Objectives: Thoracic spinal tuberculosis (TB) is still common, and surgical treatment can rapidly relieve pain, correct deformity, reduce bone loss and prevent further damage to neurological function. We have practiced an efficient and safe surgical method.
Methods: From January 2013 to April 2021, 38 patients with thoracic spinal TB were included in our study.
Background: Circular RNA (circRNA) has been shown to play an important regulatory role in the development of various cancers, including osteosarcoma (OS). However, the role of circRNA ABCC1 (circABCC1) in OS was still poorly understood. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of circABCC1 in OS progression and its potential molecular mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Math Methods Med
November 2021
Background: As a chronic disease, osteoarthritis has caused great trouble to the health of middle-aged and elderly people. Studies have shown that glucosamine (GlcN) can be used to abate the progression and improve this disease. Based on this point of view, we try to verify the connection between GlcN and osteoarthritis and find more effective biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKey Points: At rat calyx of Held terminals, ATP was required not only for slow endocytosis, but also for rapid phase of compensatory endocytosis. An ATP-independent form of endocytosis was recruited to accelerate membrane retrieval at increased activity and temperature. ATP-independent endocytosis primarily involved retrieval of pre-existing membrane, which depended on Ca and the activity of neutral sphingomyelinase but not clathrin-coated pit maturation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: α-Synuclein (α-syn) missense and multiplication mutations have been suggested to cause neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies. Before causing the progressive neuronal loss, α-syn mutations impair exocytosis, which may contribute to eventual neurodegeneration. To understand how α-syn mutations impair exocytosis, we developed a mouse model that selectively expressed PD-related human α-syn A53T (h-α-synA53T) mutation at the calyx of Held terminals, where release mechanisms can be dissected with a patch-clamping technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAt nerve terminals, endocytosis efficiently recycles vesicle membrane to maintain synaptic transmission under different levels of neuronal activity. Ca(2+) and its downstream signal pathways are critical for the activity-dependent regulation of endocytosis. An activity- and Ca(2+) -dependent kinase, myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) has been reported to regulate vesicle mobilization, vesicle cycling, and motility in different synapses, but whether it has a general contribution to regulation of endocytosis at nerve terminals remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndocytosis in synapses sustains neurotransmission by recycling vesicle membrane and maintaining the homeostasis of synaptic membrane. A role of membrane cholesterol in synaptic endocytosis remains controversial because of conflicting observations, technical limitations in previous studies, and potential interference from non-specific effects after cholesterol manipulation. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether cholesterol participates in distinct forms of endocytosis that function under different activity levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuronal activity triggers endocytosis at synaptic terminals to retrieve efficiently the exocytosed vesicle membrane, ensuring the membrane homeostasis of active zones and the continuous supply of releasable vesicles. The kinetics of endocytosis depends on Ca(2+) and calmodulin which, as a versatile signal pathway, can activate a broad spectrum of downstream targets, including myosin light chain kinase (MLCK). MLCK is known to regulate vesicle trafficking and synaptic transmission, but whether this kinase regulates vesicle endocytosis at synapses remains elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the influence of bone marrow stromal stem cell (BMSCs) transplantation on healing of fractures combined with central nerve injuries in rats.
Methods: Forty-eight healthy adult SD male rats were randomly divided into the following three groups (16 rats in each group): group A, simple (left) tibial fracture; group B, tibial fracture combined with T10 spinal cord transection (SCT); group C, tibial fracture combined with T10 SCT and BMSCs transplantation. The tibial fractures were stabilized with modular intramedullary nails and all operated hind limbs were further immobilized in plaster casts to prevent unequal load bearing.
Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are thought to play a role in regulating nociceptive transmission to spinal substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons. It remains to be unveiled whether the TRP channels in the central nervous system are different in property from those involved in receiving nociceptive stimuli in the peripheral nervous system. We examined the effect of the vanilloid compound zingerone, which activates TRPV1 channels in the cell body of a primary afferent neuron, on glutamatergic excitatory transmission in the SG neurons of adult rat spinal cord slices by using the whole cell patch-clamp technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway plays an important role in neuronal growth, proliferation and differentiation. To better understand the role of mTOR pathway involved in the induction of spinal cord injury, rat models of spinal cord injury were established by modified Allen's stall method and interfered for 7 days by intraperitoneal administration of mTOR activator adenosine triphosphate and mTOR kinase inhibitor rapamycin. At 1-4 weeks after spinal cord injury induction, the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale was used to evaluate rat locomotor function, and immunohistochemical staining and western blot analysis were used to detect the expression of nestin (neural stem cell marker), neuronal nuclei (neuronal marker), neuron specific enolase, neurofilament protein 200 (axonal marker), glial fibrillary acidic protein (astrocyte marker), Akt, mTOR and signal transduction and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined the effects of TRPV1 agonists olvanil and piperine on glutamatergic spontaneous excitatory transmission in the substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons of adult rat spinal cord slices with the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Bath-applied olvanil did not affect the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic current (sEPSC), and unchanged holding currents at -70 mV. On the other hand, superfusing piperine reversibly and concentration-dependently increased sEPSC frequency (half-maximal effective concentration: 52.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough intrathecally administrated galanin modulates nociceptive transmission in a biphasic manner, this has not been fully examined previously. In the present study, the action of galanin on synaptic transmission in the substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons of adult rat spinal cord slices was examined, using the whole cell patch-clamp technique. Galanin concentration-dependently increased the frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC; EC(50) = 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
February 2009
We examined the effects of local anesthetics lidocaine and procaine on glutamatergic spontaneous excitatory transmission in substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons in adult rat spinal cord slices with whole-cell patch-clamp techniques. Bath-applied lidocaine (1-5 mM) dose-dependently and reversibly increased the frequency but not the amplitude of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic current (sEPSC) in SG neurons. Lidocaine activity was unaffected by the Na(+)-channel blocker, tetrodotoxin, and the TRPV1 antagonist, capsazepine, but was inhibited by the TRP antagonist, ruthenium red.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 84% of substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurones examined in adult rat spinal cord slices, an anandamide transport inhibitor, AM404, increased the frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents in a manner similar to that of capsaicin. AM404 was without actions in the presence of a vanilloid TRPV1 receptor antagonist, capsazepine. We conclude that AM404 enhances the spontaneous release of L-glutamate by activating TRPV1 receptors in the SG.
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