Evaluation of anti-inflammatory potential and GC-MS profiling of leaf extracts from Clerodendrum infortunatum L.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Clerodendrum infortunatum L. is commonly distributed in tropical and subtropical countries and is widely used in the indigenous systems of medicine including Ayurveda, Unani, and Homeopathy. The plant has important uses in the treatment of various inflammatory disorders which includes asthma, cough, chest complaints, pain, rheumatism, osteoarthritis, gastric ulcer, cancer, diabetes, skin diseases etc.

Novel presynaptic assay system revealed that metformin ameliorates exaggerated synaptic release and Munc18-1 accumulation in presynapses of neurons from Fragile X syndrome mouse model.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a developmental disorder characterized by intellectual disability and autistic-like behaviors. These symptoms are supposed to result from dysregulated translation in pre- and postsynapses, resulting in aberrant synaptic plasticity. Although most drug development research on FXS has focused on aberrant postsynaptic functions by excess translation in postsynapses, the effect of drug candidates on FXS in presynaptic release is largely unclear.

Presynapse Formation Assay Using Presynapse Organizer Beads and "Neuron Ball" Culture.

During neuronal development, synapse formation is an important step to establish neural circuits. To form synapses, synaptic proteins must be supplied in appropriate order by transport from cell bodies and/or local translation in immature synapses. However, it is not fully understood how synaptic proteins accumulate in synapses in proper order.

Fragile X mental retardation protein regulates accumulation of the active zone protein Munc18-1 in presynapses via local translation in axons during synaptogenesis.

Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), a causative gene (FMR1) product of Fragile X syndrome (FXS), is an RNA-binding protein to regulate local protein synthesis in dendrites for postsynaptic functions. However, involvement of FMRP in local protein synthesis in axons for presynaptic functions remains unclear. Here we investigated role of FMRP in local translation of the active zone protein Munc18-1 during presynapse formation.