Publications by authors named "Javier Allende-Labastida"
Article Synopsis
- Animal models are essential for studying traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its effects on the brain.
- The outlined protocol involves inducing TBI of various severities in mice using a closed-head weight-drop method and includes steps for assessment before and after injury.
- This protocol is non-invasive and can also be applied to rat studies; further details can be found in the referenced PhD dissertation and related publications.
Article Synopsis
- Metformin, commonly used for type-2 diabetes, has been investigated for its effects on recovery after spinal cord injuries, with mixed results reported in studies.
- High doses and immediate administration of metformin after injury were linked to increased mortality and limited recovery, prompting the exploration of a lower dose given later (3 days post-injury).
- Findings revealed that administering a lower dose of metformin later significantly improved locomotor function and reduced inflammation at the injury site, suggesting its potential benefits for spinal cord injury recovery via anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects.
Role of microglia in the dissemination of Zika virus from mother to fetal brain.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
July 2020
Global Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks and their link to microcephaly have raised major public health concerns. However, the mechanism of maternal-fetal transmission remains largely unknown. In this study, we determined the role of yolk sac (YS) microglial progenitors in a mouse model of ZIKV vertical transmission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman neural stem cells (hNSCs) can differentiate into an oligodendrocyte lineage to facilitate remyelination in patients. Molecular mechanisms underlying oligodendrocyte fate specification remains unknown, hindering the development of efficient methods to generate oligodendrocytes from hNSCs. We have found that Neurobasal-A medium (NB) is capable of inducing hNSCs to oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Iron deficiency is common in obese subjects. This may be due to an increase in serum hepcidin and a decrease in iron absorption from adiposity-related inflammation.
Objective: We evaluated whether weight and fat loss in obese subjects would decrease inflammation and serum hepcidin and thereby improve iron absorption.
Article Synopsis
- Neural stem cells (NSCs) may help recover from brain trauma not just by replacing neurons, but also by influencing the immune response in the brain after an injury.
- In a study with mice, injecting human NSCs reduced harmful inflammatory responses and shifted the behavior of immune cells (microglia/macrophages) toward a less harmful state (M2 phenotype).
- Although the overall size of brain lesions didn't significantly decrease, the presence of NSCs helped lower the buildup of specific injury markers, suggesting that their positive effects are more about modulating inflammation than direct neuronal replacement.