BACKGROUND CEL-I is a galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine-specific C-type lectin isolated from the sea cucumber Cucumaria echinata. Its carbohydrate-binding site contains a QPD (Gln-Pro-Asp) motif, which is generally recognized as the galactose specificity-determining motif in the C-type lectins. In our previous study, replacement of the QPD motif by an EPN (Glu-Pro-Asn) motif led to a weak binding...

Treatment of brain injury following circulatory arrest is a challenging health issue with no viable therapeutic options. Based on studies in a clinically relevant large animal (canine) model of hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA)-induced brain injury, neuroinflammation and excitotoxicity have been identified as key players in mediating the brain injury after HCA. Therapy with large doses of va...

BACKGROUND An approach to use multivalent dendrimer carriers for delivery of nucleoside signaling molecules to their cell surface G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) was recently introduced. RESULTS A known adenosine receptor (AR) agonist was conjugated to polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer carriers for delivery of the intact covalent conjugate to on the cell surface. Depending on the linking m...

Dendrimer-templated nanoparticle synthesis is an efficient method for preparing a variety of monoand bimetallic nanomaterials, whose sizes are constrained by the loading capacity of the dendrimer template. A common commercially available dendrimer is composed of repeating amino-amide units (polyamidoamine, PAMAM), whose internal amines coordinate with free metal ions in solution. The metal ion ...