Application of artificial gel antibodies for investigating molecular polymorphisms of human pituitary growth hormone.

Artificial gel antibodies were used to investigate human growth hormone (GH) activity in preparations purified from human pituitary glands. A partially purified fraction containing differently sized structural variants of GH was processed to yield monomeric and dimeric forms suitable for synthesizing artificial polyacrylamide gel antibodies. These two types of GH antibodies were used for investigating GH activity in experiments using HPLC gel-permeation and ion-exchange chromatography.

Development and evaluation of normalization methods for label-free relative quantification of endogenous peptides.

The performances of 10 different normalization methods on data of endogenous brain peptides produced with label-free nano-LC-MS were evaluated. Data sets originating from three different species (mouse, rat, and Japanese quail), each consisting of 35-45 individual LC-MS analyses, were used in the study. Each sample set contained both technical and biological replicates, and the LC-MS analyses were performed in a randomized block fashion.

A quantitative peptidomic analysis of peptides related to the endogenous opioid and tachykinin systems in nucleus accumbens of rats following naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal.

We have applied a recently developed label-free mass spectrometry based peptidomic approach to identify and quantify a variety of endogenous peptides from rat nucleus accumbens following withdrawal in naloxone-precipitated, morphine-dependent rats of two separate strains. We focused on maturated, partially processed and truncated peptides derived from the peptide precursors proenkephalin, prodynorphin and preprotachykinin. The expression of several identified peptides was dependent on strain and was affected during morphine withdrawal.

Nandrolone-induced hippocampal phosphorylation of NMDA receptor subunits and ERKs.

The age-related decline in gonadal steroids is associated with changes in mood and memory function. It appears that normal physiological concentrations of the steroids are required for adequate synaptic plasticity. However, the effects of high levels of androgens subsequent to misuse of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are largely unknown.

Comparative sequence analysis of the symbiosis island of Mesorhizobium loti strain R7A.

The Mesorhizobium loti strain R7A symbiosis island is a 502-kb chromosomally integrated element which transfers to nonsymbiotic mesorhizobia in the environment, converting them to Lotus symbionts. It integrates into a phenylalanine tRNA gene in a process mediated by a P4-type integrase encoded at the left end of the element. We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the island and compared its deduced genetic complement with that reported for the 611-kb putative symbiosis island of M.