An organotypic culture model to study nigro-striatal degeneration.

Functional and reliable in vitro models of Parkinson's disease (PD) are valuable for studying mechanisms of dopaminergic degeneration before proceeding to animal testing. At present, all in vitro models involve substitute cell types and thus their direct relevance to PD is questionable. Here, we describe an organotypic culture model which conserves the 3D architecture of the nigro-striatal pathway, together with the subventricular zone and cerebral cortex, and recapitulates a specific pattern of dopaminergic degeneration which is the principal hallmark of PD.

A new pharmacological effect of salicylates: inhibition of NFAT-dependent transcription.

The anti-inflammatory effects of salicylates, originally attributed to inhibition of cyclooxygenase activity, are currently known to involve additional mechanisms. In this study we investigated the possible modulation by salicylates of NFAT-mediated transcription in lymphocytic and monocytic cell lines. RNase protection assays showed that 2-acetoxy-4-trifluoromethylbenzoic acid (triflusal) inhibited, in a dose-dependent manner, mRNA expression of several cytokine genes, most of which are NFAT-regulated and cyclosporin A (CsA)-sensitive.