Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR) belong to a family of proteins that form ligand-gated transmembrane ion channels. They are involved in the fast transmission of signals between cells and the control of intercellular communication in the nervous system. A variety of therapeutic agents and abused drugs, including cocaine, inhibit the AChR and monoamine transporters and interfere with nervous system function. Here we describe a mechanism-based approach to prevent this inhibition. We had previously developed presteady-state kinetic (transient kinetic) techniques, with microsecond-to-millisecond time resolutions, for investigations of reactions on cell surfaces that allow one to determine the effects of inhibitors not only on the channel-opening probability but also on the opening and closing rates of the AChR channel. The transient kinetic measurements led to two predictions. T he nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) is the prototypical member of a family of structurally related membrane proteins, the ligand-gated ion channels (1). These proteins regulate intercellular communication between the approximately 10 12 cells of the mammalian nervous system, a process considered essential for brain function (2). Many therapeutic agents and abused drugs affect their function (3). For instance, the AChR is inhibited by the anticonvulsant MK-801 [(ϩ)Ϫdizocilpine] (4-6) and by several abused drugs, including cocaine (7-9). Cocaine affects more than three million people annually in the United States alone, at an estimated cost to society of more than 100 billion dollars.Understanding the mechanism of the AChR and its inhibition is a longstanding and challenging problem (10) with major implications for medicine and drug addiction (11-12). Two decades ago, single-channel current-recording (13) measurements led to the proposal of a simple and generally accepted mechanism in which inhibitors enter the open channel and block it (14-17) (the channel-blocking mechanism, Mechanism A in Fig. 1). Although several variations of this open-channelblocking mechanism have been proposed, including the conversion of an inhibitor-bound closed-channel conformation to a blocked open-channel form (18-21) (Mechanism B, Fig. 1), the open-channel-blocking mechanism, based mainly on singlechannel current or other steady-state kinetic measurements (14-21), has met the test of time during the last 20 years. In the techniques used for those measurements, the channel-activating ligand is in quasi equilibrium (steady state) with the receptor. The question we asked was: Can additional information about the receptor-mediated reactions be obtained by using presteadystate kinetic techniques? Recently, presteady-state kinetic techniques that are suitable for measuring receptor-mediated reactions on cell surfaces in the millisecond-to-microsecond time region were developed (22-31). The time resolution of the laser-pulse photolysis technique (23-26) is sufficient to investigate the reaction before the channel has opened. One can, therefore, obtain info...

Many recently discovered therapeutic proteins exert their main function in the nucleus, thus requiring both efficient uptake and correct intracellular targeting. Chitosan nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted interest as protein delivery vehicles due to their biocompatibility and ability to escape the endosomes offering high potential for nuclear delivery. Molecular entry into the nucleus occurs through the nuclear pore complexes, the efficiency of which is dependent on NP size and the presence of nuclear localization sequence (NLS). Chitosan nanoparticles of different sizes (S-NPs ≈ 25 nm; L-NP ≈ 150 nm) were formulated, and they were modified with different densities of the octapeptide NLS CPKKKRKV (S-NPs, 0.25, 0.5, 2.0 NLS/nm(2); L-NPs, 0.6, 0.9, 2 NLS/nm(2)). Unmodified and NLS-tagged NPs were evaluated for their protein loading capacity, extent of cell association, cell uptake, cell surface binding, and finally nuclear delivery efficiency in L929 fibroblasts. To avoid errors generated with cell fractionation and nuclear isolation protocols, nuclear delivery was assessed in intact cells utilizing Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) fluorometry and microscopy. Although L-NPs showed ≈10-fold increase in protein loading per NP when compared to S-NPs, due to higher cell association and uptake S-NPs showed superior protein delivery. NLS exerts a size and density dependent effect on nanoparticle uptake and surface binding, with a general reduction in NP cell surface binding and an increase in cell uptake with the increase in NLS density (up to 8.4-fold increase in uptake of High-NLS-L-NPs (2 NLS/nm(2)) compared to unmodified L-NPs). However, for nuclear delivery, unmodified S-NPs show higher nuclear localization rates when compared to NLS modified NPs (up to 5-fold by FRET microscopy). For L-NPs an intermediate NLS density (0.9 NLS/nm(2)) seems to provide highest nuclear localization (3.7-fold increase in nuclear delivery compared to High-NLS-L-NPs). Results indicate that a higher NLS density does not result in maximum protein nuclear localization and that a universal optimal density for NPs of different sizes does not exist.

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NMDA receptors are involved in a variety of brainstem functions. The excitatory postsynaptic NMDA currents of pre-Bö tzinger complex interneurons and hypoglossal motoneurons, which are located in the medulla oblongata, show remarkably fast deactivation kinetics of approximately 30 ms compared with NMDA receptors in other types of neurons. Because structural heterogeneity might be the basis for physiological properties, we examined the expression of six NMDA receptor subunits (NMDAR1, NR2A)2D, and NR3A) plus eight NMDR1 splice variants in pre-Bö tzinger complex, hypoglossal and, for comparison, neurons from the nucleus of the solitary tract in young rats using single cell multiplex RT-PCR. Expression of NR2A, NR2B, and NR2D was observed in all three cell types while NR3A was much more abundant in pre-Bö tzinger complex interneurons, which belong to the rhythm generator of respiratory activity. In hypoglossal neurons, the NMDAR1 splice variants NMDAR1-4a and NMDAR1-4b were found. In neurons of the nucleus of the solitary tract, instead of NMDAR1-4b, the NMDAR1-2a splice variant was detected. This differential expression of modulatory splice variants might be the molecular basis for the characteristic functional properties of NMDA receptors, as neurons expressing a special NMDAR1 splice variant at the mRNA level show fast kinetics compared with neurons lacking this splice variant. Keywords: hypoglossal nucleus, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor kinetics, nucleus tractus solitarius, pre-Bö tzinger complex, rat, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Ionotropic glutamate receptors are found throughout the mammalian brain, where they constitute the major excitatory neurotransmitter system. In spontaneous oscillating networks like the mammalian respiratory network, excitatory glutamatergic signals are of essential importance during generation and maintenance of rhythmic activity (Pierrefiche et al. 1994;Bonham 1995). A variety of ionotropic glutamate receptors, including NMDA receptors, are expressed in respiratoryrelated neurons. The NMDA receptor subfamily comprises three different types of subunits, namely NR1, NR2 and NR3 subunits. NMDAR1 subunits show RNA splicing at three independent positions, giving rise to eight different splice variants, NMDAR1-1a to NMDAR1-4a, and NMDAR1-1b to NMDAR1-4b (Hollmann et al. 1993). These splice variants differ in their potentiation by protein kinase C (Durand et al. 1993), zinc (Hollmann et al. 1993, spermine (Zheng et al. 1994) and neurosteroids (Malayev et al. 1998;Ceccon et al. 2001). Co-expression of NMDAR1 with any of the four NR2 subunits (NR2A to NR2D) yields much larger currents than NMDAR1 alone (Ikeda et al. 1992;Kutsuwada