Neuroscience letters
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 2014
Expression profile of vesicular nucleotide transporter (VNUT, SLC17A9) in subpopulations of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons.
ATP plays an important role in the signal transduction between sensory neurons and satellite cells in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs). In primary cultured DRG neurons, ATP is known to be stored in lysosomes via a vesicular nucleotide transporter (VNUT), and to be released into the intercellular space through exocytosis. ⋯ On immunohistochemical analysis, VNUT was found in DRG neurons, and was predominantly expressed by the small- and medium-sized DRG ones, as judged upon visual inspection, and this was compatible with the finding that the number of VNUT-positive DRG neurons in IB4-positive cells was greater than that in NF200-positive ones. These results suggest that VNUT play a role in ATP accumulation in DRG neurons, especially in small- and medium-sized ones, and might be involved in ATP-mediated nociceptive signaling in DRGs.
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 2014
Ursolic acid reduces oxidative stress to alleviate early brain injury following experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Ursolic acid (UA), a well-known anti-oxidative reagent, has been reported to protect the brain against ischemic stoke. However, the potential role of UA in protecting against early brain injury (EBI) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) remains unclear. The present study aimed to examine the effect of UA against EBI following SAH, and to demonstrate whether the effect is associated with its powerful antioxidant property. ⋯ The endovascular puncture model was used to induce SAH and all the rats were subsequently sacrificed at 48h after SAH. The results show that UA administration could significantly attenuate EBI (including brain edema, blood-brain barrier disruption, neural cell apoptosis, and neurological deficient) after SAH in rats and up-regulate the antioxidative levels in the rat cerebral cortex, suggesting that administration of UA in experimental SAH rats could alleviate brain injury symptom, potentially through its powerful antioxidant property. Hence, we concluded that UA might be a novel therapeutic agent for EBI following SAH.
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 2014
The expression of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II in the dorsal horns of rats with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
The activation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) has been proposed as a key factor in chronic pain development. This study therefore aimed to investigate the expression of CaMKII in the dorsal horn in a rat model of early phase diabetes mellitus (DM) types 1 and 2. Sprague-Dawley rats were used. ⋯ No difference in IB4 expression was observed between the groups. These results suggest a potential role for CaMKII in diabetic neuropathy development. Inhibition of CaMKII signaling pathways should be further explored as a potential treatment target in painful diabetic neuropathy.
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Neuroscience letters · Aug 2014
Cathodal transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) improves motor unit recruitment in healthy subjects.
Transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) is a new promising technique for modulating spinal cord function in humans. However, its effects on corticospinal pathways and lower motorneuron excitability are poorly understood. We studied the effects of tsDCS on motor unit recruitment by evaluating changes in motor unit number (MUNE) and peripheral silent period (PSP) after sham (s-tsDCS), anodal (a-tsDCS) and cathodal (c-tsDCS) tsDCS applied either over the cervical or the lower thoracic spinal cord in healthy subjects. ⋯ At the same time, c-tsDCS dampened PSP respect to sham and anodal conditions (p<0.0001). Interestingly, also thoracic c-tsDCS significantly improved motor unit recruitment compared with both s-tsDCS and a-tsDCS (APB: F(4,99)=20.1, p<0.0001; ADM: F(4,99)=16.6, p<0.0001). Our data in healthy subjects suggest that tsDCS, possibly also through supraspinal effects, could provide a novel therapeutic tool in managing several pathological conditions characterized by reduced motor unit recruitment, such as stroke and spinal cord injuries.
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Neuroscience letters · Aug 2014
Plasma glucocorticoids differentially modulate phasic and tonic GABA inhibition during early postnatal development in rat spinal lamina II.
Nociceptive processing is tuned by GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition in the spinal cord dorsal horn that undergoes postnatal maturation in rodents. These GABAergic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) are modulated by 3α5α-reduced steroids during early postnatal development in spinal cord lamina II. Thus an enhanced phasic inhibition is present in neonates and decreases over time. ⋯ In contrast, GABAA tonic inhibition progressively increased during maturation, without any difference among strains. In conclusion, we show that both phasic and tonic GABAergic inhibitions undergo postnatal maturation in lamina II. Moreover spinal production of 3α5α-reduced steroids that presumably derive from plasma CORT is correlated to spinal GABAA phasic (but not tonic) inhibition and to mechanical nociceptive thresholds.