The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
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The loss of auditory hair cells triggers repair responses within the population of nonsensory supporting cells. When hair cells are irreversibly lost from the mammalian cochlea, supporting cells expand to fill the resulting lesions in the sensory epithelium, an initial repair process that is dependent on gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC). In the chicken cochlea (the basilar papilla or BP), dying hair cells are extruded from the epithelium and supporting cells expand to fill the lesions and then replace hair cells via mitotic and/or conversion mechanisms. ⋯ When GJIC was inhibited during the aminoglycoside damage paradigm, the epithelial repair response halted. Dying hair cells were retained within the sensory epithelium and supporting cells remained unexpanded. These observations suggest that repair of the auditory epithelium shares common mechanisms across vertebrate species and emphasize the importance of functional gap junctions in maintaining a homeostatic environment permissive for subsequent hair cell regeneration.
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Oligodendrocytes form myelin during postnatal development and then maintain a functional myelin sheath throughout adult life. While many regulators of developmental myelination have been identified, the signal transduction mechanisms that regulate oligodendrocyte functions in adulthood are not well understood. The extracellular signal-regulated kinases-1 and -2 (ERK1/2), downstream mediators of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), have emerged as prominent regulators of myelin formation. ⋯ Conditional ablation of Fibroblast Growth Factor receptors-1 and -2 (FGFR1/2) in oligodendrocytes also resulted in downregulation of myelin gene expression and development of axonal degeneration as the mice aged. Further, the level of the key transcription factor myelin gene regulatory factor (Myrf) was downregulated or upregulated in mice with genetic loss or gain of ERK1/2 function, respectively. Together, our studies demonstrate that ERK1/2-MAPK signaling is required for the long-term maintenance of myelin and axonal integrity in the adult CNS and suggest that FGFR1/2 and Myrf may, in part, contribute to signaling upstream and downstream of ERK1/2 in maintaining these oligodendrocyte functions during adulthood.
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Rheb1 is an immediate early gene that functions to activate mammalian target of rapamycin (mTor) selectively in complex 1 (mTORC1). We have demonstrated previously that Rheb1 is essential for myelination in the CNS using a Nestin-Cre driver line that deletes Rheb1 in all neural cell lineages, and recent studies using oligodendrocyte-specific CNP-Cre have suggested a preferential role for mTORC1 is myelination in the spinal cord. Here, we examine the role of Rheb1/mTORC1 in mouse oligodendrocyte lineage using separate Cre drivers for oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) including Olig1-Cre and Olig2-Cre as well as differentiated and mature oligodendrocytes including CNP-Cre and Tmem10-Cre. ⋯ Loss of Rheb1 in OPCs or neural progenitors does not affect astrocyte formation in gray and white matter, as indicated by the pan-astrocyte marker Aldh1L1. We conclude that OPC-intrinsic mTORC1 activity mediated by Rheb1 is critical for differentiation of OPCs to mature oligodendrocytes, but that mature oligodendrocytes do not require Rheb1 to make myelin or maintain it in the adult brain. These studies reveal mechanisms that may be relevant for both developmental myelination and impaired remyelination in myelin disease.
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The discovery of the size and complexity of the human microbiome has resulted in an ongoing reevaluation of many concepts of health and disease, including diseases affecting the CNS. A growing body of preclinical literature has demonstrated bidirectional signaling between the brain and the gut microbiome, involving multiple neurocrine and endocrine signaling mechanisms. ⋯ Ongoing large-scale population-based studies of the gut microbiome and brain imaging studies looking at the effect of gut microbiome modulation on brain responses to emotion-related stimuli are seeking to validate these speculations. This article is a summary of emerging topics covered in a symposium and is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the subject.
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The abuse of synthetic psychoactive substances known as "designer drugs," or "new psychoactive substances" (NPS), is increasing at an alarming rate. NPS are purchased as alternatives to traditional illicit drugs of abuse and are manufactured to circumvent laws regulating the sale and use of controlled substances. ⋯ Despite the popularity of NPS, there is a paucity of scientific data about these drugs. Here we provide a brief up-to-date review describing the mechanisms of action and neurobiological effects of synthetic cathinones and cannabinoids.