Phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate and Phosphatidylinositol(4)phosphate in Plant Tissues

Pea (Pisum sativum) leaf discs or swimming suspensions of Chlamydomonas eugametos were radiolabeled with [³H]myo-inositol or [³²P]Pi and the lipids were extracted, deacylated, and their glycerol moieties removed. The resulting inositol trisphosphate and bisphosphate fractions were examined by periodate degradation, reduction and dephosphorylation, or by incubation with human red cell membranes. Their likely structures were identified as d-myo-inositol(1,4,5)trisphosphate and d-myo-inositol(1,4,)-bisphosphate. It is concluded that plants contain phosphatidylinositol(4)phosphate and phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate; no other polyphosphoinositides were detected.     

Nerve growth factor and receptor expression in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis

Introduction  

We previously described the presence of nerve growth factor receptors in the inflamed synovial compartment. Here we investigated the presence of the corresponding nerve growth factors, with special focus on nerve growth factor (NGF).     

3,3-Bisaryloxindoles as mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists

Syntheses and SAR studies of 3,3-bisaryloxindole analogues provided potent mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonists that were selective over other steroid nuclear hormone receptors.     

Interactions of syndecan-1 and heparin with human collagens

Glycosaminoglycan (GAG)–collagen interactions play importantroles in cell adhesion and extracellular matrix assembly; however,the chemical bases for these interactions are not fully understood.We have used affinity co-electrophoresis (ACE) (Lee,M.K. andLander,A.D., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88, 2768–2772,1991) to study the binding of the heparan sulphate proteoglycansyndecan-1 and heparin to human collagens. [³⁵S]Syndecan-1 [fromnormal murine mammary gland (NMuMG) epithelial cells] and low-M_r({small tilde}6 kDa) [¹²⁵I]heparin were subjected to electrophoresisthrough agarose gel lanes containing human collagens at variousconcentrations, and binding affinities were measured from shiftsin migration of the labelled materials. Results demonstratethat the affinities of each collagen for syndecan-1 and low-M_rheparin were similar, and followed the order: type V> >type IV     

Experimental pathogenicity ofSporothrix schenckii preserved in water (Castellani)

Five strains ofSporothrix schenckii preserved in sterile destillated water were found morphologically stable, viable and pure after a period ranging from 16 to 13 years, in the mycology section culture collection from the Instituto de Medicina Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela. Each strain was inoculated into the testes of 3 hamsters. All the animals developed disseminated sporotrichosis.     

Unnatural amino acid incorporation into virus-like particles

Virus-like particles composed of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or bacteriophage Qbeta capsid proteins have been labeled with azide- or alkyne-containing unnatural amino acids by expression in a methionine auxotrophic strain of E. coli. The substitution does not affect the ability of the particles to self-assemble into icosahedral structures indistinguishable from native forms. The azide and alkyne groups were addressed by Cu(I)-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition: HBV particles were decomposed by the formation of more than 120 triazole linkages per capsid in a location-dependent manner, whereas Qbeta suffered no such instability. The marriage of these well-known techniques of sense-codon reassignment and bioorthogonal chemical coupling provides the capability to construct polyvalent particles displaying a wide variety of functional groups with near-perfect control of spacing.