α-Synuclein inclusions in the skin of Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism.

Objective: The presence in the brain of α-synuclein containing Lewy neurites, or bodies, is the histological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). The discovery of α-synuclein aggregates in nerve endings of the heart, digestive tract, and skin has lent support to the concept of PD as a systemic disease. Our goals were, first, to demonstrate the presence of α-synuclein inclusions in the skin and, second, to detect quantitative differences between patients with PD and atypical parkinsonism (AP).

p53 E3 ubiquitin protein ligase homolog regulates p53 in vivo in the adult mouse eye lens.

Purpose: p53 is a transcription factor that plays an important role in preventing cancer development. p53 participates in relevant aspects of cell biology, including apoptosis and cell cycle control and must be strictly regulated to maintain normal tissue homeostasis. p53 E3 ubiquitin protein ligase homolog (Mdm2) is an important negative regulator of p53.

Karwinskia humboldtiana (buckthorn) fruit causes central nervous system damage during chronic intoxication in the rat.

Karwinskia humboldtiana fruit (Kh) causes a neurological disorder 3-4 weeks after ingestion, characterized by flaccid, symmetrical, ascending paralysis, similar to the Guillain-Barre syndrome. In this polyneuropathy the lesion (demyelization) in peripheral nerves has been described in several animal species, both in acute and in chronic intoxication. However, no reports exist about the presence of lesions in the Central Nervous System (CNS), in chronic intoxication.

Pitx3 promoter directs Cre-recombinase specifically in a human neuroblastoma cell line.

The Pitx3 gene is a homeobox transcription factor. This gene is expressed only in midbrain dopaminergic-neurons in the central nervous system, where its expression is important for development and survival of mesencephalic-dopaminergic neurons. The promoter region of the Pitx3 gene is not yet completely delimited.

An experimental model of peripheral neuropathy induced in rats by Karwinskia humboldtiana (buckthorn) fruit.

Intoxication by Karwinskia humboldtiana (buckthorn) fruit presents a neurological picture similar to that of Guillain-Barré syndrome. In this report, we describe an experimental animal model of peripheral neuropathy induced by buckthorn fruit. Four groups of Wistar rats received one oral dose of 1.

Morphologic and functional alterations induced by low doses of mercuric chloride in the kidney OK cell line: ultrastructural evidence for an apoptotic mechanism of damage.

Mercury produces acute renal failure in experimental animal models, but the mechanism of tubular injury has not completely been clarified. There is an increased interest in the role of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of renal diseases that result primarily from injury to renal tubular epithelial cells. However, detailed studies of morpho-functional alterations induced by mercuric chloride in kidney cell lines are scarce.