Excitotoxicity is a phenomenon that describes the toxic actions of excitatory
neurotransmitters, primarily glutamate, where the exacerbated or prolonged activation of …

Mitochondria play a central role in the survival and death of neurons. The detailed
bioenergetic mechanisms by which isolated mitochondria generate ATP, sequester Ca2+ …

The role of protein phosphatases in the regulation of cellular processes is now well
established (1, 2). Calcineurin (also called protein phosphatase 2B), a major calmodulin …

The Na+-K+-ATPase, or sodium pump, is the membrane-bound enzyme that maintains the
Na+ and K+ gradients across the plasma membrane of animal cells. Because of its …

Hyperammonemia resulting from inherited urea cycle enzyme deficiencies or liver failure
results in severe central nervous system dysfunction including brain edema, convulsions …

One general signalling mechanism used to transfer the information delivered by agonists
into appropriate intracellular compartments involves the rapid redistribution of ionised …

Primary dissociated neuronal cultures have been intensively exploited for the past 15 years
as model systems to investigate excitotoxic neuronal degeneration. Even this simplified …

Publisher Summary The use of the calcineurin inhibitors—namely, FK506 and CsA, together
with yeast genetics and the overexpression of calcineurin by transgenic mice, has …

Calcineurin is a serine-threonine specific Ca 2+-calmodulin-activated protein phosphatase
that is conserved from yeast to humans. Remarkably, this enzyme is the common target for …

Long recognized as an important regulatory mechanism in biosignal processes, modulation
of the phosphorylation state of proteins has emerged as the most important mechanism for …