Neuromodulatory functions exerted by oxytocin on different populations of hippocampal neurons in rodents.

Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide widely known for its peripheral hormonal effects (i.e., parturition and lactation) and central neuromodulatory functions, related especially to social behavior and social, spatial, and episodic memory.

GABA and GABA Receptors Mediate GABA-Induced Intracellular Ca Signals in Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells.

Numerous studies recently showed that the inhibitory neurotransmitter, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), can stimulate cerebral angiogenesis and promote neurovascular coupling by activating the ionotropic GABA receptors on cerebrovascular endothelial cells, whereas the endothelial role of the metabotropic GABA receptors is still unknown. Preliminary evidence showed that GABA receptor stimulation can induce an increase in endothelial Ca levels, but the underlying signaling pathway remains to be fully unraveled. In the present investigation, we found that GABA evoked a biphasic elevation in [Ca] that was initiated by inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate- and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate-dependent Ca release from neutral and acidic Ca stores, respectively, and sustained by store-operated Ca entry.

The p97-Nploc4 ATPase complex plays a role in muscle atrophy during cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: The p97 complex participates in the degradation of muscle proteins during atrophy upon fasting or denervation interacting with different protein adaptors. We investigated whether and how it might also be involved in muscle wasting in cancer, where loss of appetite occurs, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), where motoneuron death causes muscle denervation and fatal paralysis.

Methods: As cancer cachexia models, we used mice bearing colon adenocarcinoma C26, human renal carcinoma RXF393, or Lewis lung carcinoma, with breast cancer 4T1-injected mice as controls.

Multifunctional Liposomes Modulate Purinergic Receptor-Induced Calcium Wave in Cerebral Microvascular Endothelial Cells and Astrocytes: New Insights for Alzheimer's disease.

In light of previous results, we assessed whether liposomes functionalized with ApoE-derived peptide (mApoE) and phosphatidic acid (PA) (mApoE-PA-LIP) impacted on intracellular calcium (Ca) dynamics in cultured human cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (hCMEC/D3), as an in vitro human blood-brain barrier (BBB) model, and in cultured astrocytes. mApoE-PA-LIP pre-treatment actively increased both the duration and the area under the curve (A.U.