Treatment of cultured human HO melanoma cells with the mouse skin tumor promoter phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) at 5 x 10(-10) to 5 x 10(-7) M resulted in a dose-related inhibition of growth and a stimulation of differentiated functions. These included melanin synthesis and formation of dendrite-like structures. Higher doses of phorbol dibutyrate, a less potent tumor promoter, were requi...

Postsynaptic neuronal dendrites undergo functional and morphological changes in response to pathologically excessive synaptic activation. Although rapid formation of segmental focal swelling (varicosity) is the most prominent hallmark in such excitotoxic injury, little is known about the pathophysiological function of these structural alterations. We used cultured rat hippocampal slices to eval...

The formation of lithium dendrites in solid-state lithium-ion batteries leads to short-circuiting and cell failure. One proposed mechanism for dendrite growth is the direct reduction ions, due residual electronic conductivity nominally insulating solid electrolyte. This article presents a fully first-principles scheme modeling materials, such as electrolytes, function synthesis protocol, applie...

Safe and low-cost zinc-based flow batteries offer great promise for grid-scale energy storage, which is the key to widespread adoption of renewable energies. However, advancement in this technology considerably hindered by notorious zinc dendrite formation that results low Coulombic efficiencies, fast capacity decay, even short circuits. In review, we first discuss fundamental mechanisms identi...

The use of interfacial layers to stabilize the lithium surface is a popular research direction for improving morphology deposited and suppressing dendrite formation. This work considers different approach controlling formation where plated underneath an coating. In present research, Li–Sn intermetallic was chosen as model system due its lithium-rich phases high Li diffusivity. These coatings al...

Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter for spinal motoneurons. We have investigated its effect on survival and neurite formation in cultures of highly enriched motoneurons from 15-d-old rat embryos. Whereas the survival of these neurons was not reduced by this treatment, a distinct and specific effect on dendrite outgrowth could be observed. Axon outgrowth was not affected by glutamat...

Dendrite development is crucial in the formation of functional neural networks. Recent studies have provided insights into the involvement of secretory transport in dendritogenesis, raising the question of how the secretory pathway is controlled to direct dendritic elaboration. Here, we identify a functional link between transcriptional regulatory programs and the COPII secretory machinery in d...

Up-regulation of the cAMP pathway by forskolin or alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone induces melanocyte and melanoma cell differentiation characterized by stimulation of melanin synthesis and dendrite development. Here we show that forskolin-induced dendricity is associated to a disassembly of actin stress fibers. Since Rho controls actin organization, we studied the role of this guanosine tr...