The roles of oxytocin and CD38 in social or parental behaviors.

The nine amino acid peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been directly associated with different types of behavioral reactions. The formation and maintenance of social relationships in youth and middle age are important components of human mental health. A deficit in healthy behavioral formation leads to social isolation and limitation of well-being.

Displays of paternal mouse pup retrieval following communicative interaction with maternal mates.

Compared with the knowledge of maternal care, much less is known about the factors required for paternal parental care. Here we report that new sires of laboratory mice, though not spontaneously parental, can be induced to show maternal-like parental care (pup retrieval) using signals from dams separated from their pups. During this interaction, the maternal mates emit 38-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations to their male partners, which are equivalent to vocalizations that occur following pheromone stimulation.

[NAD+-converting enzymes in neuronal and glial cells: CD38 as a novel target for neuroprotection].

The review contains current data on molecular mechanisms which control NAD+ homeostasis in brain cells. It also deals with the role of NAD+-converting enzymes in regulation of functional activity, viability and intercellular communication of neuronal and glial cells. Special attention is paid to involvement of CD38 into regulation of NAD+ levels in brain cells in normal and pathological conditions.

Theory of intercellular communication in the development of endothelial dysfunction.

Activation of intracellular signaling and blebbing of the plasma membrane lead to rafting and clustering of membrane receptors. Lymphocyte with high receptor density at the cell pole interacts with endothelial cells, which leads to their hyperactivation. In this case, lymphocyte getting a response from the endothelial cell can release membrane particles, which interact with endothelial receptors and penetrate through gaps between endothelial cells forming aseptic inflammation and causing atherogenesis.

[Modulation of membrane blebbing and microparticle sheddimg as a target of cardiovascular prophylaxis].

Physicocemical and antigenic properties of peripheral blood lymphocytes and shed membrane microparticles were studied in patients with CHD and angina of effort and in those with hypertensive disease. The frequency of lymphocyte blebbing in CHD and angina patients was significantly higher than in those with HD (70.56, 52, 25.