Ameson metacarcini sp. nov. (Microsporidia) infecting the muscles of Dungeness crabs Metacarcinus magister from British Columbia, Canada.

The Dungeness crab Metacarcinus magister supports a large and valuable fishery along the west coast of North America. Since 1998, Dungeness crabs exhibiting pink- to orange-colored joints and opaque white musculature have been sporadically observed in low prevalence from the Fraser River delta of British Columbia, Canada. We provide histological, ultrastructural, and molecular evidence that this condition is caused by a new microsporidian parasite.

The CREB1-BDNF-NTRK2 pathway in depression: multiple gene-cognition-environment interactions.

Background: The neuroplastic pathway, which includes cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding protein 1 (CREB1), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and its receptor (neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor, type 2 [NTRK2]), plays a crucial role in the adaptation of brain to stress, and thus variations of these genes are plausible risk factors for depression.

Methods: A population-based sample was recruited, subsets of which were interviewed and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated the association of nine polymorphisms throughout the CREB1-BDNF-NTRK2 pathway with lifetime depression, rumination, current depression severity, negative life events, and sad face emotion processing in a three-level design.

The NR1 N-methyl-D-aspartate subunit and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in temporal lobe epilepsy hippocampus: a comparison of patients with and without coexisting psychiatric symptoms.

Purpose: The glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor have been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and depression. Since these psychiatric disorders are common in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), a comparison of TLE patients with and without coexisting psychiatric symptoms may be useful to unravel pathophysiologic mechanisms for psychosis or depression.

Methods: We used immunoautoradiography to assess the NR1 NMDA receptor subunit and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in resected TLE hippocampus.

Glial fibrillary acidic protein and glutamine synthetase in subregions of prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia and mood disorder.

Several theories of schizophrenia suggest dysfunction in glutamate neurotransmission in higher brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Previous studies have investigated whether astroglial abnormalities could give rise to glutamate dysfunction using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunocytochemistry. We have used quantitative immunoautoradiography to measure glutamine synthetase (GS), the glial enzyme which recycles synaptic glutamate, as a more direct test of glial mechanisms of abnormal glutamate function in schizophrenia.