The myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform composition of locomotor and non-locomotor muscles of mini-muscle mice were assessed at the protein and mRNA levels in both adult and juvenile (21 day old) mice. Mini-muscle mice are one outcome of a replicated artificial selection experiment in which four lines of mice were bred for high voluntary wheel running (HR lines). Two of the lines responded with a...

BACKGROUND The cAMP-elevating A(2b) adenosine receptor (A(2b)AR) controls inflammation via its expression in bone marrow cells. METHODS AND RESULTS Atherosclerosis induced by a high-fat diet in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice was more pronounced in the absence of the A(2b)AR. Bone marrow transplantation experiments indicated that A(2b)AR bone marrow cell signals alone were not sufficient to e...

Survival, T-cell functions, and postmortem histopathology were studied in H-2 congenic strains of mice bearing H-2b, H-2k, and H-2d haplotypes. Males lived longer than females in all homozygous and heterozygous combinations except for H-2d homozygotes, which showed no differences between males and females. Association of heterozygosity with longer survival was observed only with H-2b/H-2b and H...

The yeast two-hybrid system was used to catalog all detectable interactions among the P2 nonstructural cleavage products of poliovirus type 1 (Mahoney). Evidence has been obtained for specific associations among 2A(pro), 2BC, 2C, and 2B. Specifically, 2A(pro) can interact with itself and 2BC and its cleavage products (2B and 2C) interact in all possible combinations, with the exception of 2C/2C...

We have evaluated the expression of surface Fc gamma 2b/gamma 1R by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated murine spleen cells, the release of soluble Fc gamma 2b/gamma 1R by activated spleen cells, and the presence of circulating Fc gamma 2b/gamma 1R in mouse serum. LPS activation of murine spleen cells and a cloned B cell line, BCL-1 CW 13.20-3B3, resulted in a 5-10-fold increase in surface Fc ga...

BACKGROUND Coxsackievirus B3 is an important infectious agent of viral myocarditis, pancreatitis and aseptic meningitis, but there are no specific antiviral therapeutic reagents in clinical use. RNA interference-based technology has been developed to prevent the viral infection. METHODS To evaluate the impact of RNA interference on viral replication, cytopathogenicity and animal survival, sho...

Chronic cocaine induces high expression of the brain-specific Neural-Zinc-Finger transcription factor-2b (NZF-2b/7ZFMyt1), particularly in the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway, resulting in a 11-fold increase in NZF-2b/7ZFMyt1 expression in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc). Overexpression of this gene in the NAc with a NZF-2b/7ZFMyt1-expressing lentivirus resulted in >55% decrease in locomotor activi...

Previous studies in cultured, polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney II (MDCKII) renal epithelial cells have demonstrated that the apical steady-state localization and delivery of the A(1) adenosine receptor is modified by disruption of the microtubule network with colchicine, whereas the basolateral localization and trafficking of the alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors (alpha(2)AR) are not; instead, t...

Neural circuit assembly requires selection of specific cell fates, axonal trajectories, and synaptic targets. By analyzing the function of a secreted semaphorin, Sema-2b, in Drosophila olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) development, we identified multiple molecular and cellular mechanisms that link these events. Notch signaling limits Sema-2b expression to ventromedial ORN classes, within which Se...