Yoga breathing through a particular nostril increases spatial memory scores without lateralized effects

Uninostril breathing facilitates the performance on spatial and verbal cognitive tasks, said to be right and left brain functions, respectively. Since hemispheric memory functions are also known to be lateralized, the present study assessed the effects of uninostril breathing on the performance in verbal and spatial memory tests. School children (N = 108 whose ages ranged from 10 to 17 years) were randomly assigned to four groups. Each group practiced a specific yoga breathing technique: (i) right nostril breathing, (ii) left nostril breathing, (iii) alternate nostril breathing, or (iv) breath awareness without manipulation of nostrils. These techniques were practiced for 10 days. Verbal and spatial memory was assessed initially and after 10 days. An age-matched control group of 27 were similarly assessed. All 4 trained groups showed a significant increase in spatial test scores at retest, but the control group showed no change. Average increase in spatial memory scores for the trained groups was 84%. It appears yoga breathing increases spatial rather than verbal scores, without a lateralized effect.     

cGMP stimulation of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator Cl- channels co-expressed with cGMP-dependent protein kinase type II but not type Ibeta

In order to investigate the involvement of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK) type II in cGMP-provoked intestinal Cl- secretion, cGMP-dependent activation and phosphorylation of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl- channels was analyzed after expression of cGK II or cGK Ibeta in intact cells. An intestinal cell line which stably expresses CFTR (IEC-CF7) but contains no detectable endogenous cGK II was infected with a recombinant adenoviral vector containing the cGK II coding region (Ad-cGK II) resulting in co-expression of active cGK II. In these cells, CFTR was activated by membrane-permeant analogs of cGMP or by the cGMP-elevating hormone atrial natriuretic peptide as measured by 125I- efflux assays and whole-cell patch clamp analysis. In contrast, infection with recombinant adenoviruses expressing cGK Ibeta or luciferase did not convey cGMP sensitivity to CFTR in IEC-CF7 cells. Concordant with the activation of CFTR by only cGK II, infection with Ad-cGK II but not Ad-cGK Ibeta enabled cGMP analogs to increase CFTR phosphorylation in intact cells. These and other data provide evidence that endogenous cGK II is a key mediator of cGMP-provoked activation of CFTR in cells where both proteins are co-localized, e. g. intestinal epithelial cells. Furthermore, they demonstrate that neither the soluble cGK Ibeta nor cAMP-dependent protein kinase are able to substitute for cGK II in this cGMP-regulated function.     

Identification of xanthurenic acid as the putative inducer of malaria development in the mosquito

Malaria is transmitted from vertebrate host to mosquito vector by mature sexual blood-living stages called gametocytes. Within seconds of ingestion into the mosquito bloodmeal, gametocytes undergo gametogenesis. Induction requires the simultaneous exposure to at least two stimuli in vitro: a drop in bloodmeal temperature to 5 degrees C below that of the vertebrate host, and a rise in pH from 7.4 to 8.0-8.2. In vivo the mosquito bloodmeal has a pH of between 7.5 and 7.6. It is thought that in vivo the second inducer is an unknown mosquito-derived gametocyte-activating factor. Here we show that this factor is xanthurenic acid. We also show that low concentrations of xanthurenic acid can act together with pH to induce gametogenesis in vitro. Structurally related compounds are at least ninefold less effective at inducing gametogenesis in vitro. In Drosophila mutants with lesions in the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism (of which xanthurenic acid is a side product), no alternative active compound was detected in crude insect homogenates. These data could form the basis of the rational development of new methods of interrupting the transmission of malaria using drugs or new refractory mosquito genotypes to block parasite gametogenesis.     

Long-acting blockade of biogenic amine transporters in rat brain by administration of the potent novel tropane 2beta-propanoyl-3beta-(2-Naphthyl)-tropane

2beta-Propanoyl-3beta-(2-naphthyl)-tropane (WF-23) is a potent cocaine analog with activity at dopamine and serotonin transporters. The purpose of these experiments was to characterize the time course of effects of acute administration of WF-23 on spontaneous locomotion and biogenic amine transporters. Rats received injections i.p. with WF-23 (1 mg/kg), cocaine (30 mg/kg) or vehicle and locomotor activity was measured at various times postinjection. Animals were killed immediately after behavioral activity. Locomotor activity was significantly increased by WF-23 administration, reaching maximum at 4 hr and persisting for 24 hr. Cocaine-elicited elevations in locomotor activity occurred only at the earliest times. WF-23 decreased DA transporter binding in striatal membranes ([125I]RTI-55 binding), with >50% loss in binding for up to 49 hr postinjection. WF-23 increased the Kd of the high affinity site, with no effect on Bmax. Cocaine depressed binding (20%) only at the earliest times. WF-23 decreased levels of [3H]WIN 35,428 binding sites up to 95% of control in both dorsal and ventral striatum with a similar time-course when assessed autoradiographically. WF-23 also reduced [3H]citalopram binding to serotonin transporter sites throughout the brain. The slow onset and very long duration of action of WF-23, taken together with its actions at dopamine and serotonin transporters, suggest a potential role for treatment of disorders characterized by their involvement of these neural systems.     

SNAREs and membrane fusion in the Golgi apparatus

Soluble factors, NSF and SNAPs, are required at many membrane fusion events within the cell. They interact with a class of type II integral membrane proteins termed SNAP receptors, or SNAREs. Interaction between cognate SNAREs on opposing membranes is a prerequisite for NSF dependent membrane fusion. NSF is an ATPase which will disrupt complexes composed of different SNAREs. However, there is increasingly abundant evidence that the SNARE complex recognised by NSF does not bridge the two fusing membranes, but rather is composed of SNAREs in the same membrane. The essential role of NSF may be to prime SNAREs for a direct role during fusion. The best characterised SNAREs in the Golgi are Sed5p in yeast and its mammalian homologue syntaxin 5, both of which are predominantly localised to the cis Golgi. The SNARE-SNARE interactions in which these two proteins are involved are strikingly similar. Sed5p and syntaxin 5 may mediate three distinct pathways for membrane flow into the cis Golgi, one from the ER, one from later Golgi cisternae, and possibly a third from endosomes. Syntaxin 5 is itself likely to cycle through the ER, and thus may be involved in homotypic fusion of ER derived transport vesicles. In all well characterised SNARE dependent membrane fusion events one of the interacting SNAREs is a syntaxin homologue. There are only eight members of the syntaxin family in yeast. Besides Sed5p two others, Tlg1p and Tlg2p, are found in the Golgi complex. They are present in a late Golgi compartment, but neither is required for transit of secreted proteins through the Golgi. We suggest that these observations are most compatible with a model for transit through the Golgi in which anterograde cargo is carried in cisternae, the enzymatic composition of which changes with time as Golgi resident enzymes are delivered in retrograde transport vesicles.