Hirano bodies are eosinophilic, rod-shaped intraneuronal inclusions whose frequency increases with age and with Alzheimer's disease. To investigate their composition and possible relationship to the neuronal cytoskeleton, we employed immunocytochemistry and immunoelectronmicroscopy by using antisera to cytoskeletal proteins. The presence of actin, alpha-actinin, vinculin and tropomyosin was dem...

cytoplasmic tail and prevents their internalization and degradation. Similarly to β-catenin, unbound p120ctn can translocate to the nucleus where it binds Kaiso, a zinc finger transcription factor that acts as a transcriptional repressor. Once bound to Kaiso, p120ctn relieves the repressor activity of Kaiso by dissociating it from its sequence-specific binding sites. As with β-catenin, Wnt sign...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Actin cytoskeleton dynamics support and coordinate signaling events that control cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. Growth factors provide essential signals that act on multi-protein complexes that regulate actin assembly with myosin. We previously analyzed the action of the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and now extend our studies to the bone morphogenetic...

F-actin has been identified in the preprophase band of Allium cepa. Cells attached to subbed slides were obtained from formaldehyde-fixed root tips digested in EGTA and Cellulysin. The air-dried cells were extracted in Triton X-100, treated with rhodamine-phalloidin, rinsed briefly in PBS, and viewed in the fluorescence microscope. Interphase cells contain a network of actin fibers that extends...

Calcium and phospholipid binding proteins have been identified and localized by immunocytochemistry in a wide range of cells and tissues. Two of these proteins (calpactins) also bind F-actin and are substrates for tyrosine kinases. The similar membrane-binding properties of these molecules arise from conserved amino acid sequences and a model is proposed for the tertiary structure of a common c...

Regulated disassembly of actin filaments is involved in a number of cellular processes that require dynamic rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton. Actin-interacting protein 1 (AIP1) specifically enhances disassembly of actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilinbound actin filaments. In vitro, AIP1 actively disassembles filaments, caps barbed ends, and binds to the side of filaments. However, h...

Transforming growth factor-β signaling is known to be a key signaling pathway in the induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. However, the mechanism of TGF-β signaling in the modulation of EMT remains unclear. In this study, we found that TGF-β treatment resulted in elongation of mitochondria accompanied by induction of N-cadherin, vimentin, and F-actin in retinal pigment epithelial cell...

Purpose Transforming growth factor-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is one of the main causes of posterior capsular opacification (PCO) or secondary cataract; however, the signaling events involved in TGF-β-induced PCO have not been fully characterized. Here, we focus on examining the role of β-catenin/cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB)-binding protein (CBP) and...