Fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy and cholesterol oxidase activity were employed to investigate the effect of phosphatidylcholine (PC) acyl chain length mismatch on the lateral organizations of lipids in liquid-ordered dipalmitoyl-PC/dilauroyl-PC/cholesterol (DPPC/DLPC/CHOL) bilayers. Plots of steady-state fluorescence emission anisotropy of diphenylhexatriene (DPH) labeled PC (DPH-PC) emb...

In SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, the cholinergic agonist, carbachol, stimulates phosphorylation of the small heat shock protein 27 (HSP27). Carbachol increases phosphorylation of both Ser-82 and Ser-78 while the phorbol ester, phorbol-12, 13-dibutyrate (PDB) affects only Ser-82. Muscarinic receptor activation by carbachol was confirmed by sensitivity of Ser-82 phosphorylation to hyoscyamin...

Tropane alkaloids, especially hyoscyamine (HYO) and scopolamine (SCO), are widely used in medicine for their antispasmodic, anticholinergic, and sedative properties. This study was undertaken to investigate the root and shoot tropane alkaloids production from in vitro shoot tip (as explant) culture of Hyoscyamus niger under different plant growth regulators including auxins (IAA, 2, 4-D, IBA, N...

1. The vascular bed of the submandibular gland in situ was perfused with blood through the glandular artery at a constant pressure in anesthetized dogs. All drugs were administered intra-arterially. 2. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), secretin and acetylcholine produced a dose-dependent increase in blood flow through the artery (vasodilatation) but glucagon was almost ineffective. 3. Dose-b...

The belladonna alkaloids can be isolated from a number of plants, which contain hallucinogens that represent a serious danger to infants, children, and adolescents. Roots, leaves, and fruits of the plant contain the alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, which can lead to an anticholinergic toxidrome; however, not all characteristics of the toxidrome are necessarily present in each c...

BACKGROUND Pharmacotherapy constitutes an important adjunct to behavioral therapy for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB). Tolterodine and oxybutynin are commonly prescribed drugs for OAB treatment that exert their beneficial effect by suppressing bladder muscle contractions. However, high discontinuation rates have been observed for these drugs in clinical trials, as well as in real-worl...

VDM-SL, the notation incorporated in the formal method VDM, is currently being standardized under auspices of the International Standards Institution (ISO) and the British Standards Institution (BSI). It is one of the few formal languages of which the syntax and the semantics have been completely formally defined. In this paper we present an overview of the standard, including a report on the c...

Two prenylated indole alkaloids were isolated from the ethyl acetate extracts of a marine-derived fungus Penicillium sp. NH-SL and one of them exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against mouse hepa 1c1c7 cells. In order to detect other bioactive analogs, we used liquid chromatogram tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to analyze the mass spectrometric characteristics of the isolated compounds as...