Complement defense 59 (CD59) is a cell surface glycophosphoinositol (GPI)-anchored protein that prevents complement membrane attack complex (MAC) assembly. Here, we present evidence from ELISA assays that CD59 protein levels are significantly decreased in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared with nondemented elderly (ND) patients, whereas complement component ...

Human NT2 teratocarcinoma cells differentiate into neuron-like NT2-N cells when treated with retinoic acid. GABA evoked concentration-dependent whole-cell currents in NT2-N cells with an EC50 of 21.8 microM and a Hill slope of 1.2. GABAA receptor (GABAR) currents reversed at ECl- and did not display voltage-dependent rectification. GABAR single channels opened in bursts to a 23 pS main conducta...

Inactivity of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) major immediate-early regulatory region (MIERR), which is composed of promoter, enhancer, unique region, and modulator, is linked to lack of HCMV replication in latently infected cells and in other nonpermissive cell types, including human embryonal NTera2 carcinoma (NT2) cells. I refined the embryonal NT2 cell model to enable characterization of t...

Recent changes to the legislation on chemicals and cosmetics testing call for a change in the paradigm regarding the current 'whole animal' approach for identifying chemical hazards, including the assessment of potential neurotoxins. Accordingly, since 2004, we have worked on the development of the integrated co-culture of post-mitotic, human-derived neurons and astrocytes (NT2.N/A), for use as...

Human NT2 cells, which differentiate into neurons and astrocytes, initially express and then permanently down-regulate Nanog and Oct-4 (POU5F1). We investigated the relationship between the expression of these genes and the methylation state of their 5'-flanking regions. Gene expression and DNA methylation were assayed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction and bisulfite genomic sequencing...

PURPOSE FERM domain containing protein 7 (FRMD7) mutations are associated with X-linked idiopathic congenital nystagmus (ICN). The purpose of this study is to identify a novel splice variant of FRMD7 (FRMD7-S) in both humans and mice with a shortened exon 4 relative to the original form of FRMD7 (FRMD7-FL),and to detect the role of FRMD7-FL and FRMD7-S in the process of neuronal development. ...

Human Ntera2/cl.D1 (NT2) cells treated with retinoic acid (RA) differentiate towards a well characterized neuronal phenotype sharing many features with human fetal neurons. In view of the emerging role of caspases in murine stem cell/neural precursor differentiation, caspases activity was evaluated during RA differentiation. Caspase-2, -3 and -9 activity was transiently and selectively increase...

The endogenous cardiac steroid-like compounds, endogenous ouabain (EO) in particular, are present in the human circulation and are considered putative ligands of the inhibitory binding site of the plasma membrane Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase. A vast amount of data shows that, when added to cell cultures, these steroids promote the growth of cardiac, vascular, and epithelial cells. However, the involvement...