• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.149-154
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• 2015

Mood disorder is a common psychiatric illness with a high lifetime prevalence in the general population. Many prescribed antidepressants modulate monoamine neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. There has been greater focus on the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the human brain, glutamate, in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). Recently, ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, has received attention and has been investigated for clinical trials and neurobiological studies. In this article, we will review the clinical evidence for glutamatergic dysfunction in MDD, the progress with ketamine as a rapidly acting antidepressant, and other N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist for treatment-resistant depression.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.57-62
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• 1995

Objects : Clozapine, prototype of the atypical neuroleptics, was known to have unique antipsychotic effect with a few extrapyramidal effects. While most typical antipsychotic agents mainly block $D_2$ receptors, clozapine has higher affinity for dopamine $D_4$ receptor than for $D_2$ receptor. Many researchers have tried to find out the relationship between schizophrenia and the abnormality of the genes coding dopamine receptors. But no consistent findings were reported. Recently, dopamine $D_4$ receptor was fully sequenced, and the alleles of dopamine $D_4$ receptor gene was found in unusual form on the 48th base pair. Our study was performed to identify the distribution of the dopamine $D_4$ receptor alleles of schizophrenics and normal controls, and whether any difference between the dopamine $D_4$ receptor alleles of schizophrenics and that of normal controls exists. Methods : DNA was extracted from the blood of schizophrenic patients(N=60) and normal controls(N=60). Part of the dopamine $D_4$ receptor gene was amplified by PCR, and amplified DNA was electrophoresed. Authors compared the distribution of the alleles of dopamine $D_4$ receptor gene of normal controls and that of schizophrenic patients. Results : Six kinds of alleles of $D_4$ receptor were observed both groups. The fourth repeat form of alleles was the most common in both schizophrenic patients(75.8%) and normal controls(70.3%), so there was not significant difference between two groups. Conclusion : The Difference in the distribution of the dopamine $D_4$ receptor gene alleles is not thought to be responsible for the pathophysiology of the schizophrenia. However, the difference in the expression of the dopamine $D_4$ receptor gene between normal and schizophrenia is left to be scrutinized.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.225-234
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• 2021

The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism of cell surface receptor loss by two constitutively activating mutants (designated L469R, and D590Y) and two inactivating mutants (D417N and Y558F) of the luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) in the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica, known to naturally occur in human LHR transmembrane domains. We investigated cell surface receptor loss using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in HEK 293 cells. The expression level of wild-type eel LHR was considered to be 100%, and the expression levels of L469R and D417N were 97% and 101%, respectively, whereas the expression levels of D590Y and Y558F slightly increased to approximately 110% and 106%, respectively. The constitutively activating mutants L469R and D590Y exhibited a decrease in cell surface loss in a manner similar to that of wild-type eel LHR. The rates of loss of cell surface agonist-receptor complexes were observed to be very rapid (2.6-6.2 min) in both the wild-type eel LHR and activating mutants. However, cell surface receptor loss in the cells expressing inactivating mutants D417N and Y558F was slightly observed in the cells expressing inactivating mutants D417N and Y558F, despite treatment with a high concentration of agonist. These results provide important information on LHR function in fish and the regulation of mutations of highly conserved amino acids in glycoprotein hormone receptors.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2005

This study was performed to investigate the mechanism of cerebral blood flow of adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor agonist in the rats, and to define whether its mechanism is mediated by nitric oxide (NO) and guanylate cyclase. In pentobarbital-anesthetized, pancuronium-paralyzed and artificially ventilated male Sprague-Dawley rats, all drugs were applied topically to the cerebral cortex. Blood flow from cerebral cortex was measured using laser-doppler flowmetry. Topical application of an adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor agonist, 5'-N-ethylcar-boxamidoadenosine (NECA; $4{\mu}mol/l$) increased cerebral blood flow. This effect of NECA ($4{\mu}mol/l$) was blocked by pretreatment with NO synthase inhibitor, $N^G$-nitro-L-argine methvlester (L-NAME; $40{\mu}mol/l$) and guanylate cyclase inhibitor, LY-83,583 ($10{\mu}mol/l$). These results suggest that adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor increases cerebral blood flow. It seems that this action of adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor is mediated via the NO and the activation of guanylate cyclase in the cerebral cortex of the rats.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.173.2-173.2
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• 2003

Vanilloid receptor I (VR1) is a nonselective cation ion channel placed in the plasma membrane of peripheral sensory neurons that is potential target for analgesia A series of N-4-substituted-benzyl-N'-tert-butylbenzyl thioureas were prepared for the study of their agonistic/antagonistic activities to the vanilloid receptor in rat DRG. Their structure-activity relationship in reveals that not only the two oxygens and amide hydrogen of sulfonamido group but also the optimal size of methyl in methanesulfonamido group play an integral role for the antagonistic activity on vanilloid receptor.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 1996

