Functional rescue of excitatory synaptic transmission in the developing hippocampus in Fmr1-KO mouse.

Pharmaceutical treatments are being developed to correct specific behavioural and morphological aspects of neurodevelopmental disorders such as mental retardation. Fragile X syndrome is an X-linked mental retardation with abnormal dendritic protrusions from neurons in the brain. Increased signalling via excitatory metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) pathways is hypothesised to contribute to this disorder.

Adhesion-mediated signal transduction in human articular chondrocytes: the influence of biomaterial chemistry and tenascin-C.

Chondrocyte 'dedifferentiation' involves the switching of the cell phenotype to one that no longer secretes extracellular matrix found in normal cartilage and occurs frequently during chondrocyte expansion in culture. It is also characterized by the differential expression of receptors and intracellular proteins that are involved in signal transduction pathways, including those associated with cell shape and actin microfilament organization. The objective of this study was to examine the modulation of chondrocyte phenotype by cultivation on polymer substrates containing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG).