Neurotransmitter Methods is intended as a bench-side companion for researchers who seek to identify, locaHze, or measure neurotransmitters and/or to identify sites of neurotransmitter action. Each method is detailed in a user-friendly "recipe" format and the protocols are accompanied by extensive notes to high light and explain crucial steps. Approaches utilizing an incredibly diverse array of modem techniques are presented: methods including HPLC, histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization, mass spectrometry, microdialysis, and electrochemistry all make at least one...

During the course of evolution, an imbalance was created between the rate of vertebrate genetic adaptation and that of the lower forms of living organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. This imbalance has given the latter the advantage of generating, relatively quickly, molecules with unexpected structures and features that carry a threat to vertebrates. To compensate for their weakness, vertebrates have accelerated their own evolutionary processes, not at the level of whole organism, but in specialized cells containing the genes that code for antibody molecules or for T-cell receptors. That...

Protein glycosylation is now acknowledged as a major posttranslational modification with significant effects on protein folding, conformation distri bution, stability, and activity. The added oligosaccharide chains are large and diverse and have specific recognition motifs important in many aspects of cell interactions and regulation. As such, there is a growing need to communicate the analytical methods of the specialist carbohydrate chemist, biochemist, and physicochemist to protein experts and the pharmaceutical industry. Other areas that come under the influence of the glycosciences are...

This book is intended to be a working guide to the operation of capillary electrophoresis (CE) instrumentation. Since CE is still a rap idly maturing technique, detailed validated protocols are not widely established. Therefore, extensive experimental procedures are not pro vided for individual analyses. The intention is to provide general guide lines on the principles and practice of CE and to give an overview of the specific technologies and important application areas. Part I provides operating instructions for standard commercially available instruments. Guidelines are included for...

This book is a collection of protocols, to provide novel techniques for the study of the biology of T lymphocytes. The methods described in this book do not cover all of the techniques currently used to study T cell-mediated immune responses for the simple reason that T cell immunology is probably the immunological discipline which can be investigated with the widest variety of approaches. Thechoiceofchapterswasmadetakingintoaccounttwopoints: First, manyofthe techniquesthathavebeen usedfor sometimehave beenupgraded duringthe pastfew years given the greater availability of a variety of...

Gene Transfer into Hematopoietic Cells: From Basic Science to Clinical Application Christopher Baum 1. The Potential of Gene Transfer into Hematopoietic Vectors with the potential for stable transgene integration are Cells widely used in basic hematology and clinical trials of gene me- cine. In basic research, both gain-of-function and loss-of-fu- tion situations of individual genes can be created by gene transfer, leading to a wide range of applications in developmental biology, stem cell biology, immunology, leukemia research, and human genetics. With the first evidence of successful...

The last 10 years have witnessed an explosion in our understanding of plant h- mones. The often vague models of hormone action developedover decadeshave been replaced in short order by detailed molecular models that include receptors and in many cases downstream signal transduction components. Given the rapid progress in understanding the mechanism of action of plant growth regulators, a technical review of hormone methodology is timely. Our book focuses on genetic, biochemical, ana- tical and chemical biological approaches for understanding and dissecting plant h- mone action. The greatest...

PCR Cloning Protocols, Second Edition, updates and expands Bruce White's best-selling PCR Cloning Protocols (1997) with the newest procedures for DNA cloning and mutagenesis. Here the researcher will find readily reproducible methods for all the major aspects of PCR use, including PCR optimization, computer programs for PCR primer design and analysis, and novel variations for cloning genes of special characteristics or origin, with emphasis on long distance PCR and GC-rich template amplification. Also included are both conventional and novel enzyme-free and restriction site-free procedures to...

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) have now existed for slightly more than ten years, with the interest in and applications of this pseudopeptide DNA mimic steadily increasing during the entire period. PNAs have rapidly attracted the attention of scientists from a diversity of fields ranging from (bio)organic and biophysical chemistry to prebiotic evolution, and from molecular biology to genetic diagnostics and drug development. Many of the applications take advantage of the unique properties of PNA an uncharged pseudopeptide that distinguish this DNA mimic from more traditional DNA analogs. Rather...