["Overkill" in a case of neonaticide].

A 14-year-old girl was found unconscious in a pool of blood by her mother in the family bathroom. A gynecological emergency operation revealed a state after spontaneous delivery. A few days later the corpse of a newborn, smeared with blood, was found by the father of the girl in a laundry basket in the bathroom.

Expression of the Cymbidium ringspot virus 33-kilodalton protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and molecular dissection of the peroxisomal targeting signal.

Open reading frame 1 in the viral genome of Cymbidium ringspot virus encodes a 33-kDa protein (p33), which was previously shown to localize to the peroxisomal membrane in infected and transgenic plant cells. To determine the sequence requirements for the organelle targeting and membrane insertion, the protein was expressed in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in native form (33K) or fused to the green fluorescent protein (33KGFP). Cell organelles were identified by immunolabeling of marker proteins.

Low-level tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression allows for the generation of stable TH+ cell lines of human neural stem cells.

Genetic engineering of neurotransmitter metabolic routes is important for the development of neurotransmitter-producing cells for the ex vivo gene therapy of many CNS diseases. Human neural stem cells (hNSCs) are excellent candidates to serve this role, but, for the case of Parkinson's disease, the cells do not normally express the rate-limiting dopamine (DA) synthesis enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and are not equipped with the detoxifying mechanisms needed to prevent the neurotoxicity associated with the DA phenotype. In this study we have examined the capacity of hNSCs for ectopic expression of human TH.

A superfamily of voltage-gated sodium channels in bacteria.

NaChBac, a six-alpha-helical transmembrane-spanning protein cloned from Bacillus halodurans, is the first functionally characterized bacterial voltage-gated Na(+)-selective channel. As a highly expressing ion channel protein, NaChBac is an ideal candidate for high resolution structural determination and structure-function studies. The biological role of NaChBac, however, is still unknown.

TRPC5 is a regulator of hippocampal neurite length and growth cone morphology.

Growth cone motility is regulated by both fast voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels and by unknown receptor-operated Ca2+ entry mechanisms. Transient receptor potential (TRP) homomeric TRPC5 ion channels are receptor-operated, Ca2+-permeable channels predominantly expressed in the brain. Here we show that TRPC5 is expressed in growth cones of young rat hippocampal neurons.

Endothelin-B receptor activation triggers an endogenous analgesic cascade at sites of peripheral injury.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a newly described pain mediator that is involved in the pathogenesis of pain states ranging from trauma to cancer. ET-1 is synthesized by keratinocytes in normal skin and is locally released after cutaneous injury. While it is able to trigger pain through its actions on endothelin-A (ET(A)) receptors of local nociceptors, it can coincidentally produce analgesia through endothelin-B (ET(B)) receptors.

The cation selectivity filter of the bacterial sodium channel, NaChBac.

The Bacillus halodurans voltage-gated sodium-selective channel (NaChBac) (Ren, D., B. Navarro, H.

The endocannabinoid anandamide inhibits neuronal progenitor cell differentiation through attenuation of the Rap1/B-Raf/ERK pathway.

Endocannabinoids are neuromodulators that act as retrograde synaptic messengers inhibiting the release of different neurotransmitters in cerebral areas such as hippocampus, cortex, and striatum. However, little is known about other roles of the endocannabinoid system in brain. In the present work we provide substantial evidence that the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) regulates neuronal differentiation both in culture and in vivo.

Human neural stem and progenitor cells: in vitro and in vivo properties, and potential for gene therapy and cell replacement in the CNS.

The generation of unlimited quantities of neural stem and/or progenitor cells derived from the human brain holds great interest for basic and applied neuroscience. In this article we critically review the origins and recent developments of procedures developed for the expansion, perpetuation, identification, and isolation of human neural precursors, as well as their attributes. Factors influencing their in vitro properties, both under division and after differentiation conditions, are evaluated, with the aim of identifying properties common to the different culture systems reported.

Genetic perpetuation of in vitro expanded human neural stem cells: cellular properties and therapeutic potential.

Long-term propagated human neural stem cells (self-renewing and multipotent) allow for the unlimited and predictable generation of different types of human neural cells in vitro. In addition, these cell lines may be of help for the elucidation of basic neuro-developmental issues, and also for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies for nervous system disorders (through cell replacement and/or gene transfer-based therapies). In this article we summarize our current knowledge about these long-term cultured cells, particularly that of immortalized cells, with the aim of critically addressing their usefulness and potential for therapeutic use.

A prokaryotic voltage-gated sodium channel.

The pore-forming subunits of canonical voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels are encoded by four repeated domains of six-transmembrane (6TM) segments. We expressed and characterized a bacterial ion channel (NaChBac) from Bacillus halodurans that is encoded by one 6TM segment. The sequence, especially in the pore region, is similar to that of voltage-gated calcium channels.

Waldenström macroglobulinaemia: presenting features and outcome in a series with 217 cases.

In this report we analyse the presenting features of a series of patients diagnosed with Waldenström macroglobulinaemia (WM) in Spain over the last 10 years. Criteria for diagnosis required a serum monoclonal IgM protein > or = 30 g/l and > 20% bone marrow lymphocytes. Two hundred and seventeen patients were included in the study, with a median age of 69 years and male/female ratio of 2:1.

A sperm ion channel required for sperm motility and male fertility.

Calcium and cyclic nucleotides have crucial roles in mammalian fertilization, but the molecules comprising the Ca2+-permeation pathway in sperm motility are poorly understood. Here we describe a putative sperm cation channel, CatSper, whose amino-acid sequence most closely resembles a single, six-transmembrane-spanning repeat of the voltage-dependent Ca2+-channel four-repeat structure. CatSper is located specifically in the principal piece of the sperm tail.

Genetically perpetuated human neural stem cells engraft and differentiate into the adult mammalian brain.

Human neural stem cells (HNSCs) may serve as a cellular vehicle for molecular therapies as well as for cell replacement in the human CNS. The survival, integration, and differentiation of HNSC.100, a multipotent cell line of HNSCs (A.

Adenoviral and adeno-associated viral transfer of genes to the peripheral nervous system.

Targeted expression of foreign genes to the peripheral nervous system is interesting for many applications, including gene therapy of neuromuscular diseases, neuroanatomical studies, and elucidation of mechanisms of axonal flow. Here we describe a microneurosurgical technique for injection of replication-defective viral vectors into dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Adenovirus- and adeno-associated virus-based vectors with transcriptional competence for DRG neurons led to expression of the gene of interest throughout the first neuron of the sensory system, from the distal portions of the respective sensory nerve to the ipsilateral nucleus gracilis and cuneatus, which contains the synapses to the spinothalamic tracts.

[Epileptic crisis and multiple sclerosis: anatomo-clinical correlation].

Introduction: The prevalence of epilepsy in multiple sclerosis (MS) is low and the occurrence of an epileptic seizure as a first sign of this illness is even more infrequent. The relationship between both these illnesses is not clear; as epilepsy is a common condition, a coincidental association only could exist between the two diseases.

Objective: To establish a nexus of causality between epilepsy an MS.

Assessment of breast cancer size: sonographic and pathologic correlation.

Purpose: Accurate presurgical assessment of tumor size in breast cancer is important for choosing appropriate treatment. We retrospectively compared presurgical sonographic measurements of tumor size with postsurgical measurements of size and other variables.

Methods: In 174 cases, tumor size was measured by sonography before surgery, and those measurements were compared with values obtained by histopathologic examination of the specimens.