Cyclic urea derivatives as potent NK1 selective antagonists. Part II: Effects of fluoro and benzylic methyl substitutions

A series of novel five-membered urea derivatives as potent NK1 receptor antagonists is described. The effects of substitution of a 4-fluoro group at the phenyl ring and the introduction of an alpha-methyl group at the benzylic position to improve potency and duration of in vivo activity are discussed. Several compounds with high affinity and sustained in vivo activity were identified.     

High dynamic range characterization of the trauma patient plasma proteome

Although human plasma represents an attractive sample for disease biomarker discovery, the extreme complexity and large dynamic range in protein concentrations present significant challenges for characterization, candidate biomarker discovery, and validation. Herein we describe a strategy that combines immunoaffinity subtraction and subsequent chemical fractionation based on cysteinyl peptide and N-glycopeptide captures with two-dimensional LC-MS/MS to increase the dynamic range of analysis for plasma. Application of this "divide-and-conquer" strategy to trauma patient plasma significantly improved the overall dynamic range of detection and resulted in confident identification of 22,267 unique peptides from four different peptide populations (cysteinyl peptides, non-cysteinyl peptides, N-glycopeptides, and non-glycopeptides) that covered 3,654 different proteins with 1,494 proteins identified by multiple peptides. Numerous low abundance proteins were identified, exemplified by 78 "classic" cytokines and cytokine receptors and by 136 human cell differentiation molecules. Additionally a total of 2,910 different N-glycopeptides that correspond to 662 N-glycoproteins and 1,553 N-glycosylation sites were identified. A panel of the proteins identified in this study is known to be involved in inflammation and immune responses. This study established an extensive reference protein database for trauma patients that provides a foundation for future high throughput quantitative plasma proteomic studies designed to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie systemic inflammatory responses.     

海藻中有机碘的研究Ⅰ.海藻中有机碘含量测定

采用国际上目前通用的差减法来计算海藻中的有机碘,即首先测定海藻中的总碘和无机碘,其差减值为有机碘.碘的测定采用了碘离子选择电极法和中子活化法作为对照。在此基础上,还测定了新鲜海带中碘的含量、分布以及有机碘和无机碘的比例。研究结果表明,海带中碘的平均含量占鲜重的0.133％,其中88％的碘是以碘离子的形式存在,有机碘只占总碘的12％,同时海带不同部位碘的含量不同,叶部外缘含碘较多,是叶中部的2倍左右,尤其叶尖部的含量达到鲜重的0.183％。而有机碘的含量分布规律则不同,有机碘的含量在靠近根部的位置较高,为鲜重的13.9％。这种分布特点可能与海带的生命活动规律有关。     

Charge-to-Alanine Mutagenesis of the Adeno-Associated Virus Type 2 Rep78/68 Proteins Yields Temperature-Sensitive and Magnesium-Dependent Variants

The adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV) replication (Rep) proteins Rep78 and 68 (Rep78/68) exhibit a number of biochemical activities required for AAV replication, including specific binding to a 22-bp region of the terminal repeat, site-specific endonuclease activity, and helicase activity. Individual and clusters of charged amino acids were converted to alanines in an effort to generate a collection of conditionally defective Rep78/68 proteins. Rep78 variants were expressed in human 293 cells and analyzed for their ability to mediate replication of recombinant AAV vectors at various temperatures. The biochemical activities of Rep variants were further characterized in vitro by using Rep68 His-tagged proteins purified from bacteria. The results of these analyses identified a temperature-sensitive (ts) Rep protein (D40,42,44A-78) that exhibited a delayed replication phenotype at 32 degrees C, which exceeded wild-type activity by 48 h. Replication activity was reduced by more than threefold at 37 degrees C and was undetectable at 39 degrees C. Stability of the Rep78 protein paralleled replication levels at each temperature, further supporting a ts phenotype. Replication differences resulted in a 3-log-unit difference in virus yields between the permissive and nonpermissive temperatures (2.2 x 10(6) and 3 x 10(3), respectively), demonstrating that this is a relatively tight mutant. In addition to the ts Rep mutant, we identified a nonconditional mutant with a reduced ability to support viral replication in vivo. Additional characterization of this mutant demonstrated an Mg(2+)-dependent phenotype that was specific to Rep endonuclease activity and did not affect helicase activity. The two mutants described here are unique, in that Rep ts mutants have not previously been described and the D412A Rep mutant represents the first mutant in which the helicase and endonuclease functions can be distinguished biochemically. Further understanding of these mutants should facilitate our understanding of AAV replication and integration, as well as provide novel strategies for production of viral vectors.     

Tissue-specific and expression of porcine growth hormone gene in BAC transgenic mice

One of the primary goals of traditional livestock breeding is to improve growth rate and optimise body size. Growth rate can be significantly increased by integrating a growth hormone (GH) transgene under the control of a ubiquitous promoter, but while such animals do demonstrate increased growth there are also serious deleterious side-effects to the animals health. Here we report the generation and initial characterization of transgenic mice that carried a porcine BAC encoding the porcine GH gene. We show that GH expression is restricted specifically to the pituitary, is associated with elevated IGF-1 levels, and results in growth enhancement. No negative effects to the health of the transgenic animals were detected. This initial characterisation supports the use of BAC pGH transgene in livestock studies.     

S(yp) Y279和Y304介导了BcrAbl与Grb2等蛋白的结合

利用体外定点突变技术获得Ｓｙｐ Ｙ２７９Ｆ、Ｙ３０４Ｆ和Ｙ５４６Ｆ突变的ｃＤＮＡ, 将这些突变体和野生型Ｓｙｐ 分别构建入ｐＸＭ 真核表达载体, 转入Ｋ５６２ 细胞。经Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ 印迹证明, 各转染Ｋ５６２ 细胞中都有Ｓｙｐ 蛋白的表达。免疫沉淀与免疫印迹结果发现ＷＴ、Ｙ２７９Ｆ、Ｙ３０４Ｆ和Ｙ５４６Ｆ等４ 种Ｓｙｐ 在胞内均能直接与ＢｃｒＡｂｌ 结合。体外结合实验结果表明Ｙ３０４Ｆ突变导致了Ｓｙｐ 不能与Ｓｈｃ 结合,Ｙ２７９Ｆ突变则导致了Ｓｙｐ 不能与Ｇｒｂ２ 结合。结论是： 作为“接头蛋白”,Ｓｙｐ 可以介导ＢｃｒＡｂｌ 与Ｓｈｃ 和Ｇｒｂ２ 之间的结合;Ｇｒｂ２ 结合在Ｓｙｐ 的Ｙ２７９ 上,Ｓｈｃ 则结合在Ｓｙｐ的Ｙ３０４ 上