Chemical and Pharmacologic Phenomena Commons^™

Compound 186 Is A Negative Allosteric Modulator Of Dopamine D2 Receptors: Implications For Improving Schizophrenia Therapy, Jayant Bhandari, Jordan Mah, Ritesh Daya, Rodney L. Johnson, Ram K. Mishra

The Meducator

Excessive dopamine transmission in the striatum via the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) has been implicated in inducing positive symptoms of schizophrenia (such as hallucinations and delusions). While it is known that antipsychotic drugs alleviate these symptoms by blocking the active site of D2R, other drugs such as allosteric modulators can also decrease dopamine’s ability to bind this receptor, by binding to an allosteric site on D2R. We evaluated the ability of a newly synthesized molecule, compound 186, to modulate the binding of tritiated norpropylapomorphine (NPA)—a high-affinity D2R agonist—in the bovine striatum. Through receptor binding assays, we found ...

Does Folic Acid Supplementation Prevent Nicotine-Induced Beta Cell Dysfunction, Catherine J. Nicholson

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Previous studies suggest that nicotine impairs pancreatic function, which may explain the increased risk of T2DM in smokers. We have previously shown that nicotine exposure results in decreased beta cell function, an effect which appears to be mediated via increased beta cell oxidative stress. The goal of this study is to determine whether folic acid, an antioxidant, can prevent nicotine-induced beta cell dysfunction in the beta cell.

INS 1E cells, a rat pancreatic beta cell line, were treated with nicotine or vehicle ± 10µM folic acid for 48 hours. Nicotine treatment decreased both basal and glucose stimulated insulin secretion, but had ...