In some cells, the polypeptides stored in dense core secretory granules condense as ordered arrays. In ciliates such as Tetrahymena thermophila, the resulting crystals function as projectiles, expanding upon exocytosis. Isolation of granule contents previously defined five Granule lattice (Grl) proteins as abundant core constituents, whereas a functional screen identified a sixth family member....

Background Understanding the biology of platelets is essential for the management of thrombotic diseases like stroke and cardiovascular disease. Platelets store ATP and ADP biomolecules and secrete them in response to thrombotic stimuli. However, patient-to-patient variability in storage of these biomolecules in platelets is poorly studied [1]. This study assesses ATP and ADP concentration in p...

Toxoplasma gondii actively invades host cells and establishes a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) that accumulates many proteins secreted by the dense granules (GRA proteins). To date, at least 23 GRA proteins have been reported, though the function(s) of most of these proteins still remains unknown. We targeted gene knockouts at ten GRA gene loci (GRA1-10) to investigate the cellular roles and esse...

Background and Aims: Influenza is an acute respiratory illness that is caused by a virus belonging to Orthomyxoviridae family. This virus spreads rapidly every year in cold season and leads to morbidities and mortalities especially in adults and children, which causes billions of dollars of economic losses. Accordingly, development of a rapid, sensitive and inexpensive laboratory diagnosis base...

Stress granules are sites of mRNA storage formed in response to a variety of stresses, including viral infections. Here, the mechanisms and consequences of stress granule formation during poliovirus infection were examined. The results indicate that stress granules containing T-cell-restricted intracellular antigen 1 (TIA-1) and mRNA are stably constituted in infected cells despite lacking inta...

Kainic acid-induced neuron loss in the hippocampal dentate gyrus may cause epileptogenic hyperexcitability by triggering the formation of recurrent excitatory connections among normally unconnected granule cells. We tested this hypothesis by assessing granule cell excitability repeatedly within the same awake rats at different stages of the synaptic reorganization process initiated by kainate-i...

The body wall muscle cells of Caenorhabditis elegans contain an obliquely striated myofibrillar lattice that is associated with the cell membrane through two structures: an M-line analogue in the A-band and a Z-disc analogue, or dense-body, in the I-band. By using a fraction enriched in these structures as an immunogen for hybridoma production, we prepared monoclonal antibodies that identify fo...

Background and ObjectiveThe molecular mechanisms that underpin platelet granule secretion remain poorly defined. Filamin A (FLNA) is an actin-crosslinking signaling scaffold protein whose role in exocytosis has not been explored despite evidence FLNA gene mutations confer defects humans.Methods ResultsUsing platelets from platelet-specific conditional Flna-knockout mice, we showed the loss of c...

Patients whose platelets are deficient in glycoprotein (GP) Ib, IIb-IIIa (thrombasthenia), or granule substances (storage pool deficiency, SPD) were studied to define further the properties of platelets that mediate platelet adhesion and thrombus formation on subendothelium. Both nonanticoagulated and citrated blood were exposed to everted, de-endothelialized rabbit vessel segments under contro...