Nicotinic and muscarinic ACh receptor agonists and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) can enhance cognitive function. However, it is unknown whether a common signaling pathway is involved in the effect. Here, we show that in vivo administration of nicotine, AChEIs, and an m1 muscarinic (m1) agonist increase glutamate receptor, ionotropic, N-methyl D-aspartate 2B (GluN2B)-containing NMDA r...

Alpha virus M1 is an oncolytic virus that targets zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP)-defective cancer cells, and may be useful for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Most of HCC patients have hepatitis and need long-term antiviral medication. Thus, it is necessary to clarify whether anti-virus medicines influence oncolytic effect of M1. We examined the effect of drugs used to treat h...

M1 myeloid cells transfected with the wild-type (WT) colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) receptor (CSF-1R; M1/WT cells) undergo CSF-1-dependent macrophage differentiation. By mutation studies, we have provided prior evidence that tyrosine 559 in the CSF-1R cytoplasmic domain governs the Src-dependent differentiation pathway. Further components of this pathway were then sought. We report that th...

The regulated differentiation of macrophages (mφs) and their subsequent activation into proinflammatory or prohealing subtypes is critical for efficient wound healing. Chronic wounds such as diabetic (db) ulcers are associated with dysregulation of macrophage function. Whereas non-db mφs polarize to an M2-like, prohealing phenotype during the late stages of healing, db-derived mφs continue to d...

Intact influenza A virions were bombarded with thermally activated tritium atoms, and the intramolecular distribution of the label in the matrix protein M1 was analyzed to determine the in situ accessibility of its tryptic fragments. These data were combined with the previously reported x-ray crystal structure of the M1 fragment 2-158 [Sha, B. & Luo, M. (1997) Nat. Struct. Biol. 4, 239-244] and...

BACKGROUND Significant challenges, including low expression and extracellular secretion of soluble protein, are encountered in expressing and purifying Bacillus acidopullulyticus pullulanase (BaPul) in Escherichia coli. METHODS An N-terminal domain truncation was adopted to facilitate BaPul variant expression and/or secretion. RESULTS BaPul possesses a complex modular architecture that cons...

In the prefrontal cortex, dopamine D1-like and M1 muscarinic receptors are both involved in the regulation of attentional, cognitive and emotional processes but so far no information has been provided on their functional interaction. In the present study we show that in mouse medial prefrontal cortex, concomitant activation of M1 muscarinic receptors potentiated D1-like receptor-induced cyclic ...

BACKGROUND The matrix 1 (M1) protein of Influenza A virus plays many critical roles throughout the virus life cycle. The oligomerization of M1 is essential for the formation of the viral matrix layer during the assembly and budding process. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In the present study, we report that M1 can oligomerize in vitro, and that the oligomerization is pH-dependent. The N-termi...

The Wilms' tumor suppressor gene, WT1, encodes a transcription of the Cys2-His2 zinc finger type. Loss of WT1 gene function has been implicated in the development of malignancies including Wilms' tumor and acute leukemias. We have shown previously that ectopic expression of WT1 +KTS isoforms in murine M1 leukemic cells spontaneously induces monocytic differentiation without the requirement for ...