Ginseng residue polysaccharides (GRP) at three levels were excellently blended into chitosan to form antioxidant composite films, which exhibited higher density, opacity and moisture, as well lower water vapor permeability, tensile strength elongation ratio than those of neat film. Thermogravimetry evidenced no difference in stability, SEM AFM revealed smooth dense surfaces with cracks micropor...

The Generalized Renewal Process (GRP) is a probabilistic model for repairable systems that can represent the usual states of a system after a repair: as new, as old, or in a condition between new and old. It is often coupled with the Weibull distribution, widely used in the reliability context. In this paper, we develop novel GRP models based on probability distributions that stem from the Tsal...

The plasmalemmal Na⁺/Ca²⁺ changer (NCX) regulates intracellular Ca²⁺ by exchanging 3 Na⁺ for 1 Ca²⁺ in either the Ca²⁺ exit or Ca²⁺ entry mode. All three NCX isoforms NCX1, NCX2, and NCX3 are expressed in the rat brain, with isoform-specific differential distribution. In the central clock of suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), intracellular Ca²⁺ controls the circadian release of major neuropeptides,...

Vertebrate laterality, which is manifested by asymmetrically placed organs [1], depends on asymmetric activation of the Nodal signaling cascade in the left lateral plate mesoderm [2]. In fish, amphibians, and mammals, a cilia-driven leftward flow of extracellular fluid acts upstream of the Nodal cascade [3-6]. The direct target of flow has remained elusive. In Xenopus, flow occurs at the gastro...

The neuropeptide bombesin and its mammalian homologue, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), enhance proliferation in some but not all human tumor cell lines. The pathophysiological relevance of the bombesin/GRP receptor (GRP-R), which is expressed in 30% of human colon tumor cell lines and in 24-40% of native tumors, has not been clearly assessed at this time. We studied the effects of bombesin in ...

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which appears to act as a circadian clock, contains a subpopulation of local circuit neurons in which vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), peptide histidine isoleucine (PHI), and gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) are colocalized. To determine whether VIP, PHI, and GRP interact within the SCN to produce a signal important for circadian control, the behavioral and...

Previous studies showed that antagonists of bombesin (BN)/gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) inhibit the growth of various cancers by interfering with the growth-stimulatory effects of BN-like peptides and down-regulating epidermal growth factor receptors on tumors. Because the overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (ErbB-2/HER-2/neu) oncogene plays a role in the progressio...

Gastrin-releasing-peptide(1-27) (GRP) has been implicated in the regulation of satiety and appetite in numerous paradigms. However, the specific site and mode of action of this gut-brain peptide has not been elucidated. The following experiment examined the effects of GRP on taste responses to sucrose in the behaving rat. A brief-exposure, multi-bottle gustometer was used to provide rats with m...

Bombesin (BBS) exerts significant effects on the growth of a mouse colon cancer cell line (MC-26) in vitro. The presence of specific binding sites on MC-26 cells for gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP)/BBS-related peptides was recently reported by us. In the present study, we determined that the transcript size of the mRNA species that codes for GRP receptors is 9 kilobase pairs, which is similar t...

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP)-natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP)-GRP receptor (GRPR) systems contribute to spinal processing of itch. However, pharmacological and anatomic evidence of these two spinal ligand-receptor systems are still not clear. The aim of this study was to determine the spinal functions of BNP-NPRA and GRP-GRPR systems for regulating s...