Generation of new neurons in dorsal root Ganglia in adult rats after peripheral nerve crush injury.

The evidence of neurons generated ex novo in sensory ganglia of adult animals is still debated. In the present study, we investigated, using high resolution light microscopy and stereological analysis, the changes in the number of neurons in dorsal root ganglia after 30 days from a crush lesion of the rat brachial plexus terminal branches. Results showed, as expected, a relevant hypertrophy of dorsal root ganglion neurons.

Discrepancies in quantitative assessment of normal and regenerated peripheral nerve fibers between light and electron microscopy.

Quantitative estimation of myelinated nerve fiber number, together with fiber size parameters, is one of the most important tools for nerve regeneration research. In this study we used a design-based stereological method to evaluate the regenerative process in two experimental paradigms: crush injury and autograft repair. Samples were embedded in resin and morphometric counting and measurements were performed using both light and electron microscopes.

Role of inflammatory cytokines in peripheral nerve injury.

Inflammatory events occurring in the distal part of an injured peripheral nerve have, nowadays, a great resonance. Investigating the timing of action of the several cytokines in the important stages of Wallerian degeneration helps to understand the regenerative process and design pharmacologic intervention that promotes and expedites recovery. The complex and synergistic action of inflammatory cytokines finally promotes axonal regeneration.

Plasticity and regeneration in the peripheral nervous system.

While in the central nervous system plasticity (in response to stimulus) and regeneration (in response to injury) are mainly based on adaptive changes in neural circuitries and synaptic reorganization, in the peripheral nervous system they are predominantly based on axonal (re)growth and neuron addition. In this paper, we will briefly overview the main investigation lines on plasticity and regeneration in the peripheral nervous system that have been carried out at the Laboratory of Human Anatomy of the Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences at the "San Luigi Gonzaga" Medical Faculty of the University of Turin. This body of research was mainly focused on the identification of the adaptive changes occurring to the sensory and autonomic neurons as a consequence of exceptional stimuli and/or damage at their periphery, as well as on the identification of effective new strategies for improving post-traumatic peripheral nerve fiber regeneration.

Morphological and biomolecular characterization of the neonatal olfactory bulb ensheathing cell line.

Cell transplantation therapy has raised a great interest in the perspective of its employment for nerve tissue repair. Among the various cell populations proposed, olfactory ensheathing glial cells have raised great interest over recent years, especially in the perspective of their employment for neural repair because of their homing capacity in both central and peripheral nervous system. This paper is aimed to provide an in vitro characterization of the NOBEC (neonatal olfactory bulb ensheathing cell) line that was obtained from primary cells dissociated from rat neonatal olfactory bulb (OB) and immortalized by retroviral transduction of SV40 large T antigen.

Neuron-specific Hu proteins sub-cellular localization in primary sensory neurons.

The Hu family of RNA-binding proteins is involved in many post-transcriptional mechanisms for the development and maintenance of the nervous system. Three members of the Hu family (HuB, HuC and HuD) are neuron-specific proteins. In this study, we present data using light and electron microscopy to show the sub-cellular localization of neuron-specific Hu proteins in rat primary sensory neurons taken from dorsal root ganglia (DRG).