Clonal heterogeneity of melanoma in a paradigmatic case study: future prospects for circulating melanoma cells.

The management of metastatic melanoma is a difficult matter. Nevertheless, the advent of target therapy has significantly improved patient outcome, provided that tumor molecular characteristics become available: the detection of drug-resistant clones can contribute to understanding the reasons for resistance onset, influencing the choice of subsequent therapy. This work aimed to provide a possible explanation for the early resistance to vemurafenib developed by a patient with melanoma, and concurrently to assess the extent, and role, of the tumor clonal heterogeneity.

The laminar organization of the motor cortex in monodactylous mammals: a comparative assessment based on horse, chimpanzee, and macaque.

The architecture of the neocortex classically consists of six layers, based on cytological criteria and on the layout of intra/interlaminar connections. Yet, the comparison of cortical cytoarchitectonic features across different species proves overwhelmingly difficult, due to the lack of a reliable model to analyze the connection patterns of neuronal ensembles forming the different layers. We first defined a set of suitable morphometric cell features, obtained in digitized Nissl-stained sections of the motor cortex of the horse, chimpanzee, and crab-eating macaque.

Metallothioneins and the central nervous system: from a deregulation in neurodegenerative diseases to the development of new therapeutic approaches.

Metallothioneins (MT) are a family of proteins actively involved in metal detoxification and storage as well as in prevention of free-radical damage. Changes in the levels of MT have been described in a number of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, prion protein disease, Binswanger type of subcortical vascular dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This suggests that MT functions might be more complex and vast than what was initially thought.

Effects of a copper-deficient diet on the biochemistry, neural morphology and behavior of aged mice.

Copper dyshomeostasis has been suggested as an aetiological risk factor for some neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. However, the precise mechanism at the base of this involvement is still obscure. In this work, we show the effects of a copper-deficient diet in aged CD1 mice and the influence of such a diet on: a) the concentration of various metal ions (aluminium, copper, iron, calcium, zinc) in the main organs and in different brain areas; b) the alteration of metallothioneins I-II and tyrosine hydroxylase immunopositivity in the brain; c) behavioural tests (open field, pole, predatory aggression, and habituation/dishabituation smell tests).