Elevated autoantibodies linked to preeclampsia
...es capable of activating the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1-AA). The AT1 receptor is part of an amino acid group that works within cells to maintain healthy blood vessels and manage ...Homing pigeons get their bearings from their beaks
...homing pigeons as they expect that the pigeon-type receptor system might turn out to be a universal feature of all birds. Equally, this concept might not only exclusively apply to birds, since it has been shown that many animals display behavior that is modified or controlled by the Earths magnetic field. ...Burroughs Wellcome fund awards $8.25 million in grants to physician-scientists
...M.D. Washington University Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor inhibitors: a target for decreasing sickle cell di... Deficiency of the lipoprotein receptor, scavenger receptor class B type I, in women with infertility Norman E. Sharpless, M.D. University of North Carolina...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...siological reporter. Increases in PKA with 5-HT 7 receptor activation or direct stimulation of adenylyl cyclase with forskolin reduced the slow afterhyperpolarization potential current within 30 s. However, activation of 5-HT 7 receptors had a smaller and slower effect than forskolin on cytosolic AKAR2 and ...Health care system for aging nerve cells
...indicate that the neurotrophic factor GDNF and its receptor might prevent an early, uncontrolled death of thes...e, since the scientists were able to eliminate the receptor specifically in neurons of this brain region. The mice thus altered are viable and live as long as t...Lung cancer-derived EGFR mutants exhibit intrinsic differences in inhibitor sensitivity
...e and mutated forms of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The research, published in the March issue of the journal Cancer Cell, published by Cell Press, may help to guide rational use of currently available EGFR inhibitors and provides new direction for the design and development of even more poten...Study reveals how some molecules inhibit growth of lung cancer cells
...f two mutated forms of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in lung cancer cells. EGFR, a protein known as a tyrosine kinase, plays a key role in relaying growth signals within cells. When mutated, it can become overactive, leading to excessive cell division and cancer. "It turns out that in some cas...Scientists find hormone activity explains adolescent mood swings
... hour after the event. Specifically, the GABA-A receptor is the target for steroids, such as THP (or allopr...tion. In this rodent model, the alpha4-beta2-delta receptor normally has very low expression, but increases dramatically at the onset of puberty in the part of ...Researchers find suntan's 'master regulator'
...n the MSH receptor, he explained. For example, the receptor variant found in redheads doesnt respond to MSH, leaving them unable to get a tan in the natural way. However, the researchers hadnt identified the factors responsible for turning on the pigment-stimulating hormones production in the first place. ...Plant size morphs dramatically as scientists tinker with outer layer
...nd that when they drive the expression of the BRI1 receptor in the epidermis of a dwarf Arabidopsis, while leaving the sub-epidermal layer as it was (without BRI1 receptors), the tiny plant morphed into a full-sized plant. In the second set of experiments, they used an enzyme to break down the steroid hormone...Other highlights in the March 7 JNCI
...ng to a class of drugs known as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), which have been shown in clinical trials to successfully prevent breast cancer. These drugs act by occupying estrogen receptors in breast and other tissue, and therefore block estrogen's message to the cell to divide and spread. ...Insulin -- in need of some restraint?
..., Vale says. "We have found both ligands and their receptor that play important roles in insulin secretion and sensitivity. But they are not the only regulators in this very complex process and we must keep in mind that these metabolic studies have thus far only involved rodents," he cautions. A study ongoi...Study advances evidence for receptor's role in alcohol pleasure and problems
A genetic variant of a receptor in the brains reward circuitry heightens the stimu...hat suggests an important role for a similar brain receptor variant in the development of human alcohol use disorders. A report of the findings is published in...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
... between brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor TrkB contributes to the development of visual pathways. Marshak et al. made use of the alternatively spliced TrkB.T1, which lacks the intracellular kinase domain and thus can act as a dominant-negative inhibitor of TrkB signaling. The authors overexp...Light-activated compound silences nerves, may one day help epileptics
...not a light?" The new compound activates the same receptor used by many anesthetics and tranquilizers, making...ike barbiturates and Valium, which act on the same receptor as the steroid, are sedativesthey quiet the nerve system down." When dosed with NBD-steroid, nerve ...Whole body regeneration from a blood vessel
...naling by examining the temporal expression of its receptor (RAR). In addition to its role in chordate body patterning, RA (a vitamin A metabolite) induces the regeneration of several tissues and organs. Only regenerating vessels and ampullae expressed RAR, and this expression continued through each phase of ...Until now, mutations of the LH hormone receptor were the only explanation known for sexual precoci... in boys. At the current time, mutations of the LH receptor are the only known causes of sexual precocity in boys, which shows the important role that this sign...UCLA study uncovers clues for why Graves' disease attacks the eyes
...rom GD patients contain an abnormal surplus of the receptor targeted by this antibody. An antibody must latch to a specific receptor like a key into a lock -- in order to elicit a cellular response. The receptors mobbed the patient...Insights into osteosarcoma in cats and dogs may improve palliative care
...arger, examined the homeostatic role of an enzyme, receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (known as RANK), and two key modulators of its activity: RANK ligand (RANK-L) and osteoprotegrin (OPG). RANK is one of a family of receptors that regulates bone and immune homeostasis. In health, RANK, RANK-L and O......the brain's grey matter where they encounter their receptor dendrites. Here, the information is passed on at the synapses to the receptor cells. "We think, however, that on their way though the grey matter the axons probably release gluta...