Mutations in the Caenorhabditis elegans gene pag-3 result in misexpression of touch receptor-specific genes in the BDU interneurons and in motility defects. We cloned pag-3 and found that the gene encodes a C2H2-type zinc finger protein related to the mammalian GFI-1 protein. Sequencing of the three pag-3 alleles showed that two apparent null alleles encode a nonsense mutation before the zinc f...

Despite the significant contribution of the periaqueductal gray (PAG) to an endogenous pain suppression system, little is known about its neurochemical organization. Previous pharmacological and physiological studies have indicated regional variations in the effectiveness with which the midbrain PAG can generate potent analgesia in response to either opiate microinjection or electrical stimulat...

The present study was conducted to design and analyze the structural model of buffalo pregnancy-associated glycoprotein-1 (PAG-1) using bioinformatics. Structural modeling of the deduced buffalo PAG-1 protein was done using PHYRE, CONSURF servers and its structure was subsequently constructed using MODELLER 9.9 and PyMOL softwares Buffalo PAG-1 structural conformity was analyzed using PROSA, WH...

25 Serotonin (5-HT) modulates pain and anxiety from within the midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG). In the 26 present study, the effects of 5-HT and 5-HT1/2 subtype selective ligands on rat PAG neurons were 27 examined using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in brain slices. In voltage clamp, 5-HT produced 28 outward and inward currents in distinct subpopulations of neurons which varied througho...

Antigen-combining site arises by noncovalent association of the variable domain of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (VH) with that of the light chain (VL). To analyze the invariant features of the binding region (VL-VH domain interface), we compared the known immunoglobulin three-dimensional structures by a variety of methods. The interface forms a close-packed, twisted, prism-shaped "beta-barrel...

Chronic low back pain is a common neurological disorder. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) plays a key role in the descending modulation of pain. In this study, we investigated brain resting state PAG functional connectivity (FC) differences between patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) in low pain or high pain condition and matched healthy controls (HCs). PAG seed based functional connectivit...

Evidence has been reported to indicate that red blood cells (RBCs) may potentiate platelet adherence and platelet aggregation (PAG) in different flow systems in vitro as well as hemostatic platelet plug formation in response to vascular injury. In this study, we demonstrate that RBCs enhance PAG induced by well-defined, low-intensity, uniform, laminar shear stress. Potentiation by RBCs of shear...

(2008). Sexually dimorphic activation of the periaqueductal gray-rostral ventromedial medullary circuit during the development of morphine tolerance in the rat. ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that tolerance develops to a greater degree in male compared to female rats. The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), and its descending projections to the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), provides...

The antinociceptive and cardiovascular effects of midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) stimulation are mediated through a relay in the pontomedullary raphe magnus (RM) and adjacent nucleus reticularis magnocellularis (NRMC). To test whether the neurons important in mediating PAG-evoked effects are SEROTONERGIC, the responses of pontomedullary SEROTONERGIC-LIKE cells to PAG stimulation were tested...

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the midbrain ventral periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) play critical roles in various physiological and pathophysiological processes including sleep-wake rhyme, antinociception, and drug addiction. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their development are poorly understood. Here, we showed that PAG DA neurons arose as early as E15.5 in mouse embryos. During ...