Gut-brain communication consists of bidirectional routes between cognitive centers of the brain and peripheral intestines. This bidirectional communication is the result of the interplay between enteroendocrine cells (EECs), enteric nervous system, central nervous system, the vagus nerve, and our microbiota. Multiple studies have associated gut microbial dysbiosis with neurological disorders...
Age-related diseases have been associated with chronic inflammation and impaired immune response, one of the hallmarks of aging. Aging individuals also have a higher susceptibility to zinc deficiency. The effects of zinc deficiency share many commonalities with the effects of aging on the immune system and zinc deficiency may be...
Multicellular coordination in response to environmental stimuli is essential in biology, and this coordination is often achieved by a division of labor to establish leaders and followers in a cell population. This is called emergent leadership, but how a cell adopts its role and effectively exchanges information with peers is...
The GluN1 subunit of the NMDA receptor shows age-related changes in its
expression pattern, some of which correlate with spatial memory performance in mice.
Aged C57BL/6 mice show an age-related increase in mRNA expression of GluN1
subunit splice variants that lack the N terminal splice cassette, GluN1ₒₓₓ (GluN1-a). This
increase...
The protein palmitoylation cycle has been shown to be important for protein signaling and synaptic plasticity. Data from our lab showed a change in the palmitoylation status of certain proteins with age. A greater percentage of the NMDA receptor subunits GluN2A and GluN2B, along with Fyn and PSD95 proteins, were...
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurological disorder characterized by neuromuscular junction decay, motor neuron death, progressive paralysis, and eventually death of the individual, usually by respiratory failure. Oxidative stress is a prominent hallmark of the disease and is often accompanied and exacerbated by mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation. This...
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative pathology currently affecting nearly 44 million individuals worldwide, yet there are not currently any effective treatments or preventions for AD despite the rapid development in our understanding of the disease over the last four decades. The medical and sanitary innovations of the last century...
Cnidarians, such as corals and sea anemones serve as hosts to a variety of organisms including symbiotic dinoflagellates, bacteria, virus, and apicomplexans. As corals are vital to the health and productivity of the reef ecosystem it is important to understand how these organisms interact with each component of the holobiont....
EF-hand proteins are a conserved family of proteins that are modulated by divalent cations and regulate diverse cellular activities. In the present study we characterized the molecular determinants of myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) interaction with several subunits of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptor. Myosin RLC is an EF-hand protein...
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide with human papillomavirus (HPV) being the main cause of the disease. Currently available treatment methods are limited and emphasize the need for discovery of new therapies that improve patient outcome. Chromosomal amplifications have been identified as a source of...