CNS function depends on a capacity for plasticity during development, following injury, and in response to changing environmental conditions. Functional alterations in signal transduction pathways and in neurotransmitter receptor expression are possible mechanisms for the expression of such plasticity. In the present report, we demonstrate that exposure of astrocytes to specific growth factors ...

Salmonella colonizes a vacuolar niche in host cells during infection. Maturation of the Salmonella-containing vacuole (SCV) involves the formation of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI(3)P) on its outer leaflet. SopB, a bacterial virulence factor with phosphoinositide phosphatase activity, was proposed to generate PI(3)P by dephosphorylating PI(3,4)P2, PI(3,5)P2, and PI(3,4,5)P3. Here, we exa...

We investigated the coupling of muscarinic receptor (M) subtypes to phosphoinositide hydrolysis in ileum and urinary bladder using muscarinic receptor knockout mice. In urinary bladder from wild-type mice, the muscarinic agonist oxotremorine-M, elicited a robust phosphoinositide response characterized by an EC50 value of 0.22 microM and a maximal response (Emax) of 32.8% conversion of [3H]inosi...

The Src homology 2 containing inositol 5-phosphatase (SHIP2) is a large multidomain enzyme that catalyzes the dephosphorylation of phospholipid phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P3) to form PI(3,4)P2. PI(3,4,5)P3 key lipid second messenger controlling recruitment signaling proteins plasma membrane, thereby regulating plethora cellular events, including proliferation, growth, apo...

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) generation of PI(3,4,5)P3 from PI(4,5)P2 and the subsequent activation of Akt and its downstream signaling cascades (e.g. mTORC1) dominates the landscape of phosphoinositide signaling axis in cancer research. However, PI(4,5)P2 is breaking its boundary as merely a substrate for PI3K and phospholipase C (PLC), and is now an established lipid messenger pivotal for...