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A number of N-alkyl indole or indazole-3-carbonyl analogs, with modified chemical structures, are distributed throughout the world as synthetic cannabinoids. Like synthetic cannabinoids, cathinone analogs are also abused and cause serious problems worldwide. Acute deaths caused by overdoses of these drugs have been reported. Various analytical methods that can cope with the rapid changes in chemical structures are required for routine analysis and screening of these drugs in seized and biological materials for forensic and clinical purposes. Although many chromatographic methods to analyze each drug have been published, there are only a few articles summarizing these analytical methods. This review presents the various colorimetric detections, immunochemical assays, gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric methods, and liquid chromatographic–mass spectrometric methods proposed for the analysis of synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones.

The amiloride-sensitive epithelial Na ؉ channel (ENaC) controls Na ؉ transport into cells and across epithelia. So far, four homologous subunits of mammalian ENaC have been isolated and are denoted as ␣, ␤, ␥, and ␦. ENaC␦ can associate with ␤ and ␥ subunits and generate a constitutive current that is 2 orders of magnitude larger than that of homomeric ENaC␦. However, the distribution pattern of ENaC␦ is not consistent with that of the ␤ and ␥ subunits. ENaC␦ is expressed mainly in the brain in contrast to ␤ and ␥ subunits, which are expressed in non-neuronal tissues. To explain this discrepancy, we searched for novel functional properties of homomeric ENaC␦ and investigated the detailed tissue distribution in humans. When human ENaC␦ was expressed in Xenopus oocytes and Chinese hamster ovary cells, a reduction of extracellular pH activated this channel (half-maximal pH for an activation of 5.0), and the acid-induced current was abolished by amiloride. The most striking finding was that the desensitization of the acid-evoked current was much slower (by ϳ10% 120 s later), dissociating from the kinetics of acid-sensing ion channels in the degenerin/epithelial Na ؉ channel family, which were rapidly desensitized during acidification. RNA dot-blot analyses showed that ENaC␦ mRNA was widely distributed throughout the brain and was also expressed in the heart, kidney, and pancreas in humans. Northern blotting confirmed that ENaC␦ was expressed in the cerebellum and the hippocampus. In conclusion, human ENaC␦ activity is regulated by protons, indicating that it may contribute to the pH sensation and/or pH regulation in the human brain. Four homologous epithelial Naϩ channel (ENaC) 1 subunits (␣, ␤, ␥, and ␦), members of the degenerin/epithelial Na ϩ channel superfamily, have been cloned in mammals (1-5). There is an overall ϳ37% amino acid identity between the ␣, ␤, ␥, and ␦ subunits. The ␦ subunit of ENaC was originally described as mainly being expressed in the human brain (5). ENaC␦ can associate with ␤ and ␥ subunits to form a heteromeric channel because the coexpression of these three subunits increases the Na ϩ current (5). The tissue distribution pattern of ENaC␦, however, is quite different from that of ␤ and ␥ subunits. ENaC␦ is expressed mainly in the brain, pancreas, testis, and ovary (5), whereas ␤ and ␥ subunits are expressed mainly in the kidney, lung, and colon (3, 4). In addition, the expressed sequence tag data base shows that an ENaC␦ gene has been found in humans and chimpanzees (GenBank TM accession numbers U38254 and O46547, respectively), but for now, there is no evidence for the orthologues in rats and mice. This suggests that ENaC␦ associates with unknown subunits or that homomeric ENaC␦ has its own unknown physiological function in humans. Our goal was to identify the novel functional properties of human ENaC␦ (hENaC␦) using electrophysiological techniques and to investigate the more detailed tissue distribution of ENaC␦ in humans by Northern blot and RNA dot-blot analyses.Here we describe how ...

The present study clearly demonstrated that gamma-tocopherol suppresses prostate tumor progression in an in vivo TRAP model, and could be a candidate chemopreventive agent for human prostate cancer.

Of the 8 genotypes of HBV (genotypes A-H), genotype G is unique in that it

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Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), which commonly occur among elderly individuals, are accompanied by a risk of rupture and subsequent high mortality. Establishment of medical therapies for the prevention of AAAs requires further understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of this condition. This report details the possible involvement of Osteoprotegerin (OPG) in the prevention of AAAs through inhibition of Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). In CaCl2-induced AAA models, both internal and external diameters were significantly increased with destruction of elastic fibers in the media in Opg knockout (KO) mice, as compared to wild-type mice. Moreover, up-regulation of TRAIL expression was observed in the media by immunohistochemical analyses. Using a culture system, both the TRAIL-induced expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and the chemoattractive effect of TRAIL on SMCs were inhibited by OPG. These data suggest that Opg may play a preventive role in the development of AAA through its antagonistic effect on Trail.

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