Diurnal proteome profile of the mouse cerebral cortex: Conditional deletion of the Bmal1 circadian clock gene elevates astrocyte protein levels and cell abundance in the neocortex and hippocampus.

Circadian oscillators, defined by cellular 24 h clock gene rhythms, are found throughout the brain. Cerebral cortex-specific conditional knockout of the clock gene Bmal1 (Bmal1 CKO) leads to depressive-like behavior, but the molecular link from clock gene to altered behavior is unknown. Further, diurnal proteomic data on the cerebral cortex are currently unavailable.

Functional characterization of 5-HT and 5-HT serotonin receptor signaling through G-protein-activated inwardly rectifying K channels in a fluorescence-based membrane potential assay.

The 5-HT and 5-HT serotonin receptors are abundantly expressed in the CNS and constitute validated as well as putative drug targets in a variety of psychiatric and cognitive disorders, alcoholism/addiction, pain and migraine. In the present study we have characterized the functional properties of human 5-HT and 5-HT stably co-expressed with the human G-protein-activated inwardly rectifying K channel 2 (GIRK2) in HEK293 cells in the fluorescence-based FLIPR® Membrane Potential Blue (FMP) assay. Serotonin and other agonists induced robust decreases in fluorescence levels in the 5-HT/GIRK2- and 5-HT/GIRK2-HEK293 cells in a concentration-dependent manner in the assay, and these responses could be inhibited by selective 5-HT/5-HT antagonists and by the Gα-protein inhibitor pertussis toxin (PTX).