV methamphetamine self-administration and its effect on methamphetamine induced neurochemical changes. Acute administration of the putative D3 recepto...

Dopamine can induce fascinating, complex human behavioral states, including disinhibition, euphoria, or elaborate stereotypies, whereas dopamine deficiency can cause anxiety or sadness. Limited data suggest that these phenomena may involve dysfunction of orbital frontal cortex, cingulate cortex, or ventral striatum. The dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) has an anatomic distribution that suggests it co...

We previously reported that human CD4+ Tregs secrete high levels of IL-10 when stimulated in the presence of dexamethasone and calcitriol (vitamin D3). We now show that following stimulation by allergen, IL-10-secreting Tregs inhibit cytokine secretion by allergen-specific Th2 cells in an IL-10-dependent manner. A proportion of patients with severe asthma fail to demonstrate clinical improvemen...

Repeated exposure to cocaine can induce neuroadaptations in the brain. One mechanism by which persistent changes occur involves alterations in gene expression mediated by the dopamine receptors. Both the dopamine D1 and D3 receptors have been shown to mediate gene expression changes. Moreover, the D1 and D3 receptors are also coexpressed in the same neurons, particularly in the nucleus accumben...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the proliferation, differentiation, and matrix mineralization of MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells in vitro. Methods MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 were prepared. Cytotoxic effects and osteogenic differentiation were evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenylt...

The dopamine D(3) receptor (D(3)R) is an important pharmacotherapeutic target for its potential role in psychiatric disorders and drug dependence. To further explore its function in rats, a regulatable lentivirus, Lenti-D3, holding the rat D(3)R cDNA, has been constructed as well as three nonregulatable lentiviruses, Lenti-D3-siRNA1, Lenti-D3-siRNA2 and Lenti-D3-siRNA3, expressing small hairpin...

Human dendritic cells (DC) can be differentiated from blood monocytes in the presence of GM-CSF and IL-4 and matured by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Vitamin D3 inhibits the maturation of human DC measured by changes in surface expression of HLA-DR, CD14, CD40, CD80, CD83, and CD86. We here examine the function of vitamin D3 during DC maturation. One of the earliest changes to LPS-induced maturatio...