Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease Associates with Upregulated Angiopoietin and Downregulated Hypoxia-Inducible Factor.

Background: Vascular pathology is a common feature in patients with advanced Alzheimer's disease, with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and microvascular changes commonly observed at autopsies and in genetic mouse models. However, despite a plethora of studies addressing the possible impact of CAA on brain vasculature, results have remained contradictory, showing reduced, unchanged, or even increased capillary densities in human and rodent brains overexpressing amyloid-β in Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome.

Objective: We asked if CAA is associated with changes in angiogenetic factors or receptors and if so, whether this would translate into morphological alterations in pericyte coverage and vessel density.

A peptide-based carrier for intracellular delivery of proteins into malignant glial cells in vitro.

Aiming at identification of novel peptides that can be employed for effective targeting of malignant gliomas, we used a 12-mer peptide phage display library and cultured human malignant glioma cells for phage selection. Several common phage clones emerged after 4 rounds of biopanning against the U87MG glioblastoma cell line. The most abundant phage clone VTW, expressing a sequence of VTWTPQAWFQWV, bound to U87MG cells 700-fold more efficiently than the original unselected library.

Expression and developmental regulation of gap junction connexins cx26, cx32, cx43 and cx45 in the rat midbrain-floor.

Connexins (cx) constitute a family of transmembrane proteins that form gap junction channels allowing metabolic and electrical coupling of cellular networks. Initial studies on the expression of cx in the developing brain have suggested that cx may undergo dynamic changes and may possibly be implicated in synchronizing development and differentiation of neural progenitor cells and young neurons. We have investigated expression of cx26, cx32, cx43, and cx45 in the midbrain floor, where nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons originate and differentiate.