The progress of neurodegenerative disorders correlates with the spread of their associated amyloidogenic proteins. Here, we investigated whether amyloid entry into nonconstitutive neurons could drive cross-toxic outcomes. Amyloid β (Aβ) was stereotaxically introduced into the rodent midbrain tegmentum, where it is not endogenously expressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol
December 2022
Human cell survival requires function of the Na/K pump; the heteromeric protein that hydrolyzes ATP to extrude Na and import K across the plasmalemma, thereby building and maintaining these ions' electrochemical gradients. Numerous dominant diseases caused by mutations in genes encoding for Na/K pump catalytic (α) subunit isoforms highlight the importance of this protein. Here, we review literature describing disorders caused by missense mutations in , the gene encoding the ubiquitously expressed α1 isoform of the Na/K pump.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile amyloid proteins such as amyloid β (Aβ),α-synuclein, tau, and lysozyme are known to be prion-like; emerging data have revealed that they are also able to seed the misfolding of prion-like proteins differing in sequence. In the present study, we have developed a tool designed to test neurohistochemical outcomes associated with the entry of an amyloid protein into heterotypic neurons, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUntil the recent past, the sole exemplar of proteins as infectious agents leading to neurodegenerative disorders remained the prion protein. Since then, the self-seeding mechanism characteristic of the prion protein has also been attributed to other neurodegenerative-disease-associated proteins, including amyloid-β (Aβ), tau, and α-synuclein (α-Syn). In model cell line studies, truncated Aβ, viz.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe self-seeding mechanism characteristic of the prion-protein has also been attributed to other neurodegenerative-disease-associated proteins including amyloid beta (Aβ), tau, and α-synuclein. An interesting facet of these prion-like proteins is their ability to horizontally "spread" and recruit their soluble counterparts in adjacent neurons. However, recent findings suggest a heterotoxic potential in these "seeds" whereby one neurodegeneration-associated protein can interact with another sequentially unrelated prion-like protein and influence its aggregation and drive cross-toxic outcomes and neurodegenerative co-morbidity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe synthesis and characterization of a family of [60]fullerocurcuminoids obtained via Bingel reactions is reported. The new C derivatives include curcumin and curcuminoids with a variety of end groups. Preliminary biological experiments show the potential activity of the compound containing a curcumin addend, which exhibits moderate anti-HIV-1 and radical scavenger properties, but no anti-cancer activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHalogen bonding has emerged at the forefront of advances in improving ligand: receptor interactions. In particular the newfound ability of this extant non-covalent-bonding phenomena has revolutionized computational approaches to drug discovery while simultaneously reenergizing synthetic approaches to the field. Here we survey, via examples of classical applications involving halogen atoms in pharmaceutical compounds and their biological hosts, the unique advantages that halogen atoms offer as both Lewis acids and Lewis bases.
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