Changes in biochemical processes in cerebellar granule cells of mice exposed to methylmercury.

At postnatal day 34, male and female C57BL/6J mice were exposed orally once a day to a total of five doses totaling 1.0 or 5.0 mg/kg of methylmercuric chloride or sterile deionized water in moistened rodent chow.

Astrocytes survive chronic infection and cytopathic effects of the ts1 mutant of the retrovirus Moloney murine leukemia virus by upregulation of antioxidant defenses.

The ts1 mutant of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV) induces a neurodegenerative disease in mice, in which glial cells are infected by the retrovirus but neurons are not. ts1 infection of primary astrocytes, or of the immortalized astrocytic cell line C1, results in accumulation of the ts1 gPr80(env) envelope protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), with ER and oxidative stress. Notably, only about half of the infected astrocytes die in these cultures, while the other half survive, continue to proliferate, and continue to produce virus.

In vivo dark-field reflection-mode photoacoustic microscopy.

Reflection-mode photoacoustic microscopy with dark-field laser pulse illumination and high-numerical-aperture ultrasonic detection is designed and implemented in noninvasively imaged blood vessels in the skin in vivo. Dark-field optical illumination minimizes the interference caused by strong photoacoustic signals from superficial structures. A high-numerical-aperture acoustic lens provides high lateral resolution, 45-120 microm in this system.

Postnatal apoptosis in cerebellar granule cells of homozygous leaner (tg1a/tg1a) mice.

Leaner mice carry a homozygous, autosomal recessive mutation in the mouse CACNA1A gene encoding the Alpha1A subunit of P/Q-type calcium channels, which results in an out-of-frame splicing event in the carboxy terminus of the Alpha1A protein. Leaner mice exhibit severe ataxia, paroxysmal dyskinesia and absence seizures. Functional studies have revealed a marked decrease in calcium currents through leaner P/Q-type channels and altered neuronal calcium ion homeostasis in cerebellar Purkinje cells.