Clostridium botulinum C2 toxin is the prototype of the binary actin-ADP-ribosylating toxins and consists of the binding component C2II and the enzyme component C2I. The activated binding component C2IIa forms heptamers, which bind to carbohydrates on the cell surface and interact with the enzyme component C2I. This toxin complex is taken up by receptor-mediated endocytosis. In acidic endosomes, heptameric C2IIa forms pores and mediates the translocation of C2I into the cytosol. We report that the heat shock protein (Hsp) 90-specific inhibitors, geldanamycin or radicicol, block intoxication of Vero cells, rat astrocytes, and HeLa cells by C2 toxin. ADP-ribosylation of actin in the cytosol of toxin-treated cells revealed that less active C2I was translocated into the cytosol after treatment with Hsp90 inhibitors. Under control conditions, C2I was localized in the cytosol of toxin-treated rat astrocytes, whereas geldanamycin blocked the cytosolic distribution of C2I. At low extracellular pH (pH 4.5), which allows the direct translocation of C2I via C2IIa heptamers across the cell membrane into the cytosol, Hsp90 inhibitors retarded intoxication by C2I. Geldanamycin did not affect toxin binding, endocytosis, and pore formation by C2IIa. The ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of C2I was not affected by Hsp90 inhibitors in vitro. The cytotoxic actions of the actin-ADP-ribosylating Clostridium perfringens iota toxin and the Rho-ADP-ribosylating C2-C3 fusion toxin was similarly blocked by Hsp90 inhibitors. In contrast, radicicol and geldanamycin had no effect on anthrax lethal toxin-induced cytotoxicity of J774-A1 macrophage-like cells or on cytotoxic effects of the glucosylating Clostridium difficile toxin B in Vero cells. The data indicate that Hsp90 is essential for the membrane translocation of ADP-ribosylating toxins delivered by C2II.

␣ 2 -Adrenoceptors mediate diverse functions of the sympathetic system and are targets for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, depression, pain, glaucoma, and sympathetic activation during opioid withdrawal. To determine whether ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors on adrenergic neurons or ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors on nonadrenergic neurons mediate the physiological and pharmacological responses of ␣ 2 -agonists, we used the dopamine ␤-hydroxylase (Dbh) promoter to drive expression of ␣ 2A -adrenoceptors exclusively in noradrenergic and adrenergic cells of transgenic mice. Dbh-␣ 2A transgenic mice were crossed with double knockout mice lacking both ␣ 2A -and ␣ 2C -receptors to generate lines with selective expression of ␣ 2A -autoreceptors in adrenergic cells. These mice were subjected to a comprehensive phenotype analysis and compared with wild-type mice, which express ␣ 2A -and ␣ 2C -receptors in both adrenergic and nonadrenergic cells, and ␣ 2A /␣ 2C double-knockout mice, which do not express these receptors in any cell type. We were surprised to find that only a few functions previously ascribed to ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors were mediated by receptors on adrenergic neurons, including feedback inhibition of norepinephrine release from sympathetic nerves and spontaneous locomotor activity. Other agonist effects, including analgesia, hypothermia, sedation, and anesthetic-sparing, were mediated by ␣ 2 -receptors in nonadrenergic cells. In dopamine ␤-hydroxylase knockout mice lacking norepinephrine, the ␣ 2 -agonist medetomidine still induced a loss of the righting reflex, confirming that the sedative effect of ␣ 2 -adrenoceptor stimulation is not mediated via autoreceptor-mediated inhibition of norepinephrine release. The present study paves the way for a revision of the current view of the ␣ 2 -adrenergic receptors, and it provides important new considerations for future drug development.Adrenergic receptors are important targets for the treatment of human diseases and conditions including hypertension and heart failure, psychiatric and neurological diseases, asthma, and pain (Westfall and Westfall, 2006). To date, nine different adrenergic receptor subtypes have been cloned and grouped into three receptor groups, including ␣ 1A,B,D , ␣ 2A,B,C , and ␤ 1,2,3 (Bylund et al., 1994). However, the therapeutic potential of these subtypes has not been fully explored because of the lack of ligands with sufficient subtype-selectivity. At present, only four of the nine possible subtype distinctions (i.e., ␣ 1 , ␣ 2 , ␤ 1 , and ␤ 2 ) have achieved clinical relevance (Westfall and Westfall, 2006). Especially within the ␣ 1 -and ␣ 2 -receptor subgroups, the physiological significance of individual receptor subtypes has remained unclear until recently. For the ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors, mouse models with targeted deletions of the individual subtypes have greatly advanced our understanding of the physiological role and the therapeutic potential of these receptors (Gilsbach and Hein, 2008). Activation of ␣ 2A -receptors could be linked with bradycardia ...

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Lipoprotein receptor signaling regulates the positioning and differentiation of postmitotic neurons during development and modulates neuronal plasticity in the mature brain. Depending on the contextual situation, the lipoprotein receptor ligand Reelin can have opposing effects on cortical neurons. We show that Reelin increases growth cone motility and filopodia formation and identify the underlying signaling cascade. Reelin activates the Rho GTPase Cdc42, known for its role in neuronal morphogenesis and directed migration, in an Apoer2-, Disabled-1- and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent manner. We demonstrate that neuronal vesicle trafficking, a Cdc42-controlled process, is increased after Reelin treatment and further provide evidence that the peptidergic VIP/PACAP38-system and Reelin can functionally interact to promote axonal branching. In conclusion, Reelin-induced activation of Cdc42 contributes to the regulation of the cytoskeleton of individual responsive neurons and converges with other signaling cascades to orchestrate Rho GTPase activity and promote neuronal development. Our data link the observation that defects in Rho GTPases and Reelin signaling are responsible for developmental defects leading to neurological and psychiatric disorders.

The small GTPase RhoA can retract cell extensions by acting on two Rho kinases (ROCKs). Activated protein kinase A (PKA) inhibits RhoA and induces extensions. The isoquinoline H89 inhibits PKA and thus should prevent the inactivation of RhoA. In kinase assays, H89 has been recently found to inactivate a ROCK-II also. Because H89 may be able to exert opposite effects on cell extensions, we have studied the effects of H89 on neurite formation in the neuroblastoma-glioma line NG 108-15, which expresses ROCK-I and ROCK-II. We found that H89 can indeed inhibit ROCKs and PKA. Because ROCKs act downstream of RhoA, the inhibitory effect of H89 on ROCKs is most prominent. The data indicate that H89 may not be used as an antagonist of PKA in systems in which ROCKs play a role.The small GTPases of the Rho family RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42 are molecular switches that organize the actin cytoskeleton (for review, see Van Aelst and