So far, recombinant antigens of HIV-1, the etiologic cause of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), have been widely used for the diagnosis and vaccine development. P17 or the matrix protein formed by the proteolytic cleavage of gag is strongly antigenic and is as conserved and immunogenic as p24. In some cases, antibodies to p17 are more prevalent than antibodies to p24 and the decline in...

Arginine vasopressin-immunoreactive (AVP-ir) neurons in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BST) and medial amygdaloid nucleus are very responsive to gonadal hormones. After gonadectomy, these neurons lose their AVP immunoreactivity and stop expressing AVP mRNA. Testosterone treatment reverses these changes, acting via androgen as well as estrogen receptor-mediated mechanisms. Although AVP-ir ...

Renin inhibitors like aliskiren not only block renin but also bind prorenin, thereby inducing a conformational change (like the change induced by acid) allowing its recognition in a renin-specific assay. Consequently, aliskiren can be used to measure prorenin. VTP-27999 is a new renin inhibitor with an aliskiren-like IC50 and t1/2, and a much higher bioavailability. This study addressed (pro)re...

We used electron microscopic immunocytochemistry to study the distribution of calmodulin in rat sciatic nerve. Calmodulin immunoreactivity was found throughout the axoplasmic matrix, but particularly along microtubules. Schwann cell cytoplasm and nuclei demonstrated immunoreactivity, while compact myelin did not. There was particularly intense immuno-gold deposition within Schmidt Lanterman cle...

The localization of vacuolar H(+)-atpASE (V-ATPase) in osteoclasts of rat tibiae was examined immunohistochemically using antibodies to 57 kD and 72 kD subunits of V-ATPase, with confocal laser scanning microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The two antibodies showed similar immunoreactivities in osteoclasts. We distinguished three patterns of immunoreactivity in osteoclasts: The firs...

We examined cytoskeleton-associated forms of NF proteins during axonal neuritogenesis in cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and NB2a/d1 neuroblastoma. In addition to filamentous immunoreactivity, we observed punctate NF immunoreactivity throughout perikarya and neurites. Immuno-electron microscopy revealed this punctate immunoreactivity to consist of non-membrane-bound 75 nm round/ovoi...

In Drosophila, the enzyme dopa decarboxylase (DDC) catalyzes the last step in the biosynthesis of serotonin (5HT) and dopamine. In the present study, the distribution of DDC and one of its biosynthetic products (5HT) was determined in CNSs that were genetic mosaics, composed of neurons that have DDC activity and neurons that lack DDC activity. Phenotypic mosaicism, that is, immunoreactive (IR) ...

We analyzed smooth muscle actin (SMA) immunoreactivity in brain blood vessels of 10 ApoE 4,4 Alzheimer disease (AD) patients and 10 ApoE 3,3 AD patients matched for age, sex, and duration of dementia. We also examined 10 cognitively and neuropathologically normal controls matched for age and sex. Vascular SMA immunoreactivity in the arachnoid, grey matter, and white matter was quantified by ima...

The effect of an intravitreal injection of NMDA on the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in retinal ganglion cells was investigated in rats. Forty-eight hours after intravitreal injection of NMDA retinal ganglion cell BDNF immunoreactivity was practically obliterated, as was the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity associated with a subset of amacrine cells. Ho...

Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCN) are selectively vulnerable to damage and loss in a number of neurodegenerative disorders that afflict the elderly, particularly Alzheimer's disease. The reasons for this selective vulnerability remain poorly understood. Given that intraneuronal accumulation of the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) has been shown to exert deleterious effects on neurons, we tested ...