Effects of enriched environment on micturition activity in freely moving C57BL/6J mice.

Objectives: An enriched environment (EE) has been known to promote structural changes in the brain and enhance learning and emotional performance. However, little is known about the effect of an EE on brain stem functions, such as the micturition function. In this study, we examined whether an EE affects micturition activity in mice.

Effects of tipepidine on MK-801-induced cognitive impairment in mice.

We previously reported that centrally acting non-narcotic antitussives, including tipepidine, inhibit G-protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channel-activated currents of neurons. In addition, when administered at a cough suppressant dose, the drugs ameliorated the symptoms of various models of intractable brain disease in rodents. In the current study, we investigated whether tipepidine causes recovery from schizophrenia-like cognitive dysfunction, which was induced by MK-801 (0.

Effect of tipepidine with novel antidepressant-like action on c-fos-like protein expression in rat brain.

We previously reported that tipepidine, a centrally acting non-narcotic antitussive, has an antidepressant-like effect in normal and imipramine treatment-resistant depression model rats. Recently, mapping the induction of c-fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI) in the rat brain showed FLI-positive neurons in several brain areas after acute administration of different classes of antidepressants. Here, the effect of a single injection of an antidepressive dose of tipepidine on FLI was studied in seven areas of the rat brain including the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc).

Pharmacological mechanisms of antidepressant-like effect of tipepidine in the forced swimming test.

We previously reported that the centrally acting non-narcotic antitussive, tipepidine, produces a novel antidepressant-like effect in the forced swimming test in rats, but the mechanism of the antidepressant-like effect of tipepidine is not clear. We investigated the pharmacological mechanism of the antidepressant-like effect of tipepidine in the forced swimming test in rats. A catecholamine-depleting agent, alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine (AMPT; 300 mg/kg, s.

Tipepidine enhances the antinociceptive-like action of carbamazepine in the acetic acid writhing test.

Several antidepressants have been used to treat severe pain in clinics. Recently, we reported that the centrally acting non-narcotic antitussive (cough suppressant drug), tipepidine produces an antidepressant-like effect in the forced swimming test, although the mechanism of action appears to be quite different from that of known antidepressants. In the present study, we investigated whether a combination of tipepidine and carbamazepine acts synergistically to induce an antinociceptive effect in the acetic acid-induced writhing test in mice.

Antidepressant-like effect of centrally acting non-narcotic antitussive caramiphen in a forced swimming test.

Recently, we reported that a centrally acting non-narcotic antitussive (cough suppressant drug), tipepidine produces an antidepressant-like effect in the forced swimming test in rats. Because pharmacological properties of tipepidine apparently differ from those of typical antidepressants developed to date, we speculated that caramiphen, another centrally acting antitussive, has an antidepressant-like effect. That effect of caramiphen was studied in rats using the forced swimming test.

High production of sulfide in coenzyme Q deficient fission yeast.

We have constructed coenzyme Q deficient fission yeast strains by deletion of ten different genes, all of which are absolutely required for the CoQ10 biosynthesis. We found that sulfide was highly accumulated in all fission yeast CoQ10 deficient mutants. In fission yeast sulfide is required for the synthesis of cysteine and homocysteine which are catalyzed by cysteine synthase (Cys1a) and homocysteine synthase (Met17), respectively.

Comparison of a coq7 deletion mutant with other respiration-defective mutants in fission yeast.

Among the steps in ubiquinone biosynthesis, that catalyzed by the product of the clk-1/coq7 gene has received considerable attention because of its relevance to life span in Caenorhabditis elegans. We analyzed the coq7 ortholog (denoted coq7) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, to determine whether coq7 has specific roles that differ from those of other coq genes. We first confirmed that coq7 is necessary for the penultimate step in ubiquinone biosynthesis, from the observation that the deletion mutant accumulated the ubiquinone precursor demethoxyubiquinone-10 instead of ubiquinone-10.