A new type of nitric oxide (NO)-releasing material is described that utilizes S-nitrosothiols anchored to tiny fumed silica (FS) particles as the NO donor system. The synthetic procedures suitable for tethering three different thiol species (cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, and N-acetylpenicillamine) to the surface of FS polymer filler particles are detailed. The thiol-derivatized particles are conv...

Neuronal dense-core vesicles (DCVs) transport and secrete neuropeptides necessary for development, plasticity and survival, but little is known about their fusion mechanism. We show that Snap-25-null mutant (SNAP-25 KO) neurons, previously shown to degenerate after 4 days in vitro (DIV), contain fewer DCVs and have reduced DCV fusion probability in surviving neurons at DIV14. At DIV3, before de...

Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein (SNAP)-25 is a neuronal SNARE protein essential for neurotransmitter release from presynaptic terminals. Three palmitoylated SNAP-25 family proteins: SNAP-25a, SNAP-25b, and SNAP-23, are expressed in the brain, but little is known about their distributions and functions. In the present study, we generated specific antibodies to distin...

The SNARE complex, consisting of synaptobrevin, syntaxin, and SNAP-25, is essential for calcium-triggered exocytosis in neurosecretory cells. Little is known, however, about how developmentally regulated isoforms and other cognate SNARE components regulate vesicular fusion. To address this question, we examined neuroexocytosis from chromaffin cells of Snap25 null mice rescued by the two splice ...

The synaptic protein SNAP-25 is an important component of the neurotransmitter release machinery, although its precise function is still unknown. Genetic analysis of other synaptic proteins has yielded valuable information on their role in synaptic transmission. In this study, we performed a mutagenesis screen to identify new SNAP-25 alleles that fail to complement our previously isolated reces...

N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein (NSF) and alpha-SNAP play key roles in vesicular traffic through the secretory pathway. In this study, NH2- and COOH-terminal truncation mutants of alpha-SNAP were assayed for ability to bind NSF and stimulate its ATPase activity. Deletion of up to 160 NH2-terminal amino acids had little effect on the ability of alpha-SNAP to stimulate the ATPase activi...

OBJECTIVE To determine public attitudes towards federal spending on nutrition assistance programmes and support for policies to improve the nutritional impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). DESIGN Participants answered survey questions by telephone assessing support for SNAP spending and proposed programme policy changes. SETTING USA SUBJECTS Survey of 3024 adults ...

The four existing stable factorization methods for symmetric indefinite pivoting (row or column exchanges) maintains a band structure in the reduced matrix and the factors, but destroys symmetry completely once an off-diagonal pivot is used. Two-by-two block pivoting maintains symmetry at all times, but quickly destroys the band structure. Gaussian reduction to tridiagonal also maintains symmet...