Expression of Eag1 K+ channel and ErbBs in human pituitary adenomas: cytoskeleton arrangement patterns in cultured cells.

Pituitary adenomas can invade surrounded tissue, but the mechanism remains elusive. Ether à go-go-1 (Eag1) potassium channel and epidermal growth factor receptors (ErbB1 and ErbB2) have been associated to invasive phenotypes or poor prognosis in cancer patients. However, cells arrange their cytoskeleton in order to acquire a successful migration pattern. We have studied ErbBs and Eag1 expression, and cytoskeleton arrangements in 11 human pituitary adenomas. Eag1, ErbB1 and ErbB2 expression were studied by immunochemistry in tissue and cultured cells. The cytoskeleton arrangement was analyzed in cultured cells by immunofluorescence. Normal pituitary tissue showed ErbB2 expression and Eag1 only in few cells. However, Eag1 and ErbB2 were expressed in all the tumors analyzed. ErbB1 expression was observed variable and did not show specificity for a tumor characteristic. Cultured cells from micro- and macro-adenomas clinically functional organize their cytoskeleton suggesting a mesenchymal pattern, and a round leucocyte/amoeboid pattern from invasive clinically silent adenoma. Pituitary tumors over-express EGF receptors and the ErbB2 repeated expression suggests is a characteristic of adenomas. Eag 1 was express, in different extent, and could be a therapeutic target. The cytoskeleton arrangements observed suggest that pituitary tumor cells acquire different patterns: mesenchymal, and leucocyte/amoeboid, the last observed in the invasive adenomas. Amoeboid migration pattern has been associated with high invasion capacity.

Muscarinic M1 and M3 receptor in rat striatum: A binding study

In this study, the authors set out to determine the presence of M3 muscarinic receptors in rat striatum by examining the binding of [3H]N-methyl-scopolamine([3H]NMS) to striatal membranes and its displacement by antagonists with different affinity for M1 and M3 muscarinic receptors (pirenzepine; 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine methiodide, 4-DAMP; and the p-fluoro analog of hexahydro-sila-difenidol, pFHHSiD). The specific binding of [3H]NMS to membranes from rat striatum (551 ñ 40 fmol.mg prot.-1, KD 0.11 ñ 0.01 nM) was displaced in a concentration-dependent manner by all three antagonists tested. Inhibition curves best fit to a single-site model for 4-DAMP(pKi 9.1 ñ 0.1), whereas for both pirenzepine and pFHHSiD, the best fit was to the two-site model. The pKi values for the high-affinity (8.0 ñ 0.2) and low-affinity (6.7 ñ 0.2) components for pirenzepine-mediated inhibition of [3H]NMS binding correspondend to those reported for M1 and M3 receptors, respectively. The pKi values for the high-affinity (7.7 ñ 0.1) and low-affinity (7.1 ñ 0.2) components for pFHHSiD inhibition were in good agreement with those reported for M3 and M1 receptors, respectively. Altogether, these results indicate the presence in rat striatum of both M1 and M3 muscarinic receptors. These findings might be relevant to the design and use of mucarinic antagonists in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease