The time course of synaptic conductance is important in temporal precision of information processing in the neuronal network. The AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated EPSCs at the calyx of Held become faster in decay time as animals mature. To clarify how desensitization and deactivation of AMPARs contribute to developmental speeding of EPSCs, we compared the decay time of quantal EPSCs (qEPSCs) with...

Dose-response curves relating the external stimulus concentration to receptor occupancy differ in two types of chemoreceptor organs. In 'concentration detectors' the receptor molecules at the receptor cell membrane are directly exposed to the external stimulus concentration; these organs exhibit the well-known hyperbolic dose-response relationship reflecting the association-dissociation of stim...

Drosophila visual signaling, a G-protein-coupled phospholipase Cbeta (PLCbeta)-mediated mechanism, is regulated by eye-protein kinase C (PKC) that promotes light adaptation and fast deactivation, most likely via phosphorylation of inactivation no afterpotential D (INAD) and TRP (transient receptor potential). To reveal the critical phosphatases that dephosphorylate INAD, we used several biochem...

BACKGROUND Dopamine and dopamine transporters (DAT, which regulate extracellular dopamine in the brain) are implicated in the modulation of attention but their specific roles are not well understood. Here we hypothesized that dopamine modulates attention by facilitation of brain deactivation in the default mode network (DMN). Thus, higher striatal DAT levels, which would result in an enhanced c...

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) may be burdensome in end-stage heart failure. At the end of life, as many as one-fifth to one-third of patients experience an ICD shock. Critical care nurses should be aware of the potential burden of these shocks at the end of life as well as the ethics and organizational policies surrounding ICD deactivation. This literature review examines the i...

Degradation of proteins is important for the operating life of biocatalysts and the shelf life of protein pharmaceuticals. We have previously found that the deactivating effects of salts on proteins can be correlated to an indicator of ion hydration, the B-viscosity coefficient of the anion in solution. Here, we test the influence of cations on protein kinetic stability by observing deactivatio...

N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors transiently transfected into mammalian HEK-293 cells were characterized with subunit-specific antibodies and electrophysiological recordings. Deactivation time course recorded in response to fast-glutamate pulses were studied in isolated and lifted cells, as well as in outside-out membrane patches excised from cells expressing recombinant NR1 subunits i...

The current experiment was conducted to determine the effect of mycotoxin-contaminated diets with aflatoxin (AFLA) and deoxynivalenol (DON) and dietary inclusion of deactivation compound on layer hen performance during a 10-wk trial. The experimental design consisted of a 4 × 2 factorial with 4 toxin levels: control, low (0.5 mg/kg AFLA + 1.0 mg/kg DON), medium (1.5 mg/kg AFLA + 1.5 mg/kg DON),...

Light-activated opsins undergo carboxy-terminal phosphorylation, which contributes to the deactivation of their photoresponse. The photopigment melanopsin possesses an unusually long carboxy tail containing 37 serine and threonine sites that are potential sites for phosphorylation by a G-protein dependent kinase (GRK). Here, we show that a small cluster of six to seven sites is sufficient for d...

Biomass is a possible renewable alternative to fossil carbon sources. Today, many bio-resources can be converted to direct substitutes or suitable alternatives to fossil-based fuels and chemicals. However, catalyst deactivation under the harsh, often liquid-phase reaction conditions required for biomass treatment is a major obstacle to developing processes that can compete with the petrochemica...