A major challenge in assisted reproductive technology is to develop conditions for in vitro oocyte maturation yielding high-quality eggs. Efforts are underway to assess whether known hormonal and local factors play a role in oocyte developmental competence and to identify the molecular mechanism involved. Here we have tested the hypothesis that FSH improves oocyte developmental competence by re...

The BSD2-1 allele renders Saccharomyces cerevisiae independent of its normally essential requirement for phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (Sec14p) in the stimulation of Golgi secretory function and cell viability. We now report that BSD2-1 yeast mutants also exhibit yet another phenotype, an inositol auxotrophy. We demonstrate that the basis for this Ino- phenotype is the inability of BSD2...

The polymeric Ig receptor (pIgR) transcytoses its ligand, dimeric IgA (dIgA), from the basolateral to the apical surface of epithelial cells. Although the pIgR is constitutively transcytosed in the absence of ligand, binding of dIgA stimulates transcytosis of the pIgR. We recently reported that dIgA binding to the pIgR induces translocation of protein kinase C, production of inositol triphospha...

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a pro-inflammatory lipid mediator that increases vascular permeability by simultaneous activation of two pathways, one dependent on the cyclooxygenase metabolite prostaglandin E2 and the other on the sphingomyelinase metabolite ceramide. The hypothesis that part of the PAF-induced oedema is mediated via the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) pathway or Rho ki...

Previous studies showed that acetylcholine, in the presence of cserine, stimulated the incorporation of P3* into the phospholipidcs in slices of guinea pig brain cortex (2, 3). The major stimulation occurred in phosphoinositidc and in phosphatidic acid, with a lesser stimulation in phosphatidyl choline (3). The incorporation of glycerol-l-U4 into the total glycerophosphatide fraction was not in...

The mAb AA4 binds to novel derivatives of the ganglioside GD1b on rat basophilic leukemia (RBL2H3) cells . Some of the gangliosides are located close to the high affinity IgE receptor (FCcRI), and binding of mAb AA4 inhibits FCERI-mediated histamine release . In the present study, mAb AA4 was found to bind exclusively to mast cells in all rat tissues examined . In vitro, within 1 min of mAb AA4...

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) treatment of A-431 cells induces a biphasic increase in the levels of inositol phosphates. The growth factor produces an initial, rapid increase in the level of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins-1,4,5-P3) due to hydrolysis of phosphatidyl-inositol-4,5-bisphosphate (Wahl, M., Sweatt, J. D., and Carpenter, G. (1987) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 142, 688-695). The l...