Inter-axonal molecular crosstalk via Lumican proteoglycan sculpts murine cervical corticospinal innervation by distinct subpopulations.

How CNS circuits sculpt their axonal arbors into spatially and functionally organized domains is not well understood. Segmental specificity of corticospinal connectivity is an exemplar for such regional specificity of many axon projections. Corticospinal neurons (CSN) innervate spinal and brainstem targets with segmental precision, controlling voluntary movement.

Screening identifies small molecules that enhance the maturation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived myotubes.

Targeted differentiation of pluripotent stem (PS) cells into myotubes enables in vitro disease modeling of skeletal muscle diseases. Although various protocols achieve myogenic differentiation in vitro, resulting myotubes typically display an embryonic identity. This is a major hurdle for accurately recapitulating disease phenotypes in vitro, as disease commonly manifests at later stages of development.

A Comparison of the Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Cis-9, Trans-11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid to Celecoxib in the Collagen-Induced Arthritis Model.

Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors, such as celecoxib, for chronic inflammatory disease are associated with adverse health events, while cis-9, trans-11 (c9t11) conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is anti-inflammatory without adverse events attributed to pure intake. Mechanistically, celecoxib and c9t11 disrupt the arachidonic acid cascade; however, the equivalency of anti-inflammatory effects between these compounds is unknown. Therefore, to test the hypothesis that 0.