Anti-glutamatergic effect of riluzole: comparison with valproic acid.

Riluzole, an anti-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drug, known to decrease presynaptic glutamate release, is viewed as a candidate supplementary medication for epilepsy. In the present study, we compared the effects of riluzole and valproate (VPA) in the pilocarpine-induced limbic seizure model and in the gamma-hydroxybutyrate lactone (GBL)-induced absence seizure model. We applied immunohistochemical study for vesicular transporter 1 (VGLUT1) and extracellular recording in the rat dentate gyrus of both pilocarpine- and GBL-induced seizure models to measure effects of riluzole and VPA. Both VPA and riluzole treatments reduced VGLUT1 immunoreactivity. Riluzole treatment completely inhibited pre-ictal spikes and spike-wave discharges in the pilocarpine- and GBL-induced epilepsy models, whereas VPA partially inhibited these phenomena. In both seizure models, the anti-epileptic effects of VPA and riluzole are basically related to anti-glutamatergic (reducing field excitatory postsynaptic potential slope and excitability ratio), not GABAergic (paired-pulse inhibition) effect. Riluzole was more effective at reducing seizure activity in both epilepsy models than VPA. These results suggest that riluzole is a potential antiepileptic drug with activity against limbic seizure and absence seizure.

Measurement of phosphorus content in normal and osteomalacic rabbit bone by solid-state 3D radial imaging.

In osteomalacia decreased mineralization reduces the stiffness and static strength of bone. We hypothesized that hypomineralization in osteomalacic bone could be quantified by solid-state (31)P magnetic resonance imaging (SS-MRI). Hypomineralization was measured with a 3D radial imaging technique at 162 MHz (9.4T) in rabbit cortical bone of hypophosphatemic (HY) and normophosphatemic (NO) animals. The results were compared with those obtained by quantitative micro-CT (micro-CT) and (31)P solution NMR. 3D images of 277 microm isotropic voxel size were obtained in 1.7 hr with SNR approximately 9. Mineral content was lower in the HY relative to the NO group (SS-MRI: 9.48 +/- 0.4 vs. 11.15 +/- 0.31 phosphorus wet wt %, P < 0.0001; micro-CT: 1114.6 +/- 28.3 vs. 1175.7 +/- 23.5 mg mineral/cm(3); P = 0.003). T(1) was shorter in the HY group (47.2 +/- 3.5 vs. 54.1 +/- 2.7 s, P = 0.004), which suggests that relaxation occurs via a dipole-dipole (DD) mechanism involving exchangeable water protons, which are more prevalent in bone from osteomalacic animals.

Kunitz-type soybean trypsin inhibitor revisited: refined structure of its complex with porcine trypsin reveals an insight into the interaction between a homologous inhibitor from Erythrina caffra and tissue-type plasminogen activator.

The Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor from soybean (STI) consists of 181 amino acid residues with two disulfide bridges. Its crystal structures have been determined in complex with porcine pancreatic trypsin in two crystal forms (an orthorhombic form at 1.75 A resolution and a tetragonal form at 1.9 A) and in the free state at 2.3 A resolution. They have been refined to crystallographic R-values of 18.9%, 21.6% and 19.8%, respectively. The three models of STI reported here represent a significant improvement over the partial inhibitor structure in the complex, which was previously determined at a nominal resolution of 2.6 A by the multiple isomorphous replacement method. This study provides the first high-resolution picture of the complex between a Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitor with its cognate proteinase. Many of the external loops of STI show high B-factors, both in the free and the complexed states, except the reactive site loop whose B-factors are dramatically reduced upon complexation. The reactive site loop of STI adopts a canonical conformation similar to those in other substrate-like inhibitors. The P1 carbonyl group displays no out-of-plane displacement and thus retains a nominal trigonal planar geometry. Modeling studies on the complex between a homologous Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor DE-3 from Erythrina caffra and the human tissue-type plasminogen activator reveal a new insight into the specific interactions which could play a crucial role in their binding.