IGF-I, GDNF, and other neurotrophic factors, when applied at the time of injury, can protect postnatal motor neurons from slow glutamate injury in organotypic spinal cord. However, in human spinal cord diseases, motor neuron injury is already established when treatment could begin. We tested whether neurotrophic factors can protect already-injured motor neurons, and whether combinations of factors can further lengthen the therapeutic time window. Our data show that during a 7--8 week process of slow neurodegeneration either IGF-I or GDNF treatment, though delayed up to 4 weeks, still allowed substantial rescue of already injured motor neurons. However, the combination of both factors additively provided better neuroprotection than either factor alone, even after a 4-week delay. This proof of principle is relevant to the potential of IGF-I and GDNF as therapy for acquired disorders affecting motor neurons.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00001756-200108080-00048 | DOI Listing |
BMC Neurosci
January 2025
Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by protein aggregates mostly consisting of misfolded alpha-synuclein (αSyn). Progressive degeneration of midbrain dopaminergic neurons (mDANs) and nigrostriatal projections results in severe motor symptoms. While the preferential loss of mDANs has not been fully understood yet, the cell type-specific vulnerability has been linked to a unique intracellular milieu, influenced by dopamine metabolism, high demand for mitochondrial activity, and increased level of oxidative stress (OS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Death Differ
January 2025
Translational Research Centre of Orthopedics, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200080, China.
Ferroptosis is one of the cell death programs occurring after spinal cord injury (SCI) and is driven by iron-dependent phospholipid peroxidation. However, little is known about its underlying regulation mechanism. The present study demonstrated that lipid peroxidation was promoted in patients with SCI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNPJ Parkinsons Dis
January 2025
Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
The motor symptoms of Parkinson's Disease are attributed to the degeneration of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Previous work in the MCI-Park mouse model has suggested that the loss of somatodendritic dopamine transmission predicts the development of motor deficits. In the current study, brain slices from MCI-Park mice were used to investigate dopamine signaling in the SNc prior to and through the onset of movement deficits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Physiol
January 2025
Department of Physiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Epilepsia
January 2025
Atalanta Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Objective: Gain-of-function variants in the KCNT1 gene, which encodes a sodium-activated potassium ion channel, drive severe early onset developmental epileptic encephalopathies including epilepsy of infancy with migrating focal seizures and sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy. No therapy provides more than sporadic or incremental improvement. Here, we report suppression of seizures in a genetic mouse model of KCNT1 epilepsy by reducing Kcnt1 transcript with divalent small interfering RNA (siRNA), an emerging variant of oligonucleotide technology developed for the central nervous system.
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