Cholera toxin (CT), and members of the AB5 family of toxins enter host cells and hijack the cell’s endogenous pathways to induce toxicity. CT binds to a lipid receptor on the plasma membrane (PM), ganglioside GM1, which has the ability to associate with lipid rafts. The toxin can then enter the cell by various modes of receptor-mediated endocytosis and traffic in a retrograde manner from the PM...

Free gangliosides bind fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), thus preventing cell interaction and biological activity of the growth factor in endothelial cells. Here we investigated the role of cell-associated gangliosides in mediating the biological activity of FGF2. Treatment of endothelial cells of different origin with the ganglioside biosynthesis inhibitors fumonisin B1, D-threo-1-phenyl-2-de...

Gangliosides and the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) tipically partition in specialized membrane microdomains called lipid-rafts. uPAR becomes functionally important in fostering angiogenesis in endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) upon recruitment in caveolar-lipid rafts. Moreover, cell membrane enrichment with exogenous GM1 ganglioside is pro-angiogenic and opposite to the acti...

A new method has been developed for demonstration of heat-labile (LT) enterotoxin produced by Escherichia coli. This method is based upon the release of LT from bacteria grown directly onto agar plates which have been coated with ganglioside GM1. Toxin bound to the GM1 solid state is subsequently demonstrated by means of a three-step immunoenzymatic procedure in which enzyme-substrate reactions...

The cholera toxin B (CTB) subunit has been used extensively in vaccine research as a carrier for peptide immunogens due to its immunopotentiating properties, where coupling has been obtained either by genetic fusion or chemical conjugation. For genetically fused immunogens both N- and C-terminal fusions have been used. Only shorter extensions have previously been evaluated and in some reports t...

to obtain drugs which are more selective at benzodiazepine (bzd) receptors, design and synthesis of functionally selective ligands for bzd receptors is the current strategy of our pharmaceutical chemistry department. the affinity of newly synthesized ligands is assessed by radioligand receptor binding assays. based on our previous studies, 2-phenyl-5-oxo-7-methyl-1,3,4-oxadiazolo[a,2,3]-pyrimid...

curcumin exhibits both cancer- preventive activity and growth inhibitory effects on several neoplastic cells including human colon cancer. serotonin and its receptors have also been implicated in tumor development. this study investigated the effect of ritanserin, a selective serotonin 5ht2a receptor antagonist, alone and in combination with curcumin on colorectal cancer cell lines. results sho...

Chemically transformed mouse fibroblasts did not raise their cyclic AMP level in response to Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin. These fibroblasts did, however, incorporate exogenous mono-, di-, and trisialogangliosides. After the uptake of monosialoganglioside galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosylceramide (GM1), the cells responded to E. coli heat-labi...

AIM To determine direct protective effect of monosialoganglioside (GM1) on hippocampal slices after oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion (OGD/RP), and investigate the influence on the expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit 1 (NMDAR1) in those hippocampal slices. METHODS Injury of hippocampal slices and protective effects of GM1 were detected by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium ch...

Gangliosides were extracted from purified human and porcine thyrotropin (TSH) receptors (TSH-R) and were detected by probing with an 125I-labeled sialic acid-specific lectin, Limax flavus agglutinin. Gangliosides copurified with human and porcine TSH-R migrated between monosialoganglioside GM1 and disialoganglioside GD1a. Ceramide glycanase digestion of the purified human TSH-R-associated glyco...