Serum response factor (SRF) has been shown to play a key role in cardiac cell growth and muscle gene regulation. To understand the role of SRF in heart failure, we compared its expression pattern between control and failing human heart samples. Western blot analysis of control samples showed expression of four different isoforms of SRF, with ~67-kDa full-length SRF being the predominant isoform...

Under free field conditions, we used single unit extracellular recording to study the detection of acoustic signals by neurons in the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (VNLL) in Kunming mouse (Mus musculus). The results indicate two types of firing patterns in VNLL neurons: onset and sustained. The first spike latency (FSL) of onset neurons was shorter than that of sustained neurons. Wit...

BACKGROUND Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) represents a challenge to treat with no effective treatment options available. We recently identified serum response factor (SRF) as a key transcription factor in an in vitro model of castration resistance where we showed that SRF inhibition resulted in reduced cellular proliferation. We also demonstrated an association between SRF protein ...

BACKGROUND Knowledge about molecular mechanisms leading to heart failure is still limited, but reduced gene activities and modest activation of caspase 3 are hallmarks of end-stage heart failure. We postulated that serum response factor (SRF), a central cardiac transcription factor, might be a cleavage target for modest activated caspase 3, and this cleavage of SRF may play a dominant inhibitor...

Sustained firing is necessary for the persistent activity associated with working memory. The relative contributions of the reverberation of excitation and of the temporal dynamics of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) to the maintenance of activity are difficult to evaluate in classical preparations. We used simplified models of synchronous excitatory networks, hippocampal autapses a...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to review the importance of thoracic veins in the maintenance of sustained (non-paroxysmal) atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS Thoracic veins, including the pulmonary veins (PVs), vein of Marshall (VOM) and the superior vena cava (SVC), have muscle sleeves that connect to the atria. It is well known that electrical activities can be recorded within thes...

We present a theoretical investigation of the chemical reaction SrF + SrF → products, focusing on reactions at ultralow temperatures. We find that bond swapping SrF + SrF → Sr2 + F2 is energetically forbidden at these temperatures. Rather, the only energetically allowed reaction is SrF + SrF → SrF2 + Sr, and even then only singlet states of the SrF2 trimer can form. A calculation along a reduce...

RhoA signaling regulates the activity of the transcription factor SRF (serum response factor) during muscle differentiation. How RhoA signaling is integrated at SRF target promoters to achieve muscle-lineage-specific expression is largely unknown. Using large-scale expression profiling combined with bioinformatic and biochemical approaches, we identified several SRF target genes, including Fhl2...

Various immediate early genes (IEGs) upregulated during the early process of liver regeneration are transcriptional targets of the serum response factor (SRF). We show here that the expression of SRF is rapidly induced in rodent liver after partial hepatectomy. Because the inactivation of the SRF gene in mice is embryonic lethal, the in vivo role of SRF in liver regeneration after partial hepat...

Serum response factor (SRF), is a crucial transcription factor for murine embryonic development and for the function of muscle cells and neurons. Gene expression data show that SRF and its transcriptional cofactors are also expressed in lymphocyte precursors and mature lymphocytes. However, the role of SRF in lymphocyte development has not been addressed in vivo so far, attributed in part to ea...