Altered sensitivity of CD81-deficient mice to neurobehavioral effects of cocaine.

CD81, also known as target of the antiproliferative antibody, is known to be expressed in astrocytes and involved in cell adhesion and, recently, we demonstrated its induction exclusively in the accumbens following cocaine. In the present study, the sensitivity of CD81-deficient mice to behavioral effects of cocaine was evaluated. It was found that CD81-deficient mice exhibited altered sensitivity to cocaine as assessed in the place preference conditioning paradigm and locomotor activity.

Immunohistochemical localization of EphA5 in the adult human central nervous system.

To better understand the functional role of EphA5 in the adult human central nervous system (CNS), we performed an immunohistochemical mapping study. EphA5, like other members of the Elk/Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases, was widely distributed in CNS neurons. However, the distribution of the neuronal staining was not uniform.

Functional activation of EphA5 receptor does not promote cell proliferation in the aberrant EphA5 expressing human glioblastoma U-118 MG cell line.

Eph receptors are a subfamily of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), that are activated by ephrin ligands and appear to play important roles in axon guidance and cell migration during development of the nervous system. Over-expression or constitutive activation of Eph receptors has been linked with increased proliferation in various tumours. We have recently described lineage aberrant expression of EphA5 in primary human astrocytomas, glioblastomas and in the human glioblastoma U-118 MG cell line.

Reciprocal expression of myelin-associated glycoprotein splice variants in the adult human peripheral and central nervous systems.

The L- and S-MAG isoforms differ only at their C-terminus and are believed to be functionally distinct. To obtain information on the relative expression of these alternatively spliced isoforms in humans, we cloned an S-MAG cDNA fragment. The deduced amino-acid sequence of the human S-MAG C-terminus shows fairly conservative substitutions of 4 out of the 10 residues compared to the rodent peptide.

Extensive splice variation and localization of the EHK-1 receptor tyrosine kinase in adult human brain and glial tumors.

EHK-1 is a neuronal ELK-related receptor tyrosine kinase which interacts with multiple, membrane-anchored ligands. Recent experiments have suggested a role for some of these ligands in the formation of neuronal pathways. Here, we report the isolation of human EHK-1 cDNAs and the localization of the human EHK-1 gene to chromosome 4q12.