Mammalian chemical signals system

Wysocki C.J., Bean N.J. and Beauchamp G. (1986). The mammalian vomeronasal system its role in learning and social behaviors. In Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 4 (Duvall D., et al., eds.). Plenum, New York, pp. 471-485. 

Graziadei, P.P. 1976. Functional anatomy of the mammalian chemoreceptor system. In Chemical Signals in Vertebrates. (Ed. by D. Miiller-Schwarze M.M. Mozell), pp 435-454. New York Plenum Press. 

Johns, M. A., 1980, The role of the vomeronasal system in mammalian reproductive physiology, "Chemical Signals in Vertebrates and Aquatic Invertebrates, D. Muller-Schwarze, and R. M. Silverstein, eds.. 

The recent development of these electrochemical techniques for the study of vesicular release from single cells provides a powerful tool for the study of chemical signaling in the nervous system. However, the application of these methods to mammalian neurons is difficult, mainly due to size constraints, the extremely small quantities of chemical transmitter released at a single synaptic vesicle, and the complex working enviromnent of nerve cell cultures [15]. Neuronal synaptic vesicles are only about 50 mn in diameter and have been estimated... 

GSH has been proposed to be part of the thiol cycling in mammalian cells that may transduce oxidative stress redox signaling into the induction of many genes involved in proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis [15], Studies with pure chemical systems have confirmed the reduction of V(V) maltol compounds by GSH or ascorbic acid [16], Putative glutathione transferase enzymes that bind vanadium have been isolated from an ascidian that accumulates vanadium in specialized cells to over 350 mM [17],... 

The cell culture analog (CCA) system is one approach attempting to narrow this gap. It is developed to address the issues of reactive metabolite formation and tissue-tissue interaction through exchange of metabolites or signal molecules, and to evaluate potential efficacy and toxicity of pharmaceuticals and environmental chemicals. A CCA device can be considered as a simplified and minimized human/animal body, in which mammalian cell cultures are used to represent key functions of specific organs, and cell culture medium is used as a blood surrogate. 

In Chapters 7-13, the focus shifts to the biochemistry of carbohydrates and the exploration of fundamental principles related to cell signaling and protein-carbohydrate interactions on a molecular level. Sialic acids are a class of nine-carbon monosaccharides found at the termini of oligosaccharides in many mammalian cellular systems. Randall Halcomb and Mark Chappell (Chapter 7) summarize the most current sialylation technology. Both chemical and enzymatic methodologies for coupling sialic acid to various carbohydrate moieties are examined while providing the reader with chemical detail that one requires to work in this field. 

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