Increased levels of neurotoxic amyloid-beta in the brain are a prominent feature of Alzheimer's disease. FG-Loop (FGL), a neural cell adhesion molecule-derived peptide that corresponds to its second fibronectin type III module, has been shown to provide neuroprotection against a range of cellular insults. In the present study impairments in social recognition memory were seen 24 days after a 5 ...

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule and a component of the inflammatory cascade. Besides, it is also involved in tumorigenesis. Aberrant upregulation and activation of the ERK cascade by NO often leads to tumor cell development. However, the role of ERK inactivation induced by the negative regulation of NO during apoptosis is not completely understood. In this study, treatment ...

Bicyclol [4,4'-dimethoxy-5,6,5',6'-bis(methylenedioxy)-2-hydroxy-methyl-2'-methoxycarbonyl biphenyl] is a synthetic hepatoprotectant widely used in clinical practice, but resistance to this treatment is often observed. We found that the hepatoprotective effect of bicyclol was greatly compromised in female and castrated male mice. This study was to dissect the molecular basis behind the sex diff...

Deposition of amyloid β protein (Aβ) to form neuritic plaques in the brain is the pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aβ is generated from sequential cleavages of the β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) by the β- and γ-secretases, and β-site APP-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) is the β-secretase essential for Aβ generation. Previous studies have indicated that glycogen synthase kinase 3 ...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease. Although its pathogenesis remains unclear, mitochondrial dysfunction plays a vital role in the pathology of PD. P7C3, an aminopropyl carbazole, possesses a significant neuroprotective ability in several neurodegenerative disorders, including PD. Here, we showed that P7C3 stabilized mitochondrial membrane potential,...

Psychostimulants show therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is generally assumed that they ameliorate ADHD symptoms via interfering with monoaminergic signaling. We combined behavioral pharmacology, neurochemistry and molecular analyses to identify mechanisms underlying the paradoxical calming effect of amphetamine in low trait anxiety beha...

Recent studies have demonstrated that volatile anesthetic postconditioning confers myocardial protection against ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury through activation of the reperfusion injury salvage kinase (RISK) pathway. As RISK has been shown to be impaired in hypercholesterolemia. Therefore, we investigate whether anesthetic-induced cardiac protection was maintained in hypercholesterolemic r...

Sirt2, a member of the NAD(+)-dependent protein deacetylase family, is increasingly recognized as a critical regulator of the cell cycle, cellular necrosis and cytoskeleton organization. However, its role in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that Sirt2 is up-regulated during RA (retinoic acid)-induced and embryoid body (EB) differentiation of mouse ESCs. Using len...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric illnesses with a heritability ranging from 40% to 50%. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs334558 on the glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) gene has been identified as a genetic risk loci associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, results from replication studies examining the association between ...

Renal proximal tubular damage and repair are hallmarks of acute kidney injury. As glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) is an important cellular regulator of survival and proliferation, we determined its role during injury and recovery of proximal tubules in a mercuric chloride-induced nephrotoxic model of acute kidney injury. Renal proximal tubule-specific GSK3β knockout mice exposed to mercuric...