Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) supports motor neuron survival in vitro and in mouse models of motor neuron degeneration and was considered a candidate for the muscle-derived neurotrophic activity that regulates motor neuron survival during development. However, CNTF expression is very low in the embryo, and CNTF gene mutations in mice or human do not result in notable abnormalities of the developing nervous system. We have generated and directly compared mice containing null mutations in the genes encoding CNTF or its receptor (CNTFR alpha). Unlike mice lacking CNTF, mice lacking CNTFR alpha die perinatally and display severe motor neuron deficits. Thus, CNTFR alpha is critical for the developing nervous system, most likely by serving as a receptor for a second, developmentally important, CNTF-like ligand.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(95)90172-8 | DOI Listing |
J Proteomics
December 2024
School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand; Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia; Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch 8014, New Zealand; Biomolecular Interaction Centre, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand; Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Auckland 1010, New Zealand. Electronic address:
Extreme heterogeneity exists in the hypersensitive stress response exhibited by the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Because stress hypersensitivity can impact dystrophic phenotypes, this research aimed to understand the peripheral pathways driving this inter-individual variability. Male and female mdx mice were phenotypically stratified into "stress-resistant" or "stress-sensitive" groups based on their response to two laboratory stressors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Sci (Weinh)
December 2024
State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, National Biomedical Imaging Center and Institute of Molecular Medicine, College of Future Technology, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Dopamine (DA) in the striatum is vital for motor and cognitive behaviors. Midbrain dopaminergic neurons generate both tonic and phasic action potential (AP) firing patterns in behavior mice. Besides AP numbers, whether and how different AP firing patterns per se modulate DA release remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
December 2024
BioMag Laboratory, HUS Diagnostic Center, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki and Aalto University School of Science, Helsinki, Finland.
A novel variant of paired-associative stimulation (PAS) consisting of high-frequency peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) and high-intensity transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) above the motor cortex, called high-PAS, can lead to improved motor function in patients with incomplete spinal cord injury. In PAS, the interstimulus interval (ISI) between the PNS and TMS pulses plays a significant role in the location of the intended effect of the induced plastic changes. While conventional PAS protocols (single TMS pulse often applied with intensity close to resting motor threshold, and single PNS pulse) usually require precisely defined ISIs, high-PAS can induce plasticity at a wide range of ISIs and also in spite of small ISI errors, which is helpful in clinical settings where precise ISI determination can be challenging.
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December 2024
Neurogenetics Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating, uniformly lethal degenerative disease of motor neurons, presenting with relentlessly progressive muscle atrophy and weakness. More than fifty genes carrying causative or disease-modifying variants have been identified since the 1990s, when the first ALS-associated variant in the gene SOD1 was discovered. The most commonly mutated ALS genes in the European populations include the C9orf72, SOD1, TARDBP and FUS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStem Cell Reports
December 2024
Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 433 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, 500 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Electronic address:
Heparan sulfate (HS) is an anionic polysaccharide generated by all animal cells, but our understanding of its roles in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) self-renewal and differentiation is limited. We derived HS-deficient hPSCs by disrupting the EXT1 glycosyltransferase. These EXT1 hPSCs maintain self-renewal and pluripotency under standard culture conditions that contain high levels of basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF), a requirement for sufficient bFGF signaling in the engineered cells.
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