Use of IHC and newly designed matriptase inhibitors to elucidate the role of matriptase in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Matriptase, also known as MT-SP1, is a type II transmembrane serine protease strongly implicated in both the development and progression of a variety of epithelial cancers. Evidence comes from studies of its expression in human cancers and from mouse models of spontaneous cancer. Matriptase is considered to be a major activator of two key stimulators of invasive growth, namely hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor and urokinase-type plasminogen activator.

Pigment-dispersing hormone (PDH)-immunoreactive neurons form a direct coupling pathway between the bilaterally symmetric circadian pacemakers of the cockroach Leucophaea maderae.

Circadian locomotor activity rhythms of the cockroach Leucophaea maderae are driven by two bilaterally paired and mutually coupled pacemakers that reside in the optic lobes of the brain. Transplantation studies have shown that this circadian pacemaker is located in the accessory medulla (AMe), a small neuropil of the medulla of the optic lobe. The AMe is densely innervated by about 12 anterior pigment-dispersing-hormone-immunoreactive (PDH-ir) medulla (PDHMe) neurons.

Evidence for a role of GABA and Mas-allatotropin in photic entrainment of the circadian clock of the cockroach Leucophaea maderae.

Accumulating evidence suggests that the accessory medulla is the location of the circadian pacemaker in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the cockroach Leucophaea maderae. gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and Mas-allatotropin are two putative neurotransmitters, in the accessory medulla in the cockroach Leucophaea maderae. Neurons immunoreactive to the neuropeptide Mas-allatotropin are local neurons with arborizations in the noduli of the accessory medulla, while GABA-immunoreactive neurons connect the noduli of the accessory medulla to the medulla and to the lamina via processes in the distal tract.