Background: Immaturity of the ovarian follicles results in an infertility citation called Premature Ovarian Failure (POF), affecting approximately 1% of women under the age of 40. Women with this disorder go through early menopause and have high levels of gonadotropin hormones (FSH & LH). Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR) is another infertility disorder in which women’s ovaries have the ability ...

We present a mini-review on the structure-based design of three promising complement inhibitors. Firstly, we review compstatin, a 13-residue cyclic peptide that binds to C3 and inhibits the cleavage of C3 to C3a and C3b. Secondly, we review a six-residue cyclic peptide that binds to C5aR and antagonizes the binding of C5a to its receptor C5aR. Finally, we review three small molecules that bind ...

N1E-115 mouse neuroblastoma cells were injected with the calcium indicator dye arsenazo III. Optical absorbance changes during voltage-clamp depolarization were used to examine the properties of the two calcium currents present in these cells. The rapidly inactivating calcium current (Moolenar and Spector, 1979b, Journal of Physiology, 292:307-323) inactivates by a voltage-dependent mechanism. ...