Increased neurokinin-1 receptor availability in the amygdala in social anxiety disorder: a positron emission tomography study with [11C]GR205171

The neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor is abundantly expressed in the fear circuitry of the brain, including the amygdala, where it modulates stress and anxiety. Despite its proposed involvement in psychopathology, only a few studies of NK1 receptor availability in human subjects with anxiety disorders exist. Here, we compared NK1 receptor availability in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 17) using positron emission tomography and the radiotracer [11C]GR205171. The Patlak Graphical plot using a cerebellar reference region was used to model the influx parameter, Ki measuring NK1 receptor availability. Voxel-wise statistical parametric mapping analyses revealed increased NK1 receptor availability specifically in the right amygdala in SAD patients relative to controls. Thus, we demonstrate that exaggerated social anxiety is related to enhanced NK1 receptor availability in the amygdala. This finding supports the contribution of NK1 receptors not only in animal models of stress and anxiety but also in humans with anxiety disorders.

Sex and the migraine brain

The brain responds differently to environmental and internal signals that relate to the stage of development of neural systems. While genetic and epigenetic factors contribute to a premorbid state, hormonal fluctuations in women may alter the set point of migraine. The cyclic surges of gonadal hormones may directly alter neuronal, glial and astrocyte function throughout the brain. Estrogen is mainly excitatory and progesterone inhibitory on brain neuronal systems. These changes contribute to the allostatic load of the migraine condition that most notably starts at puberty in girls.

A detailed analysis of cyclin A accumulation at the G(1)/S border in normal and transformed cells

The temporal relationship between cyclin A accumulation and the onset of DNA replication was analyzed in detail. Five untransformed and nine transformed asynchronously growing cell cultures were investigated using a triple immunofluorescence staining protocol combined with computerized evaluation of staining intensities in individual cells. The simultaneous staining of BrdU, cyclin A, and cyclin E made it possible to determine the cell cycle position of each cell investigated. Cells at the G(1)/S border were identified on the basis of cyclin E content and were further analyzed with respect to cyclin A and BrdU content. A method was developed to calculate objective thresholds defining the highest staining intensity found in the negative cells in the population. Using the thresholds we could distinguish cells with minute amounts of cyclin A and BrdU from truly negative cells. We show that the onset of cyclin A accumulation and the start of DNA replication occurs at the same time, or deviating by a few minutes at the most. We also show that cyclin A accumulates continuously during S. This study clearly demonstrates that nuclear cyclin A can be used as a reliable marker for the S and G(2) phases in both normal and transformed interphase cells.

Intracellular distribution of an integral nuclear pore membrane protein fused to green fluorescent protein--localization of a targeting domain

The 121-kDa pore membrane protein (POM121) is a bitopic integral membrane protein specifically located in the pore membrane domain of the nuclear envelope with its short N-terminal tail exposed on the luminal side and its major C-terminal portion adjoining the nuclear pore complex. In order to locate a signal for targeting of POM121 to the nuclear pores, we overexpressed selected regions of POM121 alone or fused to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in transiently transfected COS-1 cells or in a stably transfected neuroblastoma cell line. Microscopic analysis of the GFP fluorescence or immunostaining was used to determine the intracellular distribution of the overexpressed proteins. The endofluorescent GFP tag had no effect on the distribution of POM121, since the chimerical POM121-GFP fusion protein was correctly targeted to the nuclear pores of both COS-1 cells and neuroblastoma cells. Based on the differentiated intracellular sorting of the POM121 variants, we conclude that the first 128 amino acids of POM121 contains signals for targeting to the continuous endoplasmic reticulum/nuclear envelope membrane system but not specifically to the nuclear pores and that a specific nuclear pore targeting signal is located between amino acids 129 and 618 in the endoplasmically exposed portion of POM121.