To investigate whether human $\beta$$_2$-adrenergic receptor devoid of the C-terminal two transmembrane helices retain its ligand binding activity and specificity, 5'780-bp DNA fragment of the receptor gene which encodes amino acid 1-260 of human $\beta$$_2$-adrenergic receptor was subcloned into the bacterial fusion protein expression vector and expressed as a form of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fusion protein in E. coli DH5$\alpha$. The receptor fusion protein was expressed as a membrane bound form which was verified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. The fusion protein expressed in this study specifically bound $\beta$-adrenergic receptor ligand [$^3$H] Dihydroalprenolol. In saturation ligand binding assay, the $K_{d}$ value was 7.6 nM which was similar to that of intact $\beta$$_2$-adrenergic receptor in normal animal tissue ( $K_{d}$=1~2 nM) and the $B_{max}$ value was 266 fmol/mg membrane protein. In competition binding assay, the order of binding affinity of various adrenergic receptor agonists to the fusion protein was isoproterenol》epinephrine norepinephrine, which was similar to that of intact receptor in normal animal tissue. These results suggest that N-terminal five transmembrane helices of the $\beta$$_2$-adrenergic receptor be sufficient to determine the ligand binding activity and specificity, irrespective of the presence or absence of the C-terminal two transmembrane helices.s.s.s.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.275-279
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• 1996

To study the functional roles of dopamine receptors, we decided to raise antibodies against these proteins. To make antigen, we expressed the whole 3rd cytoplasmic loop of dopamine receptors in a fusion protein with glutathione-S-transferase (GST). $For D_2\; and\; D_3$ receptors, it was successful to express and purify fusion proteins for the whole 3rd cytoplasmic loops. However, we could not express the fusion protein for the whole 3rd cytoplasmic loop of $D_4$ dopamine receptor in the bacteria. To study the causes that prevent the bacterial expression of the GST-fusion protein of the 3rd cytoplasmic loop of $D_4$ dopamine receptor, we conducted more detailed studies on $D_4$ dopamine receptor. To locate the region which prevents bacterial expression, we made sequential constructs in the 3rd cytoplasmic loop decreasing the size step by step, and confirmed their expressions in the SDS PAGE. It was found that certain regions of 3rd cytoplasmic loop of $D_4$ dopamine receptor, located in N-terminal side of the 3rd cytoplasmic loop of $D_4$ dopamine receptor suppress the bacterial expression of fusion protein.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.351-357
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• 1997

A series of 4-substituted-kynurenic acid derivatives possessing several different substituents at C4-position which are consisted of both a flexible propyloxy chain and an adjunct several type of carbonyl groups has been synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antagonist activity at the glycine site on the NMDA receptor. Of them, N-benzoylthiourea 15c and N-phenylthiourea 15a were found to have the best in vitro binding affinity with $IC_{50}$ of 3.95 and $6.04{\mu}M$, respectively. On the other hand, in compounds 12a-c and 13 the displacement of a thiourea group to an amide or a carbamate caused a significant decrease of the in vitro binding affinity. In the SAR study of the 4-substituted kynurenic acid derivatives, it was realized that the terminal substitution pattern on a flexible C4-propyloxy chain of kynurenic acid nucleus significantly influences on the binding affinity for glycine site; the binding affinity to the NMDA receptor might be increased by the introduction of a suitable electron rich substituent at C4 of kynurenic acid nucleus.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.231-235
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• 2004

According to revealing the DNA sequence of human and living things, it increases that a demand on a new computational processing method which utilizes DNA sequence information. In this paper we propose a classification algorithm based on negative selection of the immune system to classify DNA patterns. Negative selection is the process to determine an antigenic receptor that recognize antigens, nonself cells. The immune cells use this antigen receptor to judge whether a self or not. If one composes n group of antigenic receptor for n different patterns, they can classify into n patterns. In this paper we propose a pattern classification algorithm based on negative selection in nucleotide base level and amino acid level.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2004

This study was performed to investigate the regulatory mechanism of cerebral blood flow of adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor agonist in the rats, and to define whether its mechanism is mediated by adenylate cyclase and guanylate cyclase. in pentobarbital-anesthetized, pentobrabital-paralyzed and artificially ventilated male Sprague-Dawley rats, all drugs were applied topically to the cerebral cortex. Blood How from cerebral cortex was measured using laser-Doppler flowmetry. Topical application of an adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor agonist, 5'-N-ethylcar-boxamidoadenosine (NECA; 4 umol/l) increased cerebral blood flow. This effect of NECA (4 umol/l) was not blocked by pretreatment with adenylate cyclase inhibitor, MDL-12330 (20 umol/l). But effect of NECA (4 umol/l) was blocked by pretreatment with guanylate cyclase inhibitor, LY-83383 (10 umol/l). These results suggest that adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor increases cerebral blood flow. It seems that this action of adenosine $A_{2B}$ receptor is mediated via the activation of guanylate cyclase in the cerebral cortex of the rats.