Purified preparations of rabbit skeletal muscle glycogen synthase (specific activity 6 to 42 units/mg of protein) were found to be contaminated with calciumdependent kinase(s) which catalyzed the phosphorylation of glycogen phosphorylase b and glycogen synthase. In a series of glycogen synthase preparations there was a correlation between the phosphorylation rates of glycogen synthase and of ad...

Incubation of isolated hepatocytes with glutamine or proline or in hypotonic media is known to activate glycogen synthase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase as a result of cell swelling. We report here that the same experimental conditions caused an activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70 S6 kinase) but did not modify the activity of p42 mitogen-activated pr...

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) is implicated in abnormal hyperphosphorylation of the tau protein and its inhibitors may be a promising therapeutic approach for treating Alzheimer’s disease. Here, series C-glycosylfavone derivatives as GSK-3β was selected to perform two-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship (2D-QSAR) method docking analysis. The 2D-QSAR model generat...

The timing of radiation after mechanical injury such as in the case of surgery is considered a clinical challenge because radiation is assumed to impair wound healing. However, the physiological responses and underlying mechanisms of this healing impairment are still unclear. Here, we show that mechanical injury occurring before ionizing radiation decreases radiation-induced cell damage and inc...

The interactions between dopamine and glutamate systems play an essential role in normal brain functions and neuropsychiatric disorders. The mechanism of NMDA receptor regulation through high concentrations of dopamine, however, remains unclear. Here, we show the signaling pathways involved in hyperdopaminergic regulation of NMDA receptor functions in the prefrontal cortex by incubating cortica...

Rictor is an essential component of mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) complex 2 (mTORC2), a kinase complex that phosphorylates Akt at Ser473 upon activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3 kinase). Since little is known about the role of either rictor or mTORC2 in PI-3 kinase-mediated physiological processes in adult animals, we generated muscle-specific rictor knockout mice. Muscle f...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether lithium modifies open-field and elevated plus maze behavior, and brain phospho-glycogen synthase kinase 3 (P-GSK3beta) expression in Fmr1 knockout mice. METHODS One hundred and eighty FVB mice, including knockout and wild type, with an age of 30 days were used. An open-field and elevated plus maze was utilized to test behavior, while western blot was used to m...