Linear motif specificity in signaling through p38α and ERK2 mitogen-activated protein kinases.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are essential for eukaryotic cells to integrate and respond to diverse stimuli. Maintaining specificity in signaling through MAPK networks is key to coupling distinct inputs to appropriate cellular responses. Docking sites-short linear motifs found in MAPK substrates, regulators, and scaffolds-can promote signaling specificity through selective interactions, but how they do so remains unresolved.

Histone deacetylase 6 inhibition restores leptin sensitivity and reduces obesity.

The adipose tissue-derived hormone leptin can drive decreases in food intake while increasing energy expenditure. In diet-induced obesity, circulating leptin levels rise proportionally to adiposity. Despite this hyperleptinemia, rodents and humans with obesity maintain increased adiposity and are resistant to leptin's actions.

The melanocortin-3 receptor is a pharmacological target for the regulation of anorexia.

Ablation of hypothalamic AgRP (Agouti-related protein) neurons is known to lead to fatal anorexia, whereas their activation stimulates voracious feeding and suppresses other motivational states including fear and anxiety. Despite the critical role of AgRP neurons in bidirectionally controlling feeding, there are currently no therapeutics available specifically targeting this circuitry. The melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) is expressed in multiple brain regions and exhibits sexual dimorphism of expression in some of those regions in both mice and humans.

The role of interindividual licking received and dopamine genotype on later-life licking provisioning in female rat offspring.

Introduction: Rat mothers exhibit natural variations in care that propagate between generations of female offspring. However, there is limited information on genetic variation that could influence this propagation.

Methods: We assessed early-life maternal care received by individual female rat offspring, later-life maternal care provisioning, and dopaminergic activity in the maternal brain in relation to naturally occurring genetic polymorphisms linked to the dopaminergic system.

Inter-individual maternal care received and genotype interactions affect dopaminergic phenotypes in female rat offspring.

Rat mothers exhibit natural variations in care and can shape offspring adult behaviour and their maternal care by affecting the dopaminergic system. We explored whether genotype and gene × environment interactions are involved in these processes in nulliparous female offspring. We assessed maternal licking/grooming toward individual female pups during the first week postpartum and dopamine-related behaviour of the offspring in adulthood.

Both maternal care received and genotype influence stress-related phenotype in female rats.

Rat dams differ naturally in the level of maternal care they provide to their offspring within the same litter. We explored possible mechanisms of differential maternal care focused on genetic variation. We examined single nucleotide polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor, FK506-binding protein, and serotonin transporter genes in two separate cohorts, and the relationship between differential maternal care received, genotype, and offspring phenotype.

Within- and between-litter maternal care alter behavior and gene regulation in female offspring.

Rat dams show natural variations in maternal care, licking and grooming (LG), that are associated with distinct behavioral and neural phenotypes in offspring. However, there has been limited research on the effects of differences in LG received by female pups and of variations in maternal care within the litter. Here, we investigated LG received by measuring active maternal care after pup retrieval of female offspring.

Cocaine exposure prior to pregnancy alters the psychomotor response to cocaine and transcriptional regulation of the dopamine D1 receptor in adult male offspring.

There is evidence that maternal experience prior to pregnancy can play an important role in behavioral, physiological, and genetic programming of offspring. Likewise, exposure to cocaine in utero can result in marked changes in central nervous system function of offspring. In this study, we examined whether exposure of rat dams to cocaine prior to pregnancy subsequently alters indices of behavior, physiology, and gene expression in offspring.

The effects of vitamin D₃ during pregnancy and lactation on offspring physiology and behavior in sprague-dawley rats.

Recent findings show that developmental vitamin D deficiency leads to altered brain morphology and behavioral development in the rat offspring. We examined the effects of different dietary vitamin D levels in rat dams on behavior and biochemistry of the offspring. Females were divided into five conditions and received diets containing 0, 1,5, 3.

In-vitro evidence for efficacy of antimicrobial mouthrinses.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the antimicrobial activity of commercially available antiseptic mouthrinses against saliva-derived plaque biofilms in static and flow-through biofilm systems in vitro.

Methods: Nine mouthrinses were tested in a recirculating flow-through biofilm model (RFTB) with viability assessment by ATP bioluminescence. In addition, five mouthrinses were evaluated in a batch chamber slide biofilm (BCSB) model, using live/dead staining and confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Dental calculus composition following use of essential-oil/ZnCl2 mouthrinse.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that anticalculus agents cannot completely inhibit calculus formation but can influence the types of calcium phosphate which form, i.e., they can influence the composition of the inorganic component of human dental calculus (HDC).

Lipid raft compartmentalization of urokinase receptor signaling in human neutrophils.

Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) receptors (uPAR) can be engaged for activation signaling either by aggregation or by binding exogenous uPA. These signaling mechanisms require uPAR to associate with two distinct adhesion proteins, L-selectin and complement receptor 3 (CR3), respectively. uPAR contains a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor, suggesting that it is concentrated within glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomains, or "lipid rafts".