This review is focused on the relationship between neuroendocrine regulation of GnRH/LH secretion and the expression of GnRH and GnRH receptor (GnRHR) genes in the hypothalamic-pituitary unit during different physiological states of animals and under stress. Moreover, the involvement of hypothalamic GABA-ergic, Beta-endorphinergic, CRH-ergic, noradrenergic, dopaminergic and GnRH-ergic systems i...

The conserved coat protein complex II (COPII) mediates the initial steps of secretory protein trafficking by assembling onto subdomains of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in two layers to generate cargo-laden transport carriers that ultimately fuse with an adjacent ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC). Here, we demonstrate that Trk-fused gene (TFG) binds directly to the inner layer of the C...

Cartwheel cells are prominent interneurons in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) that bear considerable homology to cerebellar Purkinje cells. They contact other cartwheel cells as well as fusiform cells, the principal cells of the DCN. In fusiform cells, the inhibition from cartwheel cells interacts with excitation mediated by granule cells and auditory nerve fibers, and shapes the output of th...

Because nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) has both pronociceptive (hyperalgesia) and antinociceptive actions in pharmacological experiments, and there is no significant difference in the nociceptive responses between NOP(-/-) mice and their wild-type (NOP(+/+)) littermates, the physiological role of N/OFQ in pain regulation remains to be determined. Under the hypothesis that the use of molecularly...

Owing to the impossibility of reaching the Golgi for secretion or the cytosol for degradation, mutant Ig-mu chains that lack the first constant domain (muDeltaCH1) accumulate as detergent-insoluble aggregates in dilated endoplasmic reticulum cisternae, called Russell bodies. The presence of similar structures hallmarks many ER storage diseases, but their pathogenic role(s) remain obscure. Explo...

Muscle stiffness in stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is produced by continuous, involuntary firing of motor units that is thought to be caused by an autoimmune mediated dysfunction of GABA-ergic inhibitory neurones. We have postulated that the loss of GABA-ergic inputs from spinal interneurones alone is insufficient to produce tonic firing of motor neurones and that excessive supraspinal excitation ...

Suovrexant is a novel hypnotic and is the only agent clinically available that works by blocking orexin-ergic mechanisms.

Pretreatment with 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), a precursor of 5-HT, antagonised while pretreatment with p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA), a 5-HT depletor, potentiated the myoclonus induced by picrotoxin, a GABA antagonist. Pretreatment with aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA), a GABA transaminase inhibitor, antagonised picrotoxin-induced myoclonus. The combined effect of the least protective doses of AOAA a...