Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
April 2014
Overactivated microglia contribute to a variety of pathological conditions in the central nervous system. The major goal of the present study is to evaluate the potential suppressing effects of a new type of Ginko biloba extract, GBE50, on activated microglia which causes proinflammatory responses and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Murine BV2 microglia cells, with or without pretreatmentof GBE50 at various concentrations, were activated by incubation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Several anti-diabetes drugs exert beneficial effects against metabolic syndrome by inhibiting mitochondrial function. Although much progress has been made toward understanding the role of mitochondrial function inhibitors in treating metabolic diseases, the potential effects of these inhibitors on mitochondrial respiratory chain complex III remain unclear.
Methods: We investigated the metabolic effects of azoxystrobin (AZOX), a Qo inhibitor of complex III, in a high-fat diet-fed mouse model with insulin resistance in order to elucidate the mechanism by which AZOX improves glucose and lipid metabolism at the metabolic cellular level.
Aim: To elucidate the roles of receptor tyrosine kinases RET and VEGFR2 and the RAF/MEK/ERK signaling cascade in cancer treatment with sorafenib.
Methods: The cell lines A549, HeLa, and HepG2 were tested. The enzyme activity was examined under cell-free conditions using 384-well microplate assays.
Whether a genetic informational nucleic acid is required for the infectivity of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies is central to the debate about the infectious agent. Here we report that an infectious prion formed with bacterially expressed recombinant prion protein plus synthetic polyriboadenylic acid and synthetic phospholipid 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylglycerol is competent to infect cultured cells and cause prion disease in wild-type mice. Our results show that genetic informational RNA is not required for recombinant prion infectivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prion hypothesis posits that a misfolded form of prion protein (PrP) is responsible for the infectivity of prion disease. Using recombinant murine PrP purified from Escherichia coli, we created a recombinant prion with the attributes of the pathogenic PrP isoform: aggregated, protease-resistant, and self-perpetuating. After intracerebral injection of the recombinant prion, wild-type mice developed neurological signs in approximately 130 days and reached the terminal stage of disease in approximately 150 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
June 2009
Using Northern blotting, ISH and FISH, we demonstrated miR-34a expresses with aging in the brain of rhesus monkey and rat. Correspondingly, the same trend was found in the primary cultures of cortical neurons. Moreover, we found that induction of miR-34a led to neuronal apoptosis by targeting BCL-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeural stem cell (NSC) transplantation has the potential to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we investigated the effect of transplanted NSCs in a PD animal model. NSCs isolated from the subventricular zone (SVZ) of E14 rats were cultured in vitro to produce neurospheres, which were subsequently infected with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV(2)) expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
April 2009
For studying the role of CRF in the process of depression, chronic intra-cerebral ventricular administration of CRF in normal rats for 21 days were performed and compared with the depression model of chronic unpredictable miled stress (CUMS) in rats. The Open-field Test and Morris water Maze were employed to test the ability of locomotion and learning and memory. HPLC-UV, RT-PCR were employed to analyze the level of blood serum cortisol and the expression of CRF as well as its receptors (R1 and R2) of CUMS models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
February 2009
The present study was performed to explore learning and memory ability in the depression models of rats. The chronic unpredictable stress and olfactory bulbectomy model of rats were adopted. Open-field test was used to detect the locomotion activity and HPLC-UV was employed to analyze the level of blood serum cortisol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe neuropeptid galanin is widely expressed in the central nervous system and has a diverse range of physiological effects including food intaking, arousal/sleep, nociception and reproduction. In this study, expression of galanin and galanin receptors (GalR1 and GalR2) mRNA were identified not only in the neurogenisis regions including subventricular zone (SVZ), rostral migratory stream (RMS) and dentate gyrus (DG) of adult mice but also in the SVZ-derived neural stem cell (NSC) culture. Here, we also showed that the addition of galanin and GalR2-specific agonist Gal2-11 to wild-type or GALKO NSCs under differentiation condition significantly promote the neuritogenesis and increase the length of neurites on the betaIII-tubulin positive cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
October 2008
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important post-transcriptional modulators of gene expression, which have been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes. In this study, we found that miR-219 expressed since early segmentation stages (16s) in spinal cord and mid-, hindbrain in zebrafish using Northern blotting and whole mounts ISH technologies. Moreover, knockdown or overexpression of miR-219 led to specific embryonic defects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To explore the effect of traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCM) for nourishing liver and kidney, clearing meridians and removing toxic substances, on the neurobehavioral manifestations and the activity of the dopamine D2 receptor in rat with levodopa-induced dyskinesias (LID).
