Agmatine is an endogenous polyamine produced from l-arginine and degraded by agmatinase (AGMAT). Studies in humans and animals have shown that agmatine has neuroprotective, anxiolytic, and antidepressant-like actions. However, little is known about the role of AGMAT in the action of agmatine or in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPre-stroke exercise conditioning reduces neurovascular injury and improves functional outcomes after stroke. The goal of this study was to explore if post-stroke exercise conditioning (PostE) reduced brain injury and whether it was associated with the regulation of gluconeogenesis. Adult rats received 2 h of middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion, followed by 24 h of reperfusion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring duration spaceflight, or after their return to earth, astronauts have often suffered from gait instability and cerebellar ataxia. Here, we use a mouse model of hindlimb unloading (HU) to explore a mechanism of how reduced hindlimb burden may contribute to motor deficits. The results showed that these mice which have experienced HU for 2 weeks exhibit a rapid accumulation of formaldehyde in the gastrocnemius muscle and fastigial nucleus of cerebellum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation can improve cognition in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD transgenic model mice. To ameliorate the discomfort that patients with AD suffer after several blood extractions, a non-invasive method for detecting urine CoQ10 levels needs to be established.
Methods: Here, we developed a new technique of fluorescence spectrophotometry with ethyl cyanoacetate (FS-ECA), on the basis of the principle that the chemical derivative obtained from the interaction between CoQ10 and ECA was detected by a fluorescence detector at λ = 450/515 nm.
Gaseous formaldehyde is an organic small molecule formed in the early stages of earth's evolution. Although toxic in high concentrations, formaldehyde plays an important role in cellular metabolism and, unexpectedly, is found even in the healthy brain. However, its pathophysiological functions in the brain are unknown.
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