A key step leading to fertilization is the binding of sperm to the egg plasma membrane. When a mammalian sperm reaches the egg plasma membrane, fertilin, an extracellular sperm membrane protein, is believed to bind to an egg plasma membrane receptor mediating fusion. Fertilin is composed of two subunits, and each subunit contains several domains, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree series of novel thiocolchicine analogs, N-acyl-, N-aroyl-, and N-(substituted benzyl)-deacetylthiocolchicinoids, have been synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity against various tumor cell lines, especially solid tumor cell lines, and for their inhibitory effects on tubulin polymerization in vitro. Most of these compounds showed strong inhibitory effects on tubulin polymerization comparable to that obtained with thiocolchicine and greater than that obtained with colchicine. Only compounds with a long side chain at the C(7) position, such as 22-24, did not inhibit tubulin polymerization.
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