Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (123)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (123)
Year of publication
- 1994 (123) (remove)
Document Type
- Journal article (123) (remove)
Language
- English (123) (remove)
Keywords
- Organische Chemie (13)
- Anorganische Chemie (12)
- Toxikologie (10)
- Biochemie (9)
- Physiologische Chemie (7)
- Chirurgie (6)
- Psychologie (5)
- Virologie (5)
- Immunologie (3)
- Medizin (3)
Institute
- Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften (31)
- Institut für Organische Chemie (15)
- Institut für Anorganische Chemie (13)
- Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie (10)
- Institut für Virologie und Immunbiologie (10)
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Allgemein-, Viszeral-, Gefäß- und Kinderchirurgie (Chirurgische Klinik I) (9)
- Physikalisches Institut (6)
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie (5)
- Institut für Klinische Neurobiologie (4)
- Institut für Psychologie (3)
Two cellular proteins, membrane cofactor protein (MCP) and moesin, were reported recently to be functionally associated with the initiation of a measles virus infection. We bave analyzed the interaction of measles virus with cell surface proteins, using an overlay binding assay with cellular proteins immobilized on nitrocellulose. Among surface-biotinylated proteins from a human rectal tumor cellline (HRT), measles virus, was able to bind only to a 67-kDa proteinthat was identified as MCP. The virus recognized dift'erent isoforms of MCP expressed from human (HRT and HeLa) and simian (Vero) celllines. The binding of measles virus to MCP was abolished after cleavage of the disulfide bonds by reducing agents as weil as after enzymatic release of N-linked oligosaccharides. By contrast, removal of sialic acid or 0-linked oligosaccharides did not aft'ect the recognition of MCP by measles virus. These data indicate that the receptor determinant of MCP is dependent on a conformation of the protein that is maintained by disulfide bonds and N-glycans present in tbe complement binding domains. Our results are consistent with a roJe of MCP as primary attacbment site for measles virus in the initial stage of an infection. The functional relationship between MCP and moesin in a measles virus infection is discussed.
1 We have compared the binding properties of several hexocyclium and sila-hexocyclium derivatives to muscarinic Ml receptors (in rat brain, human neuroblastoma (NB-OK I) cells and calf superior cervical ganglia), rat heart M2 receptors, rat pancreas M3 receptors and M4 receptors in rat striatum, with their functional antimuscarinic properties in rabbit vas deferens (Ml/M4-like), guinea-pig atria (M2), and guinea-pig ileum (M3) muscarinic receptors.
2 Si la-substitution (C/Si exchange) of hexocyclium (~ sila-hexocyclium) and demethyl-hexocyclium (~demethyl-sila-hexocyclium) did not significantly affect their affinities for muscarinic receptors. By contrast, sila-substitution of demethoxy-hexocyclium increased its affinity 2 to 3 fold for all the muscarinic receptor subtypes studied.
3 The p-fluoro- and p-chloro-derivatives of sila-hexocyclium had lower affinities than the parent
compound at the four receptor subtypes, in binding and pharmacological studies.
4 In binding studies, o-methoxy-sila-hexocyclium (Ml = M4 ~ M3 ~ M2) had a much lower affinity than sila-hexocyclium for the four receptor subtypes, and discriminated the receptor subtypes more poorly than sila-hexocyclium (Ml = M3> M4> M2)' This is in marked contrast with the very clear selectivity of demethoxy-sila-hexocyclium for the prejunctional MtlM4-like heteroreceptors in rabbit vas deferens.
5 The tertiary amines demethyl-hexocyclium, demethyl-sila-hexocyclium and demethyl-o-methoxy-silahexocyclium had 10 to 30 fold lower affinities than the corresponding quaternary ammonium derivatives.
The melanoma·inducing gene of Xiphophorus fish encodes the Xmrk receptor tyrosine kinase. U sing a highly specific antiserum p~oduced against the recombinant receptor expressed with a baculovirus, it is shown that Xmrk is the most abundant phosphotyrosine protein in fish melanoma and thus highly activated in the tumors. Studies on a melanoma cellline revealed that these cells produce an activity that considerably stimulates receptor autophosphorylation. The stimulating activity induces receptor down-regulation and can be depleted from the melanoma cellsupernatant by the immobilized recombinant receptor protein. The fish melanoma cells can thus be considered autocrine tumor cells providing a source for future purification and characterization of the Xmrk ligand.
