Opsin knockdown specifically slows phototransduction in broadband and UV-sensitive photoreceptors in Periplaneta americana.

Photoreceptors with different spectral sensitivities serve different physiological and behavioral roles. We hypothesized that such functional evolutionary optimization could also include differences in phototransduction dynamics. We recorded elementary responses to light, quantum bumps (QBs), of broadband green-sensitive and ultraviolet (UV)-sensitive photoreceptors in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, compound eyes using intracellular recordings.

[TOPOGRAPHIC ANATOMY OF ASCENDING AND DESCENDING NEURONS OF SUPRAESOPHAGEAL, MESO- AND METATHORACIC GANGLIA IN PALEO- AND NEOPTEROUS INSECTS].

Topographic anatomy of ascending (AN) and descending (DN) neurons of the supraesophageal and thoracic ganglia in the nervous system of winged insects (Pterygota) - representatives of infraclasses Plaeoptera (Odonata, Aeschna grandis, dragonfly) and Neoptera (Blattoptera, Periplaneta americana, cockroach) was studied. These insects are different in ecological niches, lifestyles, sets of behavioral complexes, levels of locomotor system development, evolutionary age and systematic position. Neuronal bodies and processes of ANs and DNs were stained with nickel chloride (NiC2), their topography was studied on total prerapations of the supraesophageal and thoracic ganglia.

[Potentiation of activation of soluble guanylate cyclase by YC-1, NO-donors and increase of the synergistic effect of YC-1 on NO-dependent activation of the enzyme by 1,2,3-triazolyl-1,2,5-oxadiazole derivatives].

The influence of (1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)-1,2,5-oxadiazole derivatives: 4-amino-3-(5-methyl-4- ethoxycarbonyl-(1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)-1,2,5-oxadiazole (TF4CH3) and 4,4'-bis(5-methel-4-ethoxycarbonyl-1H- 1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)-3,3'-azo-1,2,5-oxadiazole (2TF4CH3) on stimulation of human platelet soluble guanylate cyclase by YC-1, NO-donors (sodium nitroprusside, SNP, and spermine NONO) and on a synergistic increase of NO-dependent enzyme activation in the presence of YC-1 has been investigated. Both compounds increased guanylate cyclase activation by YC-1, potentiated guanylate cyclase stimulation by NO-donors and increased the synergistic effect of YC-1 on NO-dependent activation of soluble guanylate cyclase. The similarity in the properties of the examined TF4CH3 and 2TF4CH3 with that of YC-1 and the possible mechanism underlying the revealed properties of compounds used are discussed.

[The history of renalase from amine oxidase to a a-NAD(P)H-oxidase/anomerase].

Renalase is a recently discovered secretory protein, which plays a certain (still poorly understood) role in regulation of blood pressure. The review summarizes own and literature data accumulated since the first publication on relanase (2005). Initial reports on FAD-dependent amine oxidase activity of this protein were not confirmed in independent experiments performed in different laboratories.

Cytochrome cbb3 of Thioalkalivibrio is a Na+-pumping cytochrome oxidase.

Cytochrome c oxidases (Coxs) are the basic energy transducers in the respiratory chain of the majority of aerobic organisms. Coxs studied to date are redox-driven proton-pumping enzymes belonging to one of three subfamilies: A-, B-, and C-type oxidases. The C-type oxidases (cbb3 cytochromes), which are widespread among pathogenic bacteria, are the least understood.