protein aggregation is a serious problem for both biotechnology and cell biology. diseases such as prion misfolding, alzheimer’s, and other amyloidosis are phenomena for which protein aggregation in our living cells is of considerable relevance. human lysozyme has been shown to form amyloid fibrils in individuals suffering from nonneuropathic systemic amyloidosis, all of which have point mutati...

Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are present in all higher eukaryotic cells and are essential for cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. Sharing common precursor with polyamines, nitric oxide (NO) is associated with myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury by the generation of peroxynitrite. Although polyamines have been implicated in tissue ischemia injury, their metabolism...

Gene silencing by siRNA (synthetic dsRNA of 21-25 nucleotides) is a well established biological tool in gene expression studies and has a promising therapeutic potential for difficult-to-treat diseases. Five fatty acids of various chain length and oxidation state (C12:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2, C22:1) were conjugated to the naturally occurring polyamine, spermine, and evaluated for siRNA delivery ...

Seed germination is sensitive to glucose (Glc), nitric oxide (NO) and polyamine (PA). To elucidate whether cross-talk among Glc, NO and PAs occurs in mediation of seed germination, effects of Glc, NO and spermine on seed germination of Lotus japonicus were studied. Glc retarded seed germination in a concentration-dependent manner. NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) alleviated Glc-induced inhib...

The local production of proinflammatory cytokines mediates the host response to inflammation, infection, and injury, whereas an overexpression of these mediators can injure or kill the host. Recently, we identified a class of multivalent guanylhydrazone compounds that are effective inhibitors of proinflammatory cytokine synthesis in monocytes/macrophages. The structure of one such cationic mole...

The effect of spermine on photochemical activity and polypeptide composition of chloroplasts from barley leaf discs during senescence in the dark was studied. Chloroplast membranes did not show photosystem II activity after spermine treatment when water was the electron donor, but in the presence of diphenylcarbazide, this activity was observed. The diphenylcarbazide-stimulated photoreduction o...

The antiviral activity of oxidized spermine was compared with that of other aldehydes. Suspensions of vaccinia virus were incubated at 37 C with various concentrations of the aldehydes, and the infectivity of the viruses was determined by the plaque assay. Oxidized spermine at a concentration of 0.82 mM completely inactivated a suspension of vaccinia virus (1.4 x 10(8) plaque-forming units) aft...

Inward rectifier K(+) (Kir) channels are expressed in multiple neuronal and glial cells. Recent studies have equated certain properties of exogenously expressed Kir4.1 channels with those of native K(+) currents in brain cells, as well as demonstrating the expression of Kir4.1 subunits in these tissues. There are nagging problems however with assigning native currents to Kir4.1 channels. One ma...

Although most cells are capable of transporting polyamines, the mechanism that regulates polyamine transport in eukaryotes is still largely unknown. Using a genetic screen for clones capable of restoring spermine sensitivity to spermine-tolerant mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we have demonstrated that Sky1p, a recently identified SR protein kinase, is a key regulator of polyamine transpor...