Cytokines are hormones that carry information from ceJI to ceH. This information is read from their surface upon binding to transmembrane receptors and by the subsequent initiation of receptor oligomerization. An inftuence on this process through mutagenesis on the hormone surface is highly desirab)e for medical reasons. However, an understanding of hormone-receptor interactions requires insight into the structural changes introduced by the mutations. In this line structural studies on human TL-4 and the medically important IL-4 antagonists YI24D and Y124G are presented. The site a.round YI24 is an important epitope responsible for the a.bility of 11-4 t.o ca.use a signal in the target cells. It is shown that the local main-chain structure around residue 124 in the variants remains unchanged. A strategy is presented here which allows the study of these types of proteins and their variants by NMR which does not require carbon Iabeiied sa.mples.
An ordered NotI fragment map containing over 60 loci and encompassing approximately 17 Mb has been constructed for human chromosome band llpl5. Forty-two probes, including 11 NotI-linking cosmids, were subregionaUy mapped to llpl5 using a subset of the Jl-deletion hybrids. These and 23 other probes defining loci previously mapped to 11p15 were hybridized to genomic DNA digested with NotI and 5 other infrequently cleaving restriction enzymes and separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Thirty-nine distinct NotI fragments were detected encompassing approximately 85% of the estimated length of llp15. The predicted order of the gene loci used is cenMYODI- PTH-CALCA-ST5-RBTNI-HPX-HBB-RRMlTH/ INS!1GF2-H19-CTSD-MUC2-DRD4-HRAS-RNHtel. This map wiu allow higher resolution mapping of new Ilp15 markers, facilitate positional cloning of disease genes, and provide a framework for the physical mapping of llp15 in clone contigs.
The intercellular adhesion of circulating leukocytes to vascular endothellum ls a prerequisite for leukocyte emigration from the blood to extravascular tlssues. This process is facllltated by adhesion molecules on the surfaces of both the vascular endothelial cells and the leukocytes. The experiments presented here demonstrate for the first time that the leukocyte adhesion receptor, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, is constitutively expressed on cultured cerebromicrovascular endothelial cell lines derived from both spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats and normotensive WistarKyoto (WKY) rats. Both cultures contained simliar numbers of cells constitutively expressing this adhesion molecule (31.4% and 29.6%, respectlvely). Adhesion molecule expression was up-regulated by interleukin-1 ß, tumor necrosis factor-a, interferon-y and lipopolysaccharide in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Both cultures exhibited similar maximum levels of adhesion molecule up-regulation to optimal concentrations of all three cytokines. However, SHR endothelial cells were moresensitive to all three cytokines; significantly higher levels of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expresslon were seen on SHR as opposed to WKY endothelial cells cultured with sub-optimal cytokine concentrations. It was also observed that lipopolysaccharide up-regulated intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression on SHR endothelial cells to a greater extent than on WKY endothelial cells.
The findings that intercellular adhesion molecule-1 can be up-regulated to a greater degree on SHR endothelial cells may have important implications for in vivo perivascular leukocyte accumulation under hypertensive conditions. These observations indicate a possible mechanism by which hypertension may predispose to the development of disorders such as atherosclerosis and stroke.
Spinal motoneurons innervating skeletal muscle were amongst the first neurons shown to require the presence of their target cells to develop appropriately. Isolated embryonie chick and rat motoneurons have been used to identify neurotrophic factors and cytokines capable of supporting the survival of developing motoneurons. Such factors include ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), which is present physiologically in high amounts in myelinating Schwann cells of peripheral nerves, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which is synthesized in skeletal muscle and, after peripheral nerve lesion. in Schwann cells. These factors have been further analyzed for their physiological significance in maintaining motoneuron function in vivo, and for their potential therapeutic usefulness in degenerative motoneuron disease. Both CNTF and BDNF are capable of rescuing injured facial motoneurons in newbom rats. Furthermore, CNTF prolongs survival and improves motor function of pmn mice, an animal model for degenerative motoneuron disease, by preventing degeneration of motoneuron axons and somata. Thus treatment of human motoneuron disease with neurotrophic factors should be possible, provided that rational means for application of these factors can be established considering also the appearance of potential side effects.
The energy difference between the three lowest-lying isomers of C\(_6\) the linear \(^3 \sum ^-\) state and the two ring forms,the benzene structure (\(^1\)A\(_{18}\)) possessing D\(_{6h}\) symmetry and a distorted cyclic form ( \(^1\)A'\(_1\), D\(_{3h}\) symmetry) have been calculated using various ab initio methods. Variational methods such as multireference configuration interaction (MR-CI) and complete active space second order perturbatiOn treatment (CASPT2) have been applied, as weil as perturbational treatments and coupled cluster calculations (CCD). The correlation of all valence shell electrons is found to be important for a balanced description of the isomers of C\(_6\) . Methods which do not account for higher-order effects appropriately proved to be unsuitable for calculating the energy difference correctly. The results from multireference configuration interaction methods show that the isomers are close in energy with the cyclic forms somewhat lower than the linear form. The ring form possessing D\(_{3h}\) symmetry (\(^1\)A'\(_1\)} is found tobe the lowest-lying structure.
