background: myasthenia gravis (mg) is the most common disorder of neuromuscular junction in which autoantibodies develop against nicotinic acetylcholine receptor for unknown reasons. the association of immunomodulator genes with different autoimmune disease has been studied in recent years. objective: the aim of this study was to investigate correlation between a genetic variation in stromal ce...

a blocker of postsynaptic acetylcholine receptors was isolated from venom of the eastern green mamba dendroaspis angusticeps, by gel filtration, ion-exchange and reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. the isolated component blocks neuromuscular transmission and responses to exogenously applied acetylcholine in isolated chick biventer cervices preparations. these results suggest t...

A high resolution structure of -conotoxin EI has been determined by H NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. -Conotoxin EI has the same disulfide framework as 4/7 conotoxins targeting neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors but antagonizes the neuromuscular receptor as do the 3/5 and A conotoxins. The unique binding preference of -conotoxin EI to the 1/ subunit interface of Torpedo neuromu...

Focal adhesion kinase is a recently characterized tyrosine kinase that is concentrated at focal contacts in cultured cells. It is thought to play an important role in the regulation of the integrin-based signal transduction mechanism involved in the assembly of this membrane specialization. In this study, we examined the immunocytochemical distribution of focal adhesion kinase in Xenopus skelet...

Acetylcholine is the main neurotransmitter at the mammalian neuromuscular junction (NMJ) where nicotinic acetylcholine receptors mediate the signaling between nerve terminals and muscle fibers. We show that under glutamatergic transmission, rat NMJ switches from cholinergic type synapse to glutamatergic synapse. Connecting skeletal muscle to the lateral white matter of the spinal cord by grafti...

We used an antibody prepared against Aplysia (mollusc) body-wall actin that specifically reacts with certain forms of cytoplasmic actin in mammalian cells to probe for the presence of actin at the neuromuscular junction. Immunocytochemical studies showed that actin or an actinlike molecule is concentrated at neuromuscular junctions of normal and denervated adult rat muscle fibers. Actin is pres...

The clinical pharmacology of neuromuscular blocking agents is described. During neuromuscular blockade, succinylcholine attaches to receptors in the motor end plate and depolarizes the neuromuscular junction, making the end plate refractory to acetylcholine. The nondepolarizing relaxants have a structure similar to that of succinylcholine and bind to the same receptors. Instead of depolarizing ...