The skin secretions of Australian tree frogs are rich in peptides with potential antimicrobial activity. They interrupt bacterial cell membranes, although precisely how and whether all peptides have the same mechanism is not known. The interactions of three of these peptides-aurein 1.2, maculatin 1.1, and caerin 1.1 with supported phospholipid bilayers-are examined here using quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy. These approaches enabled us to reveal variations in material structure and density as a function of distance from the sensor surface when comparing mass sensorgrams over a range of harmonics of the natural resonance of the sensor crystal and hence obtain for the first time to our knowledge a mechanistic assessment of membrane disruption. We found that caerin inserted into the bilayer in a transmembrane manner, regardless of concentration and phospholipid composition consistent with a pore-forming mechanism. In contrast, maculatin and aurein interacted with membranes in a concentration-dependent manner. At low concentrations (<5 microM), maculatin exhibited transmembrane incorporation whereas aurein was limited to surface association. Upon reaching a threshold value of concentration, both peptides lysed the membrane. In the case of maculatin, the lysis progressed in a slow, concentration-dependent manner, forming mixed micelles, as shown by atomic force microscopy imaging. Aurein-induced lysis proceeded to a sudden disruption, which is consistent with the "carpet" mechanism. Both maculatin and aurein exhibit specificity toward phospholipids and thus have potential as candidates as antimicrobial drugs.

The uteri of untreated ovariectomized mice consisted almost entirely of myometrium and connective tissue stroma. After oestrogenic stimulation these tissues underwent marked hypertrophy, but showed little proliferation.The luminal epithelium underwent marked hyperplasia, with most cells dividing twice to quadruple cell numbers by 35-40 h, when they made up 10-12% of the uterine tissue volume and 20% of the total uterine cell population. The proliferative response was rapid, highly synchronized and short-lived. The number of cells incorporating [3H]thymidine first increased 8\m=.\5h after oestradiol-17\g=b\ and by 13-16 h 60-70 % were engaged in DNA synthesis. Up to 21 h cell-death was minimal. From 21 h onwards the proliferation rate declined and the rate of cell death increased. A second injection of oestrogen prevented the rise in death rate and produced a second smaller burst of DNA synthesis. Cells in DNA synthesis or mitosis were insensitive to oestrogen.A smaller proliferative response occurred in the glands: only 25% of cells entered DNA synthesis after the first injection of oestradiol and none after the second. Gland cells appeared to die in situ and there was no evidence that they migrated into the luminal epithelium.

Objective: Cannabidiol (CBD) has been approved by the US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) to treat intractable childhood epilepsies, such as Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. However, the intrinsic anticonvulsant activity of CBD has been questioned due to a pharmacokinetic interaction between CBD and a first-line medication, clobazam. This recognized interaction has led to speculation that the anticonvulsant efficacy of CBD may simply reflect CBD augmenting clobazam exposure. The present study aimed to address the nature of the interaction between CBD and clobazam. Methods: We examined whether CBD inhibits human CYP3A4 and CYP2C19 mediated metabolism of clobazam and N-desmethylclobazam (N-CLB), respectively, and performed studies assessing the effects of CBD on brain and plasma pharmacokinetics of clobazam in mice. We then used the Scn1a +/− mouse model of Dravet syndrome to examine how CBD and clobazam interact. We compared anticonvulsant effects of CBD-clobazam combination therapy to monotherapy against thermally-induced seizures, spontaneous seizures and mortality in Scn1a +/− mice. In addition, we used Xenopus oocytes expressing γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptors to investigate the activity of GABA A receptors when treated with CBD and clobazam together. Results: CBD potently inhibited CYP3A4 mediated metabolism of clobazam and CYP2C19 mediated metabolism of N-CLB. Combination CBD-clobazam treatment resulted in greater anticonvulsant efficacy in Scn1a +/− mice, but only when an anticonvulsant dose of CBD was used. It is important to note that a sub-anticonvulsant dose of CBD did not promote greater anticonvulsant effects despite increasing plasma clobazam concentrations. In addition, we delineated a novel pharmacodynamic mechanism where CBD and clobazam together enhanced inhibitory GABA A receptor activation.

The control mechanisms involved in implantation can be divided into those operating from outside the uterus and intracellular controls within the organ. The hormones of the ovary ensure that uterine preparation is synchronized with the presence of a mature blastocyst in the uterine lumen, whilst the intracellular controls regulate and integrate the changes which take place within the organ and between it and the blastocyst. A prominent feature of these changes in many species is the transformation of the connective tissue stromal cells into specialized decidual cells in which the blastocyst comes to lie, either by passing through the uterine epithelium or by degeneration of the epithelium around it. This transformation will be referred to as the decidual cell reaction (DCR). HORMONAL CONTROLIn the majority of animals implantation takes place at a fixed interval of time after ovulation (assuming a fertile copulation) when the corpus luteum is fully formed. This is during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle or the dioestrous phase of the oestrous cycle. Implantation can thus be considered as the cul-

Sodium channel blockers are used to control electrical excitability in cells as a treatment for epileptic seizures and cardiac arrhythmia, and to provide short term control of pain. Development of the next generation of drugs that can selectively target one of the nine types of voltage-gated sodium channel expressed in the body requires a much better understanding of how current channel blockers work. Here we make use of the recently determined crystal structure of the bacterial voltage gated sodium channel NavAb in molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate the position at which the sodium channel blocking drugs benzocaine and phenytoin bind to the protein as well as to understand how these drugs find their way into resting channels. We show that both drugs have two likely binding sites in the pore characterised by nonspecific, hydrophobic interactions: one just above the activation gate, and one at the entrance to the the lateral lipid filled fenestrations. Three independent methods find the same sites and all suggest that binding to the activation gate is slightly more favourable than at the fenestration. Both drugs are found to be able to pass through the fenestrations into the lipid with only small energy barriers, suggesting that this can represent the long posited hydrophobic entrance route for neutral drugs. Our simulations highlight the importance of a number of residues in directing drugs into and through the fenestration, and in forming the drug binding sites.

Surface functionalization of an implantable device with bioactive molecules can overcome adverse biological responses by promoting specific local tissue integration. Bioactive peptides have advantages over larger protein molecules due to their robustness and sterilizability. Their relatively small size presents opportunities to control the peptide orientation on approach to a surface to achieve favourable presentation of bioactive motifs. Here we demonstrate control of the orientation of surface-bound peptides by tuning electric fields at the surface during immobilization. Guided by computational simulations, a peptide with a linear conformation in solution is designed. Electric fields are used to control the peptide approach towards a radical-functionalized surface. Spontaneous, irreversible immobilization is achieved when the peptide makes contact with the surface. Our findings show that control of both peptide orientation and surface concentration is achieved simply by varying the solution pH or by applying an electric field as delivered by a small battery.

Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) remain one the most prevalent classes of new psychoactive substances (NPS) worldwide, and examples are generally poorly characterised at the time of first detection. We...

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