Lateral Motor Column specific expression of Sonic Hedgehog contributes to maintenance and scaling of pMN progenitor cell populations during oligodendrogenesis.

Motor neurons (MNs) and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) emerge sequentially from the pMN precursor domain during spinal cord development. MNs diversify into muscle specific subtypes and settle in stereotypic locations in the ventral horns. In contrast, OPCs are mobile and appear to evenly populate the parenchyma.

Quantitative Prediction of the Location of Carotid Bifurcation and Neurovascular Structures in the Carotid Region: A Cross-Sectional Cadaveric Study.

Introduction: The carotid region is encountered in vascular and neurological surgery and carries a potential for vascular and cranial nerve trauma. The carotid bifurcation is an especially important landmark and difficult to predict based on currently established landmarks. This study is a detailed analysis of the carotid region and proposes a novel methodology to predict the height of the bifurcation.

Dopaminergic co-transmission with sonic hedgehog inhibits abnormal involuntary movements in models of Parkinson's disease and L-Dopa induced dyskinesia.

L-Dopa induced dyskinesia (LID) is a debilitating side effect of dopamine replacement therapy for Parkinson's Disease. The mechanistic underpinnings of LID remain obscure. Here we report that diminished sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling in the basal ganglia caused by the degeneration of midbrain dopamine neurons facilitates the formation and expression of LID.

Diminished Ventral Oligodendrocyte Precursor Generation Results in the Subsequent Over-production of Dorsal Oligodendrocyte Precursors of Aberrant Morphology and Function.

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) arise sequentially first from a ventral and then from a dorsal precursor domain at the end of neurogenesis during spinal cord development. Whether the sequential production of OPCs is of physiological significance has not been examined. Here we show that ablating Shh signaling from nascent ventricular zone derivatives and partially from the floor plate results in a severe diminishment of ventral derived OPCs but normal numbers of motor neurons in the postnatal spinal cord.

Sonic Hedgehog is expressed by hilar mossy cells and regulates cellular survival and neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is a multifunctional signaling protein governing pattern formation, proliferation and cell survival during embryogenesis. In the adult brain, Shh has neurotrophic function and is implicated in hippocampal neurogenesis but the cellular source of Shh in the hippocampus remains ill defined. Here, we utilize a gene expression tracer allele of Shh (Shh-nlacZ) which allowed the identification of a subpopulation of hilar neurons known as mossy cells (MCs) as a prominent and dynamic source of Shh within the dentate gyrus.

A Non-Cell-Autonomous Role of BEC-1/BECN1/Beclin1 in Coordinating Cell-Cycle Progression and Stem Cell Proliferation during Germline Development.

The decision of stem cells to proliferate and differentiate is finely controlled. The Caenorhabditis elegans germline provides a tractable system for studying the mechanisms that control stem cell proliferation and homeostasis [1-4]. Autophagy is a conserved cellular recycling process crucial for cellular homeostasis in many different contexts [5], but its function in germline stem cell proliferation remains poorly understood.

[Objective evaluation of various extracardiac factors of cerebral origin in extrasystole].

Partial integral rheography was used to study the volume velocity of brain blood supply (BBS) in 39 flying operators aged 20-39 years during continuously increasing bicycle ergometer testing. In good exercise tolerance, the dynamics of cerebral blood flow was found to be biphasic: 1) a rapid increase in BBS volume velocity at the first stages of exercise and 2) its subsequent stabilization. Stabilization of cerebral blood flow at 25% levels of blood minute volume was achieved by tonic tension autoregulation of the intracerebral arteries and adequate venous return.