Here we provide the first behavioral and neurophysiological profile of TCB-2 in C57BL/6J mice, with direct comparisons to the 5-HT2A/2C agonist (+/-)-2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl-2-aminopropane (DOI), in addition to determinations of 5-HT2A mediation via pretreatment with the selective 5-HT2A antagonist MDL 11,939.
In a dose-dependent manner, TCB-2 induced head twitches, decreased food consumption in food-deprived mice, induced hypothermia, and increased corticosterone levels, with no effects on locomotor activity EPZ015666 cost or anxiety-like behaviors in the open field. Similar effects were observed in side-by-side
dose-response comparisons with DOI; although at the highest dose tested (5.0 mg/kg), TCB-2 induced significantly fewer head twitches, and a significantly enhanced hypothermic response, versus DOI. Pretreatment with MDL 11,939 blocked head twitches and temperature change following TCB-2 and DOI, confirming 5-HT2A mediation of these responses. Although MDL 11,939 pretreatment blocked DOI-induced suppression of feeding, MDL 11,939 had no effect on TCB-2-induced suppression of feeding.
Previous studies show that 5-HT2A function is altered by changes in serotonin transporter (SERT) expression and function. In SERT knockout (-/-) mice, TCB-2-induced head twitches and Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor hypothermia were greatly diminished compared to SERT wild-type (+/+) mice.
The current studies are important, as they are the first to assess the effects of TCB-2 in mice, and are among the first to report the behavioral and neurophysiological effects of this conformationally restricted phenethylamine analog compound, which has 65-fold greater effects on signaling via the phosphoinositide versus arachidonic acid pathways.”
“Several lines of evidence suggest that various cofactors may be required for prion replication. PrP binds to polyanions, and RNAs were shown to promote the conversion of PrPC into PrPSc in vitro. In the present study, we investigated strain-specific differences in RNA requirement during in vitro conversion and the potential
role of RNA as a strain-specifying component of infectious prions. We found that RNase treatment impairs PrPSc-converting activity of 9 murine prion strains by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) in a strain-specific fashion. While the addition of RNA restored PMCA conversion efficiency, the effect Torin 1 mw of synthetic polynucleotides or DNA was strain dependent, showing a different promiscuity of prion strains in cofactor utilization. The biological properties of RML propagated by PMCA under RNA-depleted conditions were compared to those of brain-derived and PMCA material generated in the presence of RNA. Inoculation of RNA-depleted RML in Tga20 mice resulted in an increased incidence of a distinctive disease phenotype characterized by forelimb paresis. However, this abnormal phenotype was not conserved in wild-type mice or upon secondary transmission.