Methods: The rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD) was established by injecting 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into right substantia nigra of brain, then, the model of LID in rat was produced by injecting levodopa (LD) and benserazide for 4 weeks. The rats were divided into normal control group, 4-week LD treated group, 4-week LD plus TCM treated group, 8-week LD treated group, and 8-week LD plus TCM treated group, and the effect of the TCM on neurobehavioral manifestations was observed.
Fen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
October 2007
The effect of galanin (GAL) on neural proliferation was studied in this article using PC12 and B104 cells. RT-PCR was used to determine the expression of galanin and its receptors in both cells. MTT analysis method was employed to detect the effects of galanin and the agonist, antagonist of galanin receptors on the proliferation of both cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
December 2007
The expression of galanin and galanin receptor-2 in hippocampus and dorsal raphe nucleus of depression model was studied. The chronic stress rat model was adopted as the modal of depression. Open-field test was used to observe the transformation of their behavior and HPLC-EC was employed to analysis the level of blood serum cortisol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of galanin (GAL) on neural cell proliferation was studied using PC12 and B104 cells. Reverse transcription-PCR was used to determine the expression of GAL and GAL receptors and a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay of cell viability was employed to detect the effects of GAL on cell proliferation. These studies revealed firstly that PC12 cells express mRNAs encoding all three GAL receptors (GalR1-3) but not GAL mRNA, whereas B104 cells express GAL, GalR2 and GalR3 mRNAs, but not GalR1 mRNA; and secondly that GAL inhibited the proliferation of PC12 cells, but in contrast significantly activated the proliferation of B104 cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
October 2006
The method of primary hippocampal nerve cell culture was used to study the injury effect of H2O2 and the protective effect of galanin (GAL) and GAL receptor agonists. Result demonstrated that H2O2 has obvious dose relative toxicity to hippocampal cells in vitro. GAL and GAL's nonselective agonist GAL1-11, GalR2's selective agonist GAL2-11 can increase the survival rate of hippocampal cells suffered form H2O2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFen Zi Xi Bao Sheng Wu Xue Bao
August 2006
Adeno-associated virus vectors (type2) containing the marker gene--green fluorescent protein (AAV2-GFP) were used to transduce subventricular zone neural stem cells (NSCs). NSCs labelled by gene product--GFP were transplanted into adult Sprague-Dawley rat striatum. The animals were allowed to survive for 45 days, 90 days and 120 days before they were perfused.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of galanin (GAL) on neural proliferation was studied in this article using olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs). OECs were isolated from newborn rat olfactory bulb and cultured in vitro. RT-PCR was used to determine the expression of GAL and its receptors in these cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOlfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) were isolated from newborn rat olfactory bulb and cultured in vitro. RT-PCR was used to determine the expression of galanin and it's receptors in these cells. MTT analysis was used to detect the effects of galanin and agonist, antagonist of galanin receptors on the proliferation of OECs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsiderable recent evidence suggests that in addition to its neuromodulatory role, galanin, like several other neuropeptides, also plays an important trophic role during development and after adult neural injury. Studies in our laboratory have identified high levels of galanin and galanin receptor expression in the subventricular zone, rostral migratory stream, subgranular zone of dentate gyrus and the medial corpus callosum--which include the main sites for continuing cell proliferation in both adult and developing rat brain. Galanin expression was also strongly and transiently induced in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) throughout the neocortex and corpus callosum by a benign physiological stimulus, cortical spreading depression (CSD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPC12 cell line was used to examine the cytotoxicity of dopamine (DA). The higher dose of DA (400micromol/L) greatly reduced cell survival rate and induced apoptosis,meanwhile the lower dose (100micromol/L) had less cytotoxicity. Further studies showed that AMP (100micromol/L) were not cytotoxic at 24h, but decreased cell survival rae to 78% at 72h compared to control, and also exacerbate the cytotoxicity of DA (100micromol/L) at 72h.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSheng Wu Hua Xue Yu Sheng Wu Wu Li Xue Bao (Shanghai)
January 2000
The effects of the adenosine A(2a) receptor antagonist, Quinazoline, on the monoamine transmitters NA, DA, 5-HT and 5-HIAA was studied using fluorecent method, and the influence of MPTP(1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) and Quinazoline (CP66713) on the GABA positive reaction cells in globus pallidus was determined by immunohistochemistry technique in MPTP treated Parkinsonian mice. The results showed that MPTP decreased the content of DA, 5-HIAA and increased 5-HT, GABA obviously(pp<0.01).
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