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J Mallet

Publications and source records attributed to J Mallet.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

Parallel decrease of glutamic acid decarboxylase and preproenkephalin mRNA in the rat striatum following chronic treatment with a dopaminergic D1 antagonist and D2 agonist.

The levels of mRNA encoding glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and preproenkephalin (PPE) were measured by Northern blot analysis, in the dorsal and the ventral part of the striatum, following long-term treatments with drugs acting selectively on D1 or D2 dopaminergic receptors. Chronic injection of the selective D1 antagonist SCH 23390 elicited a significant decrease in level of both GAD and PPE mRNA (-30%) in the dorsal striatum, whereas no significant change was observed in the ventral striatum. Chronic administration of both SCH 23390 and RU 24926, a D2 agonist, decreased the GAD and PPE mRNA levels in the dorsal (-38 and -57%, respectively) as well as in the ventral (-70 and -60%, respectively) striatum. In the ventral striatum the marked reduction of GAD mRNA levels was paralleled by a significant decrease of Vmax values of GAD enzymatic activity (-41%). These results suggest that the decrease in content of both GAD and PPE mRNA, promoted by the chronic blockade of D1 receptors, is mainly due to the action of dopamine acting on unaffected D2 receptors. Indeed, this decrease is further amplified when the D2 agonist and the D1 antagonist are administered together. Our results substantiate further the molecular mechanisms by which dopamine acts on different populations of GABAergic and enkephalinergic neurons in the two striatal regions examined.

Animals↗

Amphiphilic and nonamphiphilic forms of bovine and human dopamine beta-hydroxylase.

We show that human and bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylases (DBH) exist under three main molecular forms: a soluble nonamphiphilic form and two amphiphilic forms. Sedimentation in sucrose gradients and electrophoresis under nondenaturing conditions, by comparison with acetylcholinesterase (AChE), suggest that the three forms are tetramers of the DBH catalytic subunit and bind either no detergent, one detergent micelle, or two detergent micelles. By analogy with the Gna4 and Ga4 AChE forms, we propose to call the nonamphiphilic tetramer Dna4 and the amphiphilic tetramers Da4I and Da4II. In addition to the major tetrameric forms, DBH dimers occur as very minor species, both amphiphilic and nonamphiphilic. Reduction under nondenaturing conditions leads to a partial dissociation of tetramers into dimers, retaining their amphiphilic character. This suggests that the hydrophobic domain is not linked to the subunits through disulfide bonds. The two amphiphilic tetramers are insensitive to phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C, but may be converted into soluble DBH by proteolysis in a stepwise manner; Da4II----Da4I----Dna4. Incubation of soluble DBH with various phospholipids did not produce any amphiphilic form. Several bands corresponding to the catalytic subunits of bovine DBH were observed in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, but this multiplicity was not simply correlated with the amphiphilic character of the enzyme. In the case of human DBH, we observed two bands of 78 and 84 kDa. As previously reported by others, the presence of the heavy subunit characterizes the amphiphilic forms of the enzyme. We discuss the nature of the hydrophobic domain, which could be an uncleaved signal peptide, and the organization of the different amphiphilic and nonamphiphilic DBH forms. We present two models in which dimers may possess either one hydrophobic domain or two domains belonging to each subunit; in both cases, a single detergent micelle would be bound per dimer.

Acetylcholinesterase↗

Analysis of proteins eluted from hemodialysis membranes.

To further investigate the types of interactions occurring between blood and hemodialysis membranes, proteins were sequentially eluted from used dialysers. Four different membranes (cuprophan, hemophan, cellulose acetate and polyacrylonitrile) were successively treated with a hydrogen bond cleaving agent (10 M urea), an ionic detergent destabilizing the hydrophobic interactions between apolar groups (SDS solution), and a hydroxylamine solution at alkaline pH to release postulated covalently bound C3 fragments. The eluted proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and immunological techniques. Total protein determinations demonstrate different behaviour of the membranes as regards the 'protein cake'. Electrophoretic analysis suggests that qualitative and quantitative differences in the binding of the blood proteins are related to the membrane material. Complement fragment studies indicate that the complement activating potential of the dialysis membrane may not be determined by the availability of potential binding sites for activated C3b. An attempt is made to correlate these results with the biocompatibility concept.

Acrylic Resins↗

Difference in effect of inhibitors of energy metabolism on endothelium-dependent relaxation of rat pulmonary artery and aorta.

