Decrease of mGluR5 receptor density goes parallel with changes in enkephalin and substance P immunoreactivity in Huntington's disease: a preliminary investigation in the postmortem human brain.

Group 1 metabotropic glutamate subtype 5 receptors (mGluR5) contribute to the control of motor behavior by regulating the balance between excitation and inhibition of outputs in the basal ganglia. The density of these receptors is increased in patients with Parkinson's disease and motor complications. We hypothesized that similar changes may occur in Huntington's disease (HD) and aimed at testing this hypothesis in a preliminary experimental series in postmortem human brain material obtained from HD patients.

Overexpression of CREB protein protects from tunicamycin-induced apoptosis in various rat cell types.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress plays an essential role in unfolded protein response induced apoptosis contributing to several pathological conditions. Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) plays a central role in several apoptotic signaling, including ER stress, as the active form of GSK-3β induces apoptosis. The phosphorylation of cAMP responsive element (CRE) binding protein (CREB) Ser-133 (S133) residue is the end-point of various signaling pathways, like growth factor signaling, while the Ser-129 (S129) residue is phosphorylated by GSK-3β.

Long-term effects of selective immunolesions of cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis on the ascending cholinergic pathways in the rat: a model for Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is associated with a significant decrease in the cholinergic input to the neocortex. In a rat model of this depletion, we analyzed the subsequent long-term changes in cholinergic fiber density in two well-defined areas of the frontal and parietal cortices: Fr1, the primary motor cortex, and HL, the hindlimb area of the somatosensory (parietal) cortex, two cortical cholinergic fields that receive inputs from the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (nBM). A specific cholinergic lesion was induced by the intraparenchymal injection of 192 IgG-saporin into the nBM.

Disparate changes in the expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 receptor mRNA and protein in dorsal root ganglion neurons following local capsaicin treatment of the sciatic nerve in the rat.

In situ hybridization, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry, and Western blot analysis were applied to study the changes in expression of the major nociceptive ion channel transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 receptor (TRPV1) after the perineural application of capsaicin or nerve transection. In control rats, quantitative morphometric and statistical analyses of TRPV1 protein and mRNA expression in L5 dorsal root ganglion cells revealed distinct populations of small (type C) and small-to-medium (type B) neurons, which showed very high and moderate levels of TRPV1, whereas larger (type A) neurons mostly did not express this receptor. After either transection or capsaicin treatment of the sciatic nerve, immunohistochemistry and Western blotting demonstrated a massive (up to 80%) decrease in the proportion of TRPV1-immunoreactive neurons and TRPV1 protein at all postoperative survival times.

Adult rat hippocampal slices as in vitro models for neurodegeneration: Studies on cell viability and apoptotic processes.

Adult hippocampal slice cultures were used in the modeling of apoptotic aspects of neurodegeneration. Slice viability was determined by the use of trypan blue (TB) staining, and apoptosis was assessed by caspase-3 immunohistochemistry. A large number of pyramidal cells showed signs of degeneration 30 min after sectioning (58.