A role for LAX2 in regulating xylem development and lateral-vein symmetry in the leaf.

Background And Aims: The symmetry of venation patterning in leaves is highly conserved within a plant species. Auxins are involved in this process and also in xylem vasculature development. Studying transgenic Arabidopsis plants ectopically expressing the sunflower transcription factor HaHB4, it was observed that there was a significant lateral-vein asymmetry in leaves and in xylem formation compared to wild type plants.

Environmental enrichment attenuates the age-related decline in the mRNA expression of steroidogenic enzymes and reduces the methylation state of the steroid 5α-reductase type 1 gene in the rat hippocampus.

We analyzed the effects of aging and environmental enrichment on the mRNA expression and DNA methylation state of steroidogenic enzymes in the hippocampus. The effects of aging were evaluated by comparing young adult (90-day-old) and middle-aged (450-day-old) female Wistar rats. To elucidate the effects of environmental enrichment, a subgroup of middle-aged rats exposed to sensory and social stimulation for 105 days was compared to rats housed under standard laboratory conditions.

Long-term ovariectomy increases BDNF gene methylation status in mouse hippocampus.

Estradiol (E) has been suggested to have a neuroprotective effect in young animals but has neutral or harmful effects when it is administered to aged animals. In the present study, we determined whether the post-ovariectomy (post-OVX) timeframe elapsed before the initiation of chronic E treatment is critical for the estrogenic induction of neurotrophins (brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF, and synaptophysin, SYN) in the rodent hippocampus. Adult mice were OVX and, a short period (short-term E (STE) animals) or a long period (long-term E (LTE) animals) after the OVX, were daily treated with E.

Sexually dimorphic expression of receptor-alpha in the cerebral cortex of neonatal Caiman latirostris (Crocodylia: Alligatoridae).

In mammals, estrogens have been described as endocrine and paracrine modulators of neuronal differentiation and synapse formation. However, the functional role of circulating estrogens and the distribution of estrogen receptors (ERs) in the cerebral cortex of reptiles have not been clearly established. Caiman latirostris (C.