Publications by authors named "Maria Fernanda Valente"
Brain injuries are often associated with the later development of epilepsy. Evidence suggests that morphological and functional changes occur in the remaining neural tissue during a silent (or latent) period in which no seizures are expressed. It is believed that this silent (reorganization) period may provide a therapeutic window for modifying the natural history of disease progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedial ganglionic eminence (MGE) is one of the sources of inhibitory interneurons during development. Following transplantation in postnatal developing brain, MGE cells can increase local inhibition suggesting a possible protection to GABAergic dysfunction in brain disorders, such as epilepsy. Since it has been shown that MGE-derived cells harvested as neurospheres are able to suppress seizures, it might be important to investigate whether these protective effects would change in different seizure models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The GABAergic system is crucial for regulating anxiety, and transplanting precursor cells from the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) can help modify brain inhibition.
- Two methods to obtain these cells are fresh dissociated cells and neurosphere dissociated cells, and their effects on anxiety behavior were compared in rat models.
- The study found that only rats receiving freshly dissociated MGE cells showed reduced anxiety in behavioral tests, indicating these cells may enhance the GABAergic system's function more effectively than neurosphere-derived cells.