These effects have also been shown to be sensitive to treatment with chronic (but not acute) administration of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine. It was therefore of interest to know if similar effects

would be produced by treatment with the tricyclic antidepressant Imipramine. This mixed NA/5-HT reuptake inhibitor first developed in the 1950′s is a commonly used standard in animal models of depression and remains in clinical use today.

Female gerbils were individually housed for 7 days or maintained in single-sex groups of 4 for the same period. All animals were then randomly allocated to be administered with either 0, 10 or 20 mg/kg Z IETD FMK imipramine. Acute administration did not reverse the social impairments produced by the individual housing but did produce non-specific stimulant effects on locomotion in both housing conditions. These social impairments were however reduced after a further 14 days chronic treatment with 10 or 20 mg/kg imipramine and stimulant effects were no longer seen. Following chronic administration in grouphoused animals locomotor stimulation Capmatinib ic50 was replaced with sedation, which resulted

in a reduction in social behaviour. That is, opposite to the effect seen in Individual housed animals. It is therefore concluded that chronic treatment with imipramine serves to increase social behaviour but only in those animals with a pre-existing social deficit. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Solvatochromic fluorophores possess emission properties that are sensitive to no the nature of the local microenvironment. These dyes have been exploited in applications ranging from the study of protein structural dynamics to the detection

of protein-binding interactions. Although the solvatochromic indole fluorophore of tryptophan has been utilized extensively for in vitro studies to advance our understanding of basic protein biochemistry, the emergence of new extrinsic synthetic dyes with improved properties, in conjunction with recent developments in site-selective methods to incorporate these chemical tools into proteins, now open the way for studies in more complex systems. Herein, we discuss recent technological advancements and their application in the design of powerful reporters, which serve critical roles in modern cell biology and assay development.”
“During systematic analysis of nonbonded contacts in protein-ligand complexes derived from crystal structures in the Protein Data Bank, Cl-pi interactions have been found, not only in the well-documented serine proteases but also, to a lesser extent, in other proteins. From geometric analysis of such Cl-pi interactions in the crystal structures, two distinct geometries were found: the “”edge-on” approach of a Cl atom to a ring atom or C-C bond and the “”face-on” approach toward the ring centroid with an average interatomic distance of 3.6 angstrom.