Browsing by Subject "Neurotrophic factor"

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    Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor expression in the brain of adult zebrafish. Danio rerio
    (Murcia : F. Hernández, 2008) Lucini, C.; Maruccio, L.; Patruno, M.; Tafuri, S.; Staibano, S.; Mascarello, F.; Castaldo, L.
    In mammals, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a growth factor of many neuronal populations in the central, peripheral and autonomous nervous system. GDNF may also function as a morphogen during kidney development and may regulate spermatogonial differentiation. GDNF has been characterised in zebrafish embryos and was demonstrated experimentally to be critical for the development of the enteric nervous system. However, in adult zebrafish, no data exist regarding GDNF expression and localisation in the brain and in different organs. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of GDNF in the brain of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Transcripts of GDNF mRNA were observed in brain extracts by a standard RT-PCR. The presence of the protein in the brain homogenates was confirmed by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and Western blotting analysis. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization experiments showed that GDNF protein and mRNA were localised in various nuclei of the telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, cerebellum and medulla oblongata of the zebrafish brain. In conclusion, this study showed that the expression of GDNF was not restricted to developmental periods but it seems that this factor might be involved in adult zebrafish brain physiology, as observed in mammals.
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    Neurotrophic factor-like effect of FPF1070 on septal cholinergic neurons after transections of fimbria-fornix in the rat brain
    (Murcia : F. Hernández, 1992) Akai, F.; Hiruma, S.; Sato, T.; Iwamoto, N.; Fujimoto, M.; Ioku, M.; Hashimoto, S.
    FPF1070 is an aqueous protein-free solution, which consists of 85% free amino acids and 15% small peptides. Our previous study showed a potent neurotrophic factor-like activity in cultured embryonic cells of dorsal root ganglia. The present study investigated whether FPF1070 regenerated the cholinergic cells in the media1 septal nucleus after axonal transections by cutting the fimbria-fornix. Fimbrial transections reduced the number of septal cholinergic cells by 30 + 3.6%, compared with the number on contralateral sides at 4 weeks. Intrapretioneal injections of FPF1070 caused 49.9 * 6.3% of the cholinergic neurons to survive. Furthermore, the cell sizes of the cholinergic neurons were significantly different: 16.4 + 4.2 pm, 14.3 I3. 8 pm in FPF1070 treatment and vehicle treatment, respectively. These results indicated that FPF1070 prevents the degeneration and atrophy of impaired cholinergic neurons by systemic administration.
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    Role of skeletal muscle in the epigenetic shaping of motor neuron fate choices
    (Murcia : F. Hernández, 2009) Angka, Heather E.; Kablar, Boris
    We study the role of muscle in the epigenetic (N.B., we use this term with the broader and more integrative meaning) shaping of developing motor neuron fate choices employing an approach based on mouse mutagenesis and pathology. The developmental role of skeletal muscle is studied in the whole mouse embryo by knocking out myogenic regulatory factors Myf5 and MyoD, to obtain an embryo without any skeletal musculature (Rudnicki et al., 1993). Our goal is to find muscle-provided trigger(s) of motor neuron death relevant to motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The reason for this kind of thinking is the fact that a complete absence of lower and upper motor neurons, which is the pathological definition of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is only achieved in the complete absence of the muscle (Kablar and Rudnicki, 1999). Mutual embryonic inductive interactions between different tissue types and organs, between individual cell types belonging to the same or different lineages, and between various kinds of molecular players, are only some examples of the complex machinery that operates to connect genotype and phenotype. So far, our studies indicate that some aspects of this interplay can indeed be studied as proposed in this review article, suggesting the role of skeletal muscle in the epigenetic shaping of motor neuron fate choices. We will therefore continue this investigation as outlined to gain more insight into the nature of the epigenetic events that lead to the emergent properties of a phenotype.