Sex related differences in cognitive deficits: Disrupted Arc/Arg3.1 signaling in an HIV model.

Combined and highly active anti-retroviral therapies (cART) have transitioned HIV into a more chronic disease. Roughly half of people living with HIV (PLWH) still experience neurocognitive disorders, albeit less severely than in the pre-cART era. Sex-related effects on memory/cognition remain understudied, although the percentage of PLWH that are female has increased.

Novel voltage-dependent Cl channels in striatal medium spiny neurons are unrelated to ClC-1 or other known Ca-induced Cl channel/transporter types.

Intracellular chloride (Cl) homeostasis is a critical regulator of neuronal excitability. Voltage-dependent neuronal Cl channels remain the least understood in terms of their role as a source of Cl entry controlling excitability. We have shown recently that striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) express a functional Cl conducting ClC-1-like channel with properties similar but not identical to native ClC-1 channels (Yarotskyy, V.

Sustained fentanyl exposure inhibits neuronal activity in dissociated striatal neuronal-glial cocultures through actions independent of opioid receptors.

Besides having high potency and efficacy at the µ-opioid (MOR) and other opioid receptor types, fentanyl has some affinity for some adrenergic receptor types, which may underlie its unique pathophysiological differences from typical opioids. To better understand the unique actions of fentanyl, we assessed the extent to which fentanyl alters striatal medium spiny neuron (MSN) activity via opioid receptors or α-adrenoceptors in dopamine type 1 or type 2 receptor (D1 or D2)-expressing MSNs. In neuronal and mixed-glial cocultures from the striatum, acute fentanyl (100 nM) exposure decreased the frequency of spontaneous action potentials.

Morphine potentiates neurodegenerative effects of HIV-1 Tat through actions at μ-opioid receptor-expressing glia.

Individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus-1 who abuse opiates can have a higher incidence of virus-associated neuropathology. Human immunodeficiency virus does not infect neurons, but viral proteins such as transactivator of transcription and glycoprotein 120, originating from infected glia, are neurotoxic. Moreover, functional changes in glial cells that enhance inflammation and reduce trophic support are increasingly implicated in human immunodeficiency virus neuropathology.

Fractalkine/CX3CL1 protects striatal neurons from synergistic morphine and HIV-1 Tat-induced dendritic losses and death.

Background: Fractalkine/CX3CL1 and its cognate receptor CX3CR1 are abundantly expressed in the CNS. Fractalkine is an unusual C-X3-C motif chemokine that is important in neuron-microglial communication, a co-receptor for HIV infection, and can be neuroprotective. To assess the effects of fractalkine on opiate-HIV interactive neurotoxicity, wild-type murine striatal neurons were co-cultured with mixed glia from the striata of wild-type or Cx3cr1 knockout mice ± HIV-1 Tat and/or morphine.

Endothelin-2 in ovarian follicle rupture.

The ovulatory process is activated by a surge of LH, a pituitary gonadotropin, which initiates a cohort of dramatic changes in biochemical, physical, and gene expression in the ovary, leading to follicle rupture and oocyte release. Here we report the identification of endothelin-2 (EDN2) as a last moment-trigger of follicle rupture. In the ovary, EDN2 is exclusively and transiently expressed in the granulosa cells immediately before ovulation.