BACKGROUND The Eda-A1-Edar signaling pathway is involved in the development of organs with an ectodermal origin, including teeth. In mouse, mutants are known for both the ligand, Eda-A1 (Tabby), and the receptor, Edar (Downless). The adult dentitions of these two mutants have classically been considered to be similar. However, previous studies mentioned differences in embryonic dental developme...

Ectodermal dysplasias (ED) are uncommon genetic disorders resulting in abnormalities in ectodermally derived structures. Many ED-associated genes have been described, of which ectodysplasin-A (EDA) is one of the more common. The NF-κB essential modulator (NEMO encoded by the IKBKG gene) is unique in that mutations result in severe humoral and cellular immunologic defects in addition to ED. We d...

Systematic ab initio calculations are combined with a deconvolution of electrostatic contributions to analyze the interplay between potential hydrogen bond acceptors and organic rings with C(sp(2))-H groups (benzene, pyridine and cyclopentadiene). A distinct anisotropic interaction between the ring systems and the electron lone pairs of cyanide, water and other acceptor species is revealed that...

Foerster Resonance energy transfer (FRET) is an effect, in which energy from an excited fluorescent molecule (donor) is transferred to another fluorescent molecule (acceptor) through a near-field interaction. FRET is strongly distance dependent and occurs within a range of around 5nm. By comparing fluorescent intensity of the donor and acceptor conformational changes in macromolecules within th...

The synthesis and characterisation of a novel coumarin donor-perylene bisimide acceptor light-harvesting system is reported, in which an energy-transfer efficiency of >99% is achieved. Comparison of the excited-state properties of the donor-acceptor system with model compounds revealed that although the photophysical properties of the perylene bisimide acceptor unit are affected considerably by...

BACKGROUND Streptozotocin (STZ) has served as an agent to generate an Alzheimer's disease (AD) model in rats, while edaravone (EDA), a novel free radical scavenger, has recently emerged as an effective treatment for use in vivo and vitro AD models. However, to date, these beneficial effects of EDA have only been clearly demonstrated within STZ-induced animal models of AD and in cell models of A...

We have developed the first red fluorescent protein, named rsTagRFP, which possesses reversibly photoswitchable absorbance spectra. Illumination with blue and yellow light switches rsTagRFP into a red fluorescent state (ON state) or nonfluorescent state (OFF state), respectively. The ON and OFF states exhibit absorbance maxima at 567 and 440 nm, respectively. Due to the photoswitchable absorban...

Melittin is a 26-amino acid amphipathic peptide which binds to calmodulin in a calcium-dependent manner. The utility of melittin as a peptide replica of the calmodulin-binding region of calmodulin acceptor proteins (CaMBPs) was investigated. Antibody against melittin was raised and purified by antigen affinity chromatography. Interaction of the antibody with CaMBPs was initially suggested by th...

Amyloid protein can damage nerve cells through a variety of biological mechanisms including oxidative stress, alterations in calcium homeostasis, and proapoptosis. Edaravone, a potent free radical scavenger possessing antioxidant effects, has been proved neuroprotective effect in stroke patients. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of EDA in an Aβ-induced rat model of AD, by stud...