INTRODUCTION The function of Glycogen Synthase Kinases 3β (GSK-3β) has previously been shown to be necessary for normal secondary palate development. Using GSK-3ß null mouse embryos, we examine the potential coordinate roles of Wnt and Hedgehog signaling on palatal ossification. METHODS Palates were harvested from GSK-3β, embryonic days 15.0-18.5 (e15.0-e18.5), and e15.5 Indian Hedgehog (Ihh)...

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3 ) negatively regulates cardiac hypertrophy. A potential target mediating the antihypertrophic effect of GSK-3 is eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2B (eIF2B ). Overexpression of GSK-3 increased the cellular kinase activity toward GST-eIF2B in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes, whereas LiCl (10 mmol/L) or isoproterenol (ISO) (10 mol/L), a treatment known to i...

AIMS Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) may affect afferent pathways innervating the bladder. We investigated the effects of GSK1016790A (GSK) and RN1734, a TRPV4 agonist and antagonist, respectively, and P2X-purinoceptor antagonists (TNP-ATP and PPADS) on cystometry (CMG), and the effect of GSK on single afferent fiber activities (SAAs) of the rat bladder and its relationship wit...

Modification of the Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) (SUMOylation) appears to regulate diverse cellular processes, including nuclear transport, signal transduction, apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle control, ubiquitin-dependent degradation and gene transcription. Glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK 3beta) is a serine/threonine kinase that is thought to contribute to a variety of biological e...

Certain environmental factors including drugs exacerbate or precipitate psoriasis. Lithium is the commonest cause of drug-induced psoriasis but underlying mechanisms are currently unknown. Lithium inhibits glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3). As lithium does not exacerbate other T-cell-mediated chronic inflammatory diseases, we investigated whether lithium may be acting directly on epidermal ker...

This study was undertaken to assay the effect of lovastatin on the glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) and collapsin responsive mediator protein-2 (CRMP-2) signaling pathway and mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) in epileptic rats. MFS in the dentate gyrus (DG) is an important feature of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and is highly related to the severity and the frequency of spontaneous recurrent ...

Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound derived from turmeric, has a protective potential on cardiovascular system. Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a multifunctional serine/threonine kinase, which has been demonstrated to play a role in cardioprotection. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of curcumin against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in cardiomyocyte and its underlying ...

GSK-3 is a serine/threonine kinase involved in a diverse range of cellular processes. GSK-3 exists in two isoforms, GSK-3a and GSK-3b, which possess some functional redundancy but also play distinct roles depending on developmental and cellular context. In this article, we found that GSK-3 actively promoted cell growth and survival in melanoma cells, and blocking this activity with small-molecu...

WNT-7a induces axonal spreading and branching in developing cerebellar granule neurons. This effect is mediated through the inhibition of GSK-3beta, a serine/threonine kinase and a component of the WNT pathway. Lithium, an inhibitor of GSK-3beta, mimics WNT-7a in granule cells. Here we examined further the effect of GSK-3beta inhibition on cytoskeletal re-organisation. Lithium induces axonal sp...

TNF-a is a cytokine with antitumorigenic property. In contrast, low dose, chronic TNF-a production by tumor cells or stromal cells may promote tumor growth andmetastasis. Serum levels of TNF-a are significantly elevated in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. Here, we showed that TNF-a induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promoted tumorigenicity of RCC by repressing E-cadherin, u...