Chronic nicotine had no behavioral effect but withdrawal produced deficits in contextual fear conditioning that lasted 4 days. Nicotine withdrawal did not disrupt cued fear conditioning. Chronic nicotine upregulated hippocampal cytisine-sensitive nAChR binding; upregulation continued after cessation of nicotine administration and the duration of upregulation during withdrawal paralleled the duration of behavioral changes. Changes in

binding in cortex and cerebellum did not match behavioral changes. No changes CRT0066101 research buy in alpha 4, alpha 7, and 132 subunit mRNA expression were seen with chronic nicotine. Thus, nicotine withdrawal-related deficits in contextual learning are time-limited changes that are associated with temporal changes in upregulation of high-affinity nAChR

binding. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“A putative proton wire in AZD9291 mw potato soluble epoxide hydrolase 1, StEH1, was identified and investigated by means of site-directed mutagenesis, steady-state kinetic measurements, temperature inactivation studies, and X-ray crystallography. The chain of hydrogen bonds includes five water molecules coordinated through backbone carbonyl oxygens of Pro(186), Leu(266), His(269), and the His(153) imidazole. The hydroxyl of Tyr(149) is also an integrated component of the chain, which leads to the hydroxyl of Tyr(154). Available data suggest that Tyr(154) functions as a final proton donor to the anionic alkylenzyme

intermediate formed during catalysis. To investigate the role of the putative proton wire, mutants Y149F, H153F, and Y149F/H153F were constructed and purified. The structure of the Y149F mutant was solved by molecular replacement and refined to 2.0 angstrom resolution. Comparison with the structure of wild-type StEH1 revealed only subtle structural differences. The hydroxyl group lost as a result of the mutation was replaced by a water molecule, thus maintaining a functioning hydrogen bond network in the proton wire. All mutants showed decreased catalytic efficiencies with the R, R-enantiomer of trans-stilbene oxide, whereas with the S, S-enantiomer, k(cat)/K-M was similar or slightly increased compared with the wild- type reactions. k(cat) for the Y149F mutant with either TSO enantiomer was increased; thus the lowered Amino acid enzyme efficiencies were due to increases in KM. Thermal inactivation studies revealed that the mutated enzymes were more sensitive to elevated temperatures than the wild- type enzyme. Hence, structural alterations affecting the hydrogen bond chain caused increases in kcat but lowered thermostability.”
“The first transmissions of human prion diseases to rodents used guinea pigs (Gps, Cavia porcellus). Later, transgenic mice expressing human or chimeric human/mouse PrP replaced Gps, but the small size of the mouse limits some investigations.