Previous studies have suggested that systemic artery endothelial cell production of the nitrovasodilator endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) is dependent upon oxidative energy production. This study was undertaken to test if pulmonary artery (PA) EDRF has a similar requirement for oxidative phosphorylation. The effects of inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis on endothelium-dependent relaxation were studied in rat aortic and PA rings. In aortic rings, 0.1 microM rotenone and 0.1 microM antimycin A, and, to a lesser extent, 50 mM 2-deoxyglucose, inhibited endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine and adenosine diphosphate. Relaxation to the receptor-independent calcium ionophore A23187 was less severely affected, and relaxation to the direct smooth muscle dilator sodium nitroprusside was unaffected. The inhibitors had much less effect on PA relaxation, decreasing the potency but not the efficacy of the endothelium-dependent dilators. These results suggest that the dependence on oxidative energy production for endothelium-dependent relaxation may differ between the systemic and pulmonary vascular beds, and that in pulmonary arterial endothelium, oxidative energy production may not be required for receptor-mediated production and/or release of EDRF. The resistance of PA endothelium to decreases in oxidative energy production may contribute to the normally low tone maintained in this circuit in vivo.

Animals↗

Absence of linkage between chromosome 11p15 markers and manic-depressive illness in a Belgian pedigree.

OBJECTIVE: The original finding of genetic linkage in an Old Order Amish pedigree has been contradicted by the results of several subsequent studies. Using the same genetic parameter values, diagnostic criteria, and 11p15 genetic markers as those used to study the initial Amish population, the authors performed a linkage study of a four-generation informative pedigree in Belgium. METHOD: Recombinant DNA technology was used to analyze three markers for the chromosome 11p15 location: the genes for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and insulin (INS) and the c-Harvey-ras oncogene (HRAS). Diagnoses of the relatives of a proband with bipolar affective disorder were determined with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia--Lifetime Version and based on the Research Diagnostic Criteria. Relatives were considered affected if they had bipolar disorder, unipolar disorder, or cyclothymia; a diagnostic hierarchy was developed to include unipolar disorder and cyclothymia in the linkage analysis. RESULTS: Pairwise analyses of the disease locus and each of the three polymorphisms excluded the possibility of close linkage between manic-depressive illness and the three chromosome 11p15 markers. Multipoint linkage analysis combining the information from all three genes also excluded linkage. CONCLUSIONS: The conflict between the original results from the Amish study and the many negative reports on chromosome 11 linkage of manic-depression has been interpreted as indicating genetic heterogeneity, but heterogeneity has not been documented for the 11p15 locus. Conversely, the linkage approach has major drawbacks, so other genetic strategies should also be considered.

Adolescent↗

In vitro and in vivo regulation of the expression of the tyrosine hydroxylase gene.

Preganglionic nerve stimulation has been shown to induce delayed or long term changes in the neuron. Different models were used to study the trans-synaptic regulation of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH): the rat adrenal medulla (AM) and the superior cervical ganglia (SCG). Northern blot analysis, western blot and enzymatic assays demonstrated that the TH mRNA paralleled both an increase in the protein amount and its enzymatic activity. Results of in vitro transcription on nuclei isolated from AM or from SCG after treatment with reserpine suggest that this increase in TH expression is due to an effect on the transcriptional activity of the TH gene. Other gene, cfos, is also induced by reserpine indicating that the TH transcription in these neurons may be mediated by "third messengers". Several putative regulatory elements, in particular an octamer sequence AP1 has been localized in the promoter of TH gene. Gel shift assays with nuclear extracts from untreated and phorbol ester treated cells strongly suggest that a protein complex binds to this AP1 like sequence. Comparative analysis of gel shift assays with AM nuclear extracts exhibit a similar pattern suggesting that this AP1 site could be involved in the trans-synaptic regulation of TH.

Animals↗

Behavioural effects of genetically engineered cells releasing dopa and dopamine after intracerebral grafting in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

The relative importance of synaptic versus paracrine dopamine transmission for the occurrence of functional effects following intrastriatal grafting is not fully established. In the present study we grafted cell lines, expressing the form I of human tyrosine hydroxylase after infection with a recombinant retrovirus and selection in tyrosine-free-medium, to the denervated striatum in order to analyse the extent to which extracellular dopamine levels can be restored and the effect of a diffuse release of dopamine on motor impairement in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. In petri dish, the modified fibroblast cells (NIH.3T3) release DOPA constitutively whereas the modified endocrine cells (RIN) store and release dopamine in a regulated way. Interestingly, in denervated striatum, grafts of modified fibroblast cells produce DOPA which was efficiently converted into dopamine by the host striatal tissue. In the grafted striatum, both fibroblast and endocrine cells restore subnormal levels of diffuse release of dopamine which is notably unaffected and stimulated, respectively, by high concentration of potassium, in connection with the in vitro properties of the grafted cells. The intrastriatal grafts of modified cells partially reversed the apomorphine-induced but not the amphetamine-induced motor asymmetry. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of Parkinson disease.

