Inner Structure of the Lateral Geniculate Complex of Adult and Newborn .

is a unique Rodentia species with several distinctive physiological traits, such as precocial development and remarkable regenerative abilities. These characteristics render increasingly valuable for regenerative and developmental physiology studies. Despite this, the structure and postnatal development of the central nervous system in have been inadequately explored, with only sporadic data available.

Transient expression of heavy-chain neurofilaments in the perigeniculate nucleus of cats.

The perigeniculate nucleus (PGN) is a visual part of the thalamic reticular nucleus modulating the information transfer between the lateral geniculate nucleus and the visual cortex. This study focused on the postnatal development of the PGN in cats, using the SMI-32 antibody, which recognizes non-phosphorylated heavy-chain neurofilaments responsible for neuronal structural maturation and is also used as a marker for motion processing, or Y, stream. We questioned whether transient neuronal populations exist in the PGN and can they possibly be related to the Y processing stream.

Activation of the spinal and brainstem locomotor networks during free treadmill stepping in rats lacking dopamine transporter.

Dopamine is extremely important for the multiple functions of the brain and spinal cord including locomotor behavior. Extracellular dopamine levels are controlled by the membrane dopamine transporter (DAT), and animals lacking DAT (DAT-KO) are characterized by hyperdopaminergia and several alterations of locomotion including hyperactivity. Neuronal mechanisms of such altered locomotor behavior are still not fully understood.

Impaired visceral pain-related functions of the midbrain periaqueductal gray in rats with colitis.

The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) is a key structure involved in the supraspinal modulation of pain. Previous studies have reported the association of gut inflammation-triggered chronic abdominal pain with structural and neuronal alterations within the PAG. However, whether PAG-executed visceral nociception processing and descending modulation are altered in gut pathology is not known.

SMI-32 labeling in Cajal-Retzius cells of feline primary visual cortex.

Cajal-Retzius cells are one of the transient elements of the developing cerebral cortex. These cells express some characteristic molecules. One of them, heavy-chain neurofilaments, participating in the construction of the mature cerebral networks, are believed to be a specific feature of the human's Cajal-Retzius cells.

Heterochrony of postnatal accumulation of nonphosphorylated heavy-chain neurofilament by neurons of the cat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.

Accumulation of the heavy-chain neurofilaments reflects the maturation status of neuronal structures. The spatial distribution and postnatal developmental dynamic of neurons expressing nonphosphorylated heavy-chain neurofilaments (labeled by SMI-32 antibody) were analyzed in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) of the cat. Both interlaminar and intralaminar differences in the dynamic of SMI-32 staining were observed.

Early Postnatal Development of the Lamination in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus A-Layers in Cats.

The early postnatal development of the A-layers of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) was investigated in kittens aged 0-34 days by immunohistochemistry for the selective marker for neuronal differentiation (NeuN protein) and parvalbumin. We report two new facts about the LGNd development. First, there is a transient stratification of NeuN labelling in layer A, and to a lesser extent in layer A1, in kittens aged 0 and 4 days.

CAS: Cell Annotation Software - Research on Neuronal Tissue Has Never Been so Transparent.

CAS (Cell Annotation Software) is a novel tool for analysis of microscopic images and selection of the cell soma or nucleus, depending on the research objectives in medicine, biology, bioinformatics, etc. It replaces time-consuming and tiresome manual analysis of single images not only with automatic methods for object segmentation based on the Statistical Dominance Algorithm, but also semi-automatic tools for object selection within a marked region of interest. For each image, a broad set of object parameters is computed, including shape features and optical and topographic characteristics, thus giving additional insight into data.