Starvation response in worms points to common hunger pathway
...tep of the signal from muscarinic receptor to MAPK blocked the effects of starvation on the feeding muscle, they found. Furthermore, an excess of MAPK in normal worms mimicked the effect of starvation on the muscle. "In mammals, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors regulate heart muscle and smooth muscle of th...Other highlights in the April 5 JNCI
...the surrounding tissue. The Grb7 peptide inhibitor blocked the activity of the Grb7 protein in pancreatic cancer cells and inhibited cell migration and metastasis of pancreatic tumors in a mouse model. The authors suggest that Grb7 peptide inhibitors may be useful in the future as a targeted therapy. Contact...First direct mechanical communication of mitochondria, cardiomyocyte nucleus shown
... specific inhibitor of these channels), completely blocked the effect," according to the report, leading to the conclusion that: "mitochondria are able to induce nuclear deformation, suggesting that mitochondria may mechanically regulate nuclear function." Next steps Veksler said one idea that needs to be ...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...rast, RNAi-mediated knock-down of DTX1 selectively blocked the effects of DTX1, leaving Su(H) signaling intact. The authors propose a hierarchical relationship between the two pathways, in which radial glia differentiation depends on the relative expression of the two molecules. 2. Motoneuron Differentiati...A new focus for the mechanism of nerve growth
... cells rapidly doubled in width when myosin II was blocked by blebbistatin," said Forscher. "FSM see that this was caused by inefficient recycling of actin filaments at the back end of the actin network treadmill." Recycling of actin bundles at the ends of structures called filopodia was most strongly affec...JCI table of contents, March 16, 2006
... pathway called ERK MAPK using a drug called UO126 blocked IL-10 induction by zymosan. Most importantly, the researchers injected mice with zymosan, which increased IL-10 production, impaired T cell proliferation, and elevated production by macrophages of TGF-beta. These results suggest that strategies targe...Worm hormone discovery may aid fight against parasitic disease
...each maturity and reproduce. When the researchers blocked that hormonal signal by engineering mutant worms that couldn't manufacture the ligand, however, the mutants' development stopped before they reached maturity. Instead, the worms went into a "resting" stage called the dauer diapause, in which they don...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...oteins. In a second approach, REST translation was blocked by a morpholino antisense oligonucleotide (MoXREST). Activation of dnXREST resulted in decreased expression of several neuronal genes at the late blastula stage. But perhaps more importantly, XREST was required for neuroectodermal patterning during g...Scientists provide new evidence for cellular cause of SIDS
...nditions, but if the baby goes into hypoxia from a blocked airway or because the baby sleeps on its tummy and does not receive sufficient oxygen, the child needs the sodium-driven pacemakers in order to gasp, which wakes the baby and initiates movement or crying. "Gasping is an important arousal or auto-resu...Training improves sound localization in ferrets
...y adaptive hearing in an adult mammal, the authors blocked the left ears of ferrets with specially outfitted earplugs and measured their ability to localize sounds in the horizontal plane. They trained ferrets to approach a sound source to receive the reward. When the ferrets licked a waterspout, they trig...JCI table of contents: March 1, 2006
... upon the timing of allergen exposure. The authors blocked the C5a receptor (C5aR) by either giving normal mi...ase. The authors found that mice in which C5aR was blocked or deleted prior to exposure to either allergen developed asthma-like symptoms such as a strong Th2 ...Mechanism for memory revealed in neurons of electric fish
...lved in the processes of learning and memory. They blocked glutamate and found that it did not affect the memory of the neurons. Instead, the glutamate sets off a cascade of events in the neuron that results in the activation of ion channels, called TRP channels, which then remain active for a long time. "T...UCLA engineering and Mattel Children's Hospital collaborate to develop children's heart valve
...tubes inserted into an artery or bile duct to keep blocked passageways open -- as well as in other applications. "Although the medical community has used bulk nitinol for the past decade in stents and other implantable biomedical devices, thin film nitinol has yet to be incorporated into a commercially avail...JCI table of contents, February 9, 2006
...tion, and emphysema. However, when the researchers blocked the activity of elastin fragments using a specific anti-elastin antibody, the macrophage numbers were reduced, and the emphysema was prevented in both models. Using cultured human monocytes (macrophage precursor cells), the authors demonstrate that e...Fruit fly reveals a potential connection between dementia and cancer
...d be prevented when the cell cycle was genetically blocked or when flies were fed anticancer drugs. Cell-cycle activation depended upon a hyperactive cell growth molecule, TOR (target of rapamycin), also known to be abnormally activated in Alzheimer's disease. By establishing these causal connections, this s...JCI table of contents, February 1, 2006
...ndothelial nitric oxide synthase), since when they blocked eNOS activity the Akt benefits disappeared. The authors suggest that endothelial expression of Akt can reduce the formation of blood vessel lesions in part by supporting the survival of endothelial cells that would otherwise die during arterial injur...New cellular flaw found in some virulent breast cancers
... important normal function, or whether it could be blocked by designer drugs to treat breast cancer without harming the patient. Previously, mice engineered to lack cyclin D1 were found to be highly resistant to certain breast cancers, and other experiments showed that mice in which the cyclin D1 gene had be...Insects and mammals share common fat-building pathway, study suggests
... less fat than normal. Conversely, treatments that blocked the action of the Hh pathway led to an increase in...hway. In mouse cells, treatment with an Hh protein blocked the changes normally associated with the generation of fat, while methods that blocked Hh activity c...Hedgehog protein blocks fat production, produces more bone
... hedgehog pathway in fruit flies, fat formation is blocked and the flies are skinny. If we block the pathway,...ases. "Perhaps as we age, hedgehog signals become blocked or decreased. This study implies that if we block hedgehog signals, humans would have less bone and ......urther narrowing the airways. When the researchers blocked the effects of eotaxin, they prevented this excessive airway narrowing. They were also able, for the first time, to isolate airway nerves from humans and maintain them in cell culture, allowing them to study how these nerves interact with eosinophils...