Animals↗

[Molecular genetics: a new approach of clinical neurosciences].

Genetically determined diseases with neurological expression are frequent. Recent progress in molecular biological techniques, particularly the availability of markers distributed throughout the whole human genome, has given birth to the concept of reverse genetics, with consists in localizing the gene responsible for a disease, then identifying it and its corresponding protein. This approach is illustrated by the studies that led to the localization of the gene responsible for Huntington's chorea on the short arm of chromosome 4 and the identification of dystrophic, the abnormal gene product in Duchenne's and Becker's muscular dystrophies. These discoveries have medical repercussions, leading to predictive tests or new therapies. However, predictive medicine raises ethical issues that are largely debated.

Animals↗

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase gene by protein kinase C.

The role played by protein kinase C (PKC) in TH gene regulation was investigated at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels using PC12 cells. The cells were treated with the phorbol ester TPA, which not only activates PKC but also causes down-regulation. PKC levels were monitored by [3H]PDBU binding assay and by using an anti-PKC antibody that detected intact PKC (79 kd) as well as its catalytic and regulatory domains. The [3H]PDBU binding to the membrane-associated PKC increased within 15-30 min of TPA treatment; thereafter total cellular [3H]PDBU binding decreased to a minimum of 20% of the control at 8 h. The rate of decrease in binding was greater than the decrease in the intensity of the staining of PKC holo enzyme visualized by anti-PKC antibody. TH mRNA levels, measured over the same time period, rose within 15 min of TPA treatment to peak at 4 h and subsequently declined below control level, paralleling the depletion of PKC. If cells depleted of PKC were reincubated in the normal medium, a recovery in PKC level was seen and, in parallel, TH mRNA levels increased to above control level. Furthermore, if down-regulation of PKC was prevented by incubating the cells with the protease inhibitor leupeptin, a decrease beyond control level in TH mRNA was not observed. TPA rapidly induced TH gene transcription; a maximal increase of two-fold was observed at 15 min, but the transcriptional rate then declined although it did not decrease beyond control values after 8 and 24 h of TPA treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Alkaloids↗

Tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression in human ventral mesencephalon: detection of tyrosine hydroxylase messenger RNA in neurites.

The distribution of both tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) antigen and messenger RNA was investigated in the ventral mesencephalon from human brain using a 35S-labeled human TH cDNA probe and a polyclonal TH antibody. A hybridization signal was detected not only in the perikaryon but also in the neurites, most probably dendrites, of immunoreactive neurons. In cell bodies, the level of TH mRNA varies, revealing a regional heterogeneity. In the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease the number of labeled cells was markedly reduced as compared to controls.

Aged↗

Isolation of cDNAs from a mouse astroglial cell line by a subtracted cDNA library.

Astrocytes belong to the glial cell population and represent a major subclass of the CNS. Although different subtypes of astrocytes have been described according to their morphological characteristics, biochemical markers of each subtype of astrocytes are not yet available. We have thus undertaken to compare gene expression pattern of different astroglial subtypes. In this study we have taken advantage of two astroglial cell clones derived from 8 day postnatal mouse cerebellar explants and which might be the in vitro equivalents of the velate protoplasmic (D19) and of the Golgi-Bergmann (C8S) astrocytes (Alliot and Pessac, Brain Res., 306: 283-291, 1984). We have constructed a subtracted cDNA library derived from cytoplasmic poly(A)+ RNAs of the D19 cell line. This library was enriched 12-fold for D19 specific sequences by subtractive hybridization with an excess of cytoplasmic poly(A)+ RNAs purified from the C8S astroglial clone. This subtracted library was differentially screened with cDNA probes derived from D19 and C8S cell lines; both probes were subtracted with C8S poly(A)+ RNAs. Eight cDNA clones corresponding to transcripts overexpressed in D19 were selected. Three cDNAs encode for smooth muscle actin, one for fibronectin and one for polyadenylate binding protein. The three other gene products have not been previously reported. The in vivo distribution pattern of these sequences in various mouse adult tissues shows that all these transcripts are expressed in the cerebellum and/or in the brain.

