Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. · Aug 1997
Kinematic geometry of mass-triangles and reduction of Schrödinger's equation of three-body systems to partial differential equations solely defined on triangular parameters.
Schrödinger's equation of a three-body system is a linear partial differential equation (PDE) defined on the 9-dimensional configuration space, R9, naturally equipped with Jacobi's kinematic metric and with translational and rotational symmetries. The natural invariance of Schrödinger's equation with respect to the translational symmetry enables us to reduce the configuration space to that of a 6-dimensional one, while that of the rotational symmetry provides the quantum mechanical version of angular momentum conservation. However, the problem of maximizing the use of rotational invariance so as to enable us to reduce Schrödinger's equation to corresponding PDEs solely defined on triangular parameters--i.e., at the level of R6/SO(3)--has never been adequately treated. This article describes the results on the orbital geometry and the harmonic analysis of (SO(3),R6) which enable us to obtain such a reduction of Schrödinger's equation of three-body systems to PDEs solely defined on triangular parameters.
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. · May 1997
Signal changes in the spinal cord of the rat after injection of formalin into the hindpaw: characterization using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Changes in metabolism and local circulation occur in the spinal cord during peripheral noxious stimulation. Evidence is presented that this stimulation also causes signal intensity alterations in functional magnetic resonance images of the spinal cord during formalin-induced pain. These results indicate the potential of functional magnetic resonance imaging in assessing noninvasively the extent and intensity of spinal cord excitation in this well characterized pain model. ⋯ The time course of changes in the spinal cord functional image in the isoflurane-anesthetized animal was similar to that obtained from behavioral experiments. Also, comparable physiological data, control experiments, and the inhibition of a response through application of the local anesthetic agent lidocaine indicate that the signal changes observed after formalin injection were specifically related to excitability changes in the relevant segments of the lumbar spinal cord. This approach could be useful to characterize different models of pain and hyperalgesia and, more importantly, to evaluate effects of analgesic drugs.
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. · Apr 1997
Purification and characterization of a human RNA adenosine deaminase for glutamate receptor B pre-mRNA editing.
The glutamate receptor subunit B (GluR-B) pre-mRNA is edited at two adenosine residues, resulting in amino acid changes that alter the electrophysiologic properties of the glutamate receptor. Previous studies showed that these amino acid changes are due to adenosine to inosine conversions in two codons resulting from adenosine deamination. ⋯ Recombinant human RED1 (hRED1), but not recombinant dsRAD, another member of the family, efficiently edits both the Q/R and R/G sites of GluR-B RNA. We conclude that the GluR-B editing activity present in HeLa cell extracts and the recombinant hRED1 protein are indistinguishable.
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. · Mar 1997
Comparative StudyRegulation of intestinal uroguanylin/guanylin receptor-mediated responses by mucosal acidity.
Guanylin and uroguanylin are intestinal peptides that stimulate chloride secretion by activating a common set of receptor-guanylate cyclase signaling molecules located on the mucosal surface of enterocytes. High mucosal acidity, similar to the pH occurring within the fluid microclimate domain at the mucosal surface of the intestine, markedly enhances the cGMP accumulation responses of T84 human intestinal cells to uroguanylin. In contrast, a mucosal acidity of pH 5.0 renders guanylin essentially inactive. ⋯ The guanylin-binding affinities for peptide-receptor interaction were reduced by 100-fold at pH 5 versus pH 8, whereas the affinities of uroguanylin for these receptors were increased 10-fold by acidic pH conditions. Deletion of the N-terminal acidic amino acids in uroguanylin demonstrated that these residues are responsible for the increase in binding affinities that are observed for uroguanylin at acidic pH. We conclude that guanylin and uroguanylin evolved distinctly different structures, which enables both peptides to regulate, in a pH-dependent fashion, the activity of receptors that control intestinal salt and water transport via cGMP.
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. · Feb 1997
Suckling and sucrose ingestion suppress persistent hyperalgesia and spinal Fos expression after forepaw inflammation in infant rats.
Sweet taste and nonnutritive suckling produce analgesia to transient noxious stimuli in infant rats and humans. The present study evaluated the pain-modulating effects of sucrose and suckling in a rat model of persistent pain and hyperalgesia that mimics the response to tissue injury in humans. Fore- and hindpaw withdrawal latencies from a 30 degrees or 48 degrees C brass stylus were determined in 10-day-old rats following paw inflammation induced by complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA; 1:1 injected s.c. in a 0.01 ml volume). ⋯ Suckling-sucrose treatment significantly reduced Fos-LI at the cervical but not at the lumbar regions. These findings demonstrate: (i) the development of persistent pain and hyperalgesia in 10-day-old rats that can be attenuated by endogenous pain-modulating systems activated by taste and nonnutritive suckling; (ii) the mediation of the sucrose-suckling analgesia and antihyperalgesia at the spinal level; and (iii) a differential rostrocaudal maturation of descending pain-modulating systems to the spinal cord of 10-day-old rats. These findings may provide new clinical approaches for engaging endogenous analgesic mechanisms in infants following tissue injury and inflammation.