Results ofan ab initio study ofthe hyperfine structure of the X\(^2\)A', A\(^2\) A" ( 1\(^2 \Pi\)) system ofthe formyl radical are presented. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the interplay between the vibronic and magnetic hyperfine etfects. The results of computations are in very good agreement with the available experimental findings. The values for the hyperfine coupling constants in lower bending Ievels of both electronic species are predicted.
Various structural possibilities for Si\(_3\)C\(_3\) clusters are investigated by ab initio calculations employing basis sets of double- and triple-zeta quality augmented by d polarization functions. Correlation effects are included by a second-order Moeller Piesset perturbation treatment. For the two lowest-lying structures higher-order correlation corrections and multi-reference effects are also included. Bonding features are investigated by two different types of population analyses to obtain insight into the nature of chemical bonding. A total of 17 stationary points were investigated, 14 of which correspond to local minima and three being transition states. The energetically lowest-lying structures are: A "pyramidlike" structure with various multicenter bonds, followed by a es symmetric isomer closely related to the ground state Si6 structure. Planar structures, favoured in small carbon clusters, lie higher in energy and are transition states. The lowest-lying triplet system is found to be the linear nonsymmetric Si - C-C-C-Si -Si structure, which is calculated to lie about 38 kcalfmole above the singlet ground state. A building-up principle based on bonding criteria is suggested for the occurence of the various structural possibilities.
Developmental delay or mental retardation is a frequent component of multi-system anomaly syndromes associated with chromosomal deletions. Isolation of genes involved in the mental dysfunction in these disorders should define loci important in brain formation or function. We have identified a highly conserved locus in the distal part of 11 p 13 that is prominently expressed in fetal brain. Minimal expression is observed in a number of other fetal tissues. The gene maps distal to PAX-6 but proximal to the loci for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and the beta subunit of follicle stimulating hormone (FSHB), within a region previously implicated in the mental retardation component of some WAGR syndrome patients. Within fetal brain, the corresponding transcript is prominent in frontal, motor and primary visual cortex as weil as in the caudate-putamen. The characteristics of this gene, including the striking evolutionary conservation at the locus, suggest that the encoded protein may function in brain development.
The hyperfine structures of the isoelectronic molecules CCO. CNN, and NCN in their triplet ground states (X\(^3 \sum ^-\)) are investigated by means of ab initio methods. The infrared frequencies and geometries are detennined and compared with experiment. Configuration selected multireference configuration interaction calculations in combination with perturbation theory to correct the wave function (MRD-CI/B\(_K\)) employing extended atomic orbital (AO) basis sets yielded very accurate hyperfine properties. The theoretical values for CCO are in excellent agreement with the experimental values determined by Smith and Weltner [J. Chem. Phys. 62,4592 (1975)]. For CNN, the first assignment of Smith and Weltner for the two nitrogen atoms has to be changed. A qualitative discussion of the electronic structure discloses no simple relation between the structure of the singly occupied orbitals and the measured hyperfine coupling constants. Vibrational effects were found to be of little importance.
A comparative ab initio study of the Si\(_2\)C\(_4\), Si\(_3\)C\(_3\), Si\(_4\)C\(_2\) clusters
(1994)
Various structural possibilities for the Si\(_2\)C\(_4\) and Si\(_4\)C\(_2\) clusters are investigated by employing a basis set of triple-zeta plus polarization quality; electron correlation is generally accounted for by second-order M0ller-Plesset and, in certain instances, by higher-order perturbation (CASPT2) approaches. The building-up principle recently suggested from an analysis of Si\(_3\)C\(_3\) clusters is found to be fully operative for Si\(_2\)C\(_4\) and Si\(_4\)C\(_2\) clusters. A comparison of the structure and stability of various geometrical arrangements in the series C\(_6\) , Si\(_2\)C\(_4\) , Si\(_3\)C\(_3\) , Si\(_4\)C\(_2\), and Si\(_6\) shows that linear and planar structures become rapidly less stable if carbons are replaced by silicons and that the three-dimensional bipyramidal forms become less favorable as soon as silicons are exchanged by carbons in the parent Si\(_6\) structure. The effects can be rationalized in qualitative terms based on differences in silicon and carbon bonding.