Actins↗

Neurons containing messenger RNA encoding glutamate decarboxylase in rat hypothalamus demonstrated by in situ hybridization, with special emphasis on cell groups in medial preoptic area, anterior hypothalamic area and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus.

Previous deafferentation studies have suggested that most hypothalamic GABAergic innervation originates from neurons within the hypothalamus. We have investigated the distribution of GABAergic cell groups in the rat hypothalamus by means of the in situ hybridization technique, using a cDNA probe for messenger RNA encoding glutamate decarboxylase. Several major GABAergic cell groups were demonstrated, including cells of the tuberomammillary nucleus, arcuate nucleus, suprachiasmatic nucleus, medial preoptic area, anterior hypothalamic area, the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, perifornical area, and lateral hypothalamic area. The most prominent glutamate decarboxylase mRNA-containing cell groups were located in the medial preoptic area, anterior hypothalamic area and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, and were composed of small- to medium-sized neurons. Compared to previously well-characterized GABAergic cell groups in the tuberomammillary nucleus, reticular thalamic nucleus, and non-pyramidal cells of cerebral cortex, the cells of these GABAergic groups demonstrated only weak cDNA labelling, indicating that they contain lower levels of glutamate decarboxylase mRNA. Several types of control experiments supported the specificity of this cDNA labelling, and the GABAergic nature of these cell populations was further supported by detection of glutamate decarboxylase and GABA immunoreactivity. Abundance of GABAergic cells in many hypothalamic nuclei indicates that GABA represents quantitatively the most important transmitter of hypothalamic neurons, and may be involved in neuroendocrine and autonomic regulatory functions.

Animals↗

Decreased tyrosine hydroxylase messenger RNA in the surviving dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease: an in situ hybridization study.

Parkinson's disease is associated with a massive loss in melanized dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra resulting in a severe striatal dopaminergic denervation. The hyperactivity which develops in the remaining striatal dopaminergic terminals may be related to an increased rate of tyrosine hydroxylation. This could be related to changes in the level of expression of the gene coding for tyrosine hydroxylase. Thus, the detection of tyrosine hydroxylase messenger RNA was looked for at cellular levels by in situ hybridization histochemistry. Image analysis shows that the hybridization signal was significantly reduced in the surviving neurons when compared to control. The subnormal tyrosine hydroxylase messenger RNA content may express a change in level of tyrosine hydroxylase gene transcription, possibly in relation to sustained suffering of the neurons still present at late stages of the disease.

Aged↗

Localization of the choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) gene to human chromosome 10.

A cDNA clone encoding the complete sequence of porcine choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) isolated by S. Berrard et al. (1987, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84: 9280-9284) was hybridized to TaqI digests of a panel of 25 human-rodent somatic cell hybrids and to a complementary panel of 10 human-rodent hybrids in order to determine the chromosomal localization of human CHAT. To enhance the detection of the human signal, hybridization and washings were performed under low stringency conditions on membranes presaturated with sonicated DNA from parental rodent strains. All informative human fragments had the same distribution among the hybrids, mapping CHAT to a single human chromosome. CHAT was assigned to chromosome 10 because all other chromosomes were eliminated by exclusion based on the analysis of the signal segregation. This result indicates that mutation of the CHAT gene cannot be responsible for the primary defect in familial Alzheimer's disease.

Animals↗

In vivo release of dopa and dopamine from genetically engineered cells grafted to the denervated rat striatum.

Fibroblastic 3T3 and endocrine RIN cells were genetically modified by infection with a recombinant retrovirus encoding the form I of human tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and selection in tyrosine-free medium. These cells were grafted to rats unilaterally lesioned with 6-hydroxy-dopamine. Both cell types survived implantation into the striatum, expressed TH immunoreactivity, and as assessed by microdialysis 8-9 days after implantation, secreted high amounts of DOPA and/or dopamine into the surrounding host striatum. The modified 3T3 cells secreted large amounts of DOPA that was efficiently decarboxylated to dopamine by the host striatal tissue; the newly synthesized dopamine was stored only to a limited extent in the denervated striatum. The modified RIN cells synthesized dopamine that was stored intracellularly and released in a regulated fashion. The grafted DOPA-secreting cells produced 4-5 times higher extracellular dopamine levels than the dopamine-secreting cells, and they were more efficient in reducing apomorphine-induced rotation. No effect was observed with either cell type on amphetamine-induced turning behavior.

Animals↗