Kava pyrones exert effects on neuronal transmission and transmembraneous cation currents similar to established mood stabilizers--a review.

1. Antiepileptic drugs that are successful as mood stabilizers, e.g.

Enhancement of connexin 43 expression increases proliferation and differentiation of an osteoblast-like cell line.

Bone cells form a functional syncytium as they are coupled by gap junctions composed mainly of connexin 43 (Cx43). To further understand the role of Cx43 in bone cell growth and differentiation, we stably transfected Cx45-expressing UMR 106-01 cells with Cx43 using an expression vector containing rat Cx43 cDNA. Three stably transfected clones were analyzed, all of which showed altered expression of Cx43 and/or Cx45 as was obvious from immunocytochemistry and Northern blotting.

Intercellular communication between bone marrow stromal cells and CD34+ haematopoietic progenitor cells is mediated by connexin 43-type gap junctions.

The existence of functional gap junctions between haematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) and stromal cells of the haematopoietic microenvironment in the human system is a controversial issue. Primary CD34+ HPCs isolated from leukapheresis products were co-incubated with the human fibroblastoid bone marrow stromal cell line L87/4 in short-term liquid culture. Using the highly sensitive double whole-cell patch-clamp technique, we found that the majority (91%) of CD34+ HPCs are electrically coupled to L87/4 cells.

Interference of lead with the calcium release activated calcium flux of osteoblast-like cells.

Lead (Pb(2+)) tends to accumulate in bone from where it is released during bone resorption, thus leading to high local concentrations of Pb(2+) with the risk of cellular toxicity. We investigated the interference of Pb(2+) with the calcium release activated calcium influx (CRAC) of osteoblast-like (OBL) cells. CRAC was elicited by depletion of intracellular Ca(2+) stores with thapsigargin and/or A23187 under Ca(2+)-free conditions and re-addition of extracellular Ca(2+).

A three-state model for connexin37 gating kinetics.

The gating behavior of human connexin 37 (hCx37) is unaffected by the nature of the bathing monovalent (for Na, K, Rb). It is modified by [Mg] in the millimolar range. For fitting the kinetics, we propose a simple extension to three states of the canonical 2-state model of the hemichannel.