MoonProt 3.0: an update of the moonlighting proteins database.

MoonProt 3.0 (http://moonlightingproteins.org) is an updated open-access database storing expert-curated annotations for moonlighting proteins. Moonlighting proteins have two or more physiologically relevant distinct biochemical or biophysical functions performed by a single polypeptide chain. Here, we describe an expansion in the database since our previous report in the Database Issue of Nucleic Acids Research in 2018. For this release, the number of proteins annotated has been expanded to over 500 proteins and dozens of protein annotations have been updated with additional information, including more structures in the Protein Data Bank, compared with version 2.0. The new entries include more examples from humans, plants and archaea, more proteins involved in disease and proteins with different combinations of functions. More kinds of information about the proteins and the species in which they have multiple functions has been added, including CATH and SCOP classification of structure, known and predicted disorder, predicted transmembrane helices, type of organism, relationship of the protein to disease, and relationship of organism to cause of disease.

Gamma-vinyl GABA, an irreversible inhibitor of GABA transaminase, alters the acquisition and expression of cocaine-induced sensitization in male rats.

We examined the effect of (+/-)-gamma-vinyl GABA (GVG, Vigabatrin), an irreversible inhibitor of the enzyme GABA transaminase, on the acquisition and expression of cocaine-induced sensitization in albino male Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals received a single injection of 1 ml/kg i.p. of 0.9% saline or 15 mg/kg i.p. of (-)-cocaine and locomotor activity was assessed using automated locomotor cages and stereotyped behaviors were scored using a 4-point rating scale (Day 1). Subsequently, animals were given 15 mg/kg i.p. of cocaine every 48 h in their home cage for 1 week (Days 3, 5, and 7) and then given no treatment for 1 week. A challenge injection of 15 mg/kg i.p. of cocaine, but not vehicle, produced a significant increase in locomotor activity and stereotyped behaviors on Day 15 compared to animals that received cocaine on Day 1. Administration of 75 mg/kg i.p. of GVG 2.5 h before the cocaine injections did not significantly alter the acquisition of cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization. However, 150 mg/kg i.p. of GVG significantly attenuated the acquisition of cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization. Administration of 150 mg/kg i.p. of GVG 2.5 h before the cocaine challenge injection on Day 15 significantly attenuated the expression of cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization. Acquisition and expression of cocaine-induced sensitization of stereotypy was also significantly attenuated by 150 mg/kg i.p. of GVG. Since sensitization may be one of the factors involved in relapse to drug use, the present results, in combination with previous findings that GVG blocks the rewarding and incentive motivating effects of cocaine, suggest that GVG might prove useful in the treatment of cocaine addiction.

Effect of SA4503 on the electrically evoked release of (3)H-acetylcholine from striatal and hippocampal rat brain slices.

Recent microdialysis data has shown that the systemic administration of the selective sigma(1) receptor agonist SA4503 increases the extracellular levels of acetylcholine (ACh) in the hippocampus, but not the striatum, of freely moving rats. In the present study, we examined the effect of SA4503 on the electrically evoked release of (3)H-ACh in rat brain slices isolated from the hippocampus and striatum. At 100 and 300 nM concentrations of SA4503, the electrically evoked release of (3)H-ACh was increased in hippocampal but not striatal slices. Concentrations below 100 nM did not alter the electrically evoked release of (3)H-ACh in either brain area. These results tentatively suggest that the increase in extracellular ACh levels observed in the hippocampus after the systemic administration of SA4503 could in part be related to its interaction with sigma(1) receptors in the hippocampus.