scholarly journals Ciliary neurotrophic factor induces cholinergic differentiation of rat sympathetic neurons in culture.

1989 ◽  
Vol 108 (5) ◽  
pp. 1807-1816 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Saadat ◽  
M Sendtner ◽  
H Rohrer

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) influences the levels of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in cultures of dissociated sympathetic neurons from newborn rats. In the presence of CNTF both the total and specific activity of ChAT was increased 7 d after culture by 15- and 18-fold, respectively, as compared to cultures kept in the absence of CNTF. Between 3 and 21 d in culture in the presence of CNTF the total ChAT activity increased by a factor of greater than 100. Immunotitration demonstrated that the elevated ChAT levels were due to an increased number of enzyme molecules. In contrast to the increase in ChAT levels, the total and specific activity levels of TH were decreased by 42 and 36%, respectively, after 7 d in culture. Half-maximal effects for both ChAT increase and TH decrease were obtained at CNTF concentrations of approximately 0.6 ng and maximal levels were reached at 1 ng of CNTF per milliliter of medium. The effect of CNTF on TH and ChAT levels were seen in serum-containing medium as well as in serum-free medium. CNTF was shown to have only a small effect on the long-term survival of rat sympathetic neurons. We therefore concluded that the effects of CNTF on ChAT and TH are not due to selective survival of cells that acquire cholinergic traits in vitro, but are rather due to the induction of cholinergic differentiation of noradrenergic sympathetic neurons.

2000 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 363-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsuto Takenaka ◽  
Mine Harada ◽  
Tomoaki Fujisaki ◽  
Koji Nagafuji ◽  
Shinichi Mizuno ◽  
...  

1991 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Batistatou ◽  
L A Greene

Past studies have shown that serum-free cultures of PC12 cells are a useful model system for studying the neuronal cell death which occurs after neurotrophic factor deprivation. In this experimental paradigm, nerve growth factor (NGF) rescues the cells from death. It is reported here that serum-deprived PC12 cells manifest an endonuclease activity that leads to internucleosomal cleavage of their cellular DNA. This activity is detected within 3 h of serum withdrawal and several hours before any morphological sign of cell degeneration or death. NGF and serum, which promote survival of the cells, inhibit the DNA fragmentation. Aurintricarboxylic acid (ATA), a general inhibitor of nucleases in vitro, suppresses the endonuclease activity and promotes long-term survival of PC12 cells in serum-free cultures. This effect appears to be independent of macromolecular synthesis. In addition, ATA promotes long-term survival of cultured sympathetic neurons after NGF withdrawal. ATA neither promotes nor maintains neurite outgrowth. It is hypothesized that the activation of an endogenous endonuclease could be responsible for neuronal cell death after neurotrophic factor deprivation and that growth factors could promote survival by leading to inhibition of constitutively present endonucleases.


2009 ◽  
pp. NA-NA ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Nai ◽  
Xiaoyun Wang ◽  
Ying Jin ◽  
Dongbin Sun ◽  
Man Li ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1656-1661 ◽  
Author(s):  
EA Copelan ◽  
SC Johnson ◽  
MR Grever ◽  
JF Sheridan ◽  
PJ Tutschka

Abstract Deoxycoformycin in combination with deoxyadenosine was used to purge 6C3HED malignant T cells from murine marrow in vitro. Adenosine deaminase activity of 6C3HED cells was ablated by incubation with 10(- 6) mol/L deoxycoformycin (dCF). During a 12-hour incubation with 10(-6) mol/L dCF and 10(-4) mol/L deoxyadenosine, tumor cells sequentially accumulated dATP, became depleted of NAD followed by ATP, then died. More than 5 logs of 6C3HED cells were killed as measured by survival of mice injected with treated tumor cells. Identical incubation of 5 x 10(6) marrow cells did not interfere with rescue of syngeneic lethally irradiated mice. Long-term survival was demonstrated in 12 of 14 mice that received marrow that had been contaminated with 5% 6C3HED cells, incubated with deoxycoformycin and deoxyadenosine, then used to rescue lethally irradiated mice. This murine model provides information not available from in vitro assays and may be useful in the development of strategies to purge malignant T cells from marrow.


1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 934-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Dolby ◽  
Lewis J. Kleinsmith

The experiments presented in this paper examine the mechanisms underlying the ability of cannabinoids to alter the in vivo levels of cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in mouse brain. It was found that changes in cyclic AMP levels are a composite result of direct actions of cannabinoids on adenylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.1) activity and indirect actions involving the potentiation or inhibition of biogenic amine induced activity of adenylate cyclase. Furthermore, the long-term intraperitoneal administration of 1-(−)-Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol to mice produced a form of phosphodiesterase (EC 3.1.4.17) in the brain whose activity is not stimulated by Ca2+, although its basal specific activity is similar to that of control animals. In vitro, the presence of the cannabinoids caused no significant changes in activity of brain PDE at the concentrations tested. Some correlations are presented which imply that many of the observed behavioral and physiological actions of the cannabinoids in mammalian organisms may be mediated via cyclic AMP mechanisms.


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