Substance P acting via the neurokinin-1 receptor regulates adverse myocardial remodeling in a rat model of hypertension.

Background: Substance P is a sensory nerve neuropeptide located near coronary vessels in the heart. Therefore, substance P may be one of the first mediators released in the heart in response to hypertension, and can contribute to adverse myocardial remodeling via interactions with the neurokinin-1 receptor. We asked: 1) whether substance P promoted cardiac hypertrophy, including the expression of fetal genes known to be re-expressed during pathological hypertrophy; and 2) the extent to which substance P regulated collagen production and fibrosis.

Identification of the major ubiquitin-binding domain of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa ExoU A2 phospholipase.

Numerous Gram-negative bacterial pathogens use type III secretion systems to deliver effector molecules into the cytoplasm of a host cell. Many of these effectors have evolved to manipulate the host ubiquitin system to alter host cell physiology or the location, stability, or function of the effector itself. ExoU is a potent A2 phospholipase used by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to destroy membranes of infected cells.