Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Intra-Accumbens Microinfusion Of The Dopamine D3 Receptor Partial Agonist (±)Vk4-40 Does Not Affect Basal Locomotion In Mice, Yeonwoo Sim, Nicole M. Hinds, Amy Hauck Newman, Daniel F. Manvich

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

The opioid epidemic remains a pressing public health crisis, prompting the search for alternative pharmacotherapies for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). This study explores the potential of the dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) partial agonist, (±)VK4-40, as a novel treatment option. We investigated the impact of intra-nucleus accumbens (NAc) microinfusion of VK4-40 on basal locomotion in mice. Results indicate that VK4-40 did not significantly alter basal locomotion, suggesting that its therapeutic effects may not be mediated through disruptions in generalized motor function. Future research will focus on elucidating the neuropharmacological mechanisms underlying VK4-40's therapeutic actions and exploring its effects on psychostimulant-induced hyperlocomotion. …

Evaluating The Biological Activities Of Novel Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors (Hdaci) In Adherent And Nonadherent Tumor Cell Lines, Samer Alanani

Theses and Dissertations

Epigenetic dysregulations are linked to many human diseases including neurodegenerative disorders, immunodeficiencies, cardiac disease, and most notably cancer. Changes in the mechanisms of histone modifications have been recognized as hallmarks of carcinogenesis. One of these modifications is histone acetylation which is regulated by the activities of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). The reversible actions of these enzymes govern the acetylome and maintain its balance allowing for activation and repression of gene transcription. However, aberrant overexpression of HDACs in certain tumors is associated with decreased levels of transcription leading to tumor progression and survival. Hence, small-molecule histone deacetylase inhibitors …

Identification Of Potential Drug Targets In Cancer Signaling Pathways Using Stochastic Logical Models, Peican Zhu, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Hasan Uludag, Jie Han

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The investigation of vulnerable components in a signaling pathway can contribute to development of drug therapy addressing aberrations in that pathway. Here, an original signaling pathway is derived from the published literature on breast cancer models. New stochastic logical models are then developed to analyze the vulnerability of the components in multiple signalling sub-pathways involved in this signaling cascade. The computational results are consistent with the experimental results, where the selected proteins were silenced using specific siRNAs and the viability of the cells were analyzed 72 hours after silencing. The genes elF4E and NFkB are found to have nearly no …

Sensitization Of Human Cancer Cells To Gemcitabine By The Chk1 Inhibitor Mk-8776: Cell Cycle Perturbation And Impact Of Administration Schedule In Vitro And In Vivo, Ryan Montano, Ruth Thompson, Injae Chung, Huagang Hou, Nadeem Khan, Alan Eastman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Chk1 inhibitors have emerged as promising anticancer therapeutic agents particularly when combined with antimetabolites such as gemcitabine, cytarabine or hydroxyurea. Here, we address the importance of appropriate drug scheduling when gemcitabine is combined with the Chk1 inhibitor MK-8776, and the mechanisms involved in the schedule dependence.

Ruthenium Complexes As Dna Photonucleases In Treatment Of Malignant Skin Carcinoma, Devi Kalyan Karumanchi

All Capstone Projects

A variety of Ruthenium complexes possessing terpyridine complexes as ligands in their coordination sphere have been investigated extensively as DNA photo nucleases in vitro. This work has led to the realization that compounds of Ruthenium bind to DNA purines and that the interactions are of an unprecedented bridging variety. Owing to the molar absorptivity of these complexes in the visible region, direct cleavage of duplex DNA by these complexes requires irradiation in the range of 400-500 nm.

Although the observation of DNA photo cleavage in vitro makes these systems good candidates for further investigation, it does not provide any information …

Wnt Pathway Reprogramming During Human Embryonal Carcinoma Differentiation And Potential For Therapeutic Targeting, Grace E. Snow, Allison C. Kasper, Alexander M. Busch, Elisabeth Schwarz, Katherine E. Ewings, Thomas Bee, Michael J. Spinella, Ethan Dmitrovsky, Sarah J. Freemantle

Dartmouth Scholarship

Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) are classified as seminonas or non-seminomas of which a major subset is embryonal carcinoma (EC) that can differentiate into diverse tissues. The pluripotent nature of human ECs resembles that of embryonic stem (ES) cells. Many Wnt signalling species are regulated during differentiation of TGCT-derived EC cells. This study comprehensively investigated expression profiles of Wnt signalling components regulated during induced differentiation of EC cells and explored the role of key components in maintaining pluripotency.