The postnatal development of direct thalamocortical projections from the zona incerta of the ventral thalamus to the whisker representation area of the rat primary somatosensory cortex was investigated. Cytoarchitectonic analysis based on Nissl staining, cytochrome oxidase histochemistry and immunohistochemistry for glutamic acid decarboxylase, GABA, parvalbumin and calbindin D28K revealed that...

Calcium (Ca2+) is vital for multiple processes in the body, and maintenance of the electrolyte concentration is required for everyday physiological function. In the kidney, and more specifically, in the late distal convoluted tubule and connecting tubule, the fine-tuning of Ca2+ reabsorption from the pro-urine takes place. Here, Ca2+ enters the epithelial cell via the transient receptor potenti...

Calbindin-D28k (calbindin) is a member of the superfamily of calcium-binding proteins implicated in the regulation of intracellular calcium. In the mature brain, calbindin is widely expressed in neurons of the forebrain and the hindbrain, and in the telencephalon calbindin-like immunoreactivity is particularly strongly expressed by medium-sized neurons of the striatum and by certain other neuro...

A recent study (Roberts, 1993) of saccular hair cells from grass frogs (Rana pipiens) has suggested a mechanism by which the unusually high concentrations of calcium-binding proteins found in certain sensory receptors and neurons, particularly in the auditory system, can influence short-range intracellular calcium signaling. In frog saccular hair cells, the mechanism operates within arrays of c...

The effect of retinal ablation on qualitative and quantitative changes of calbindin D28k and GABA expression in the contralateral optic tectum was studied in young chicks. Fifteen days old chicks had unilateral retinal ablation and after 7 or 15 days, calbindin expression was analyzed by Western blot and immunocytochemistry. Neuronal degeneration was followed by the amino-cupric silver techniqu...

AIMS Prion diseases are generally characterized by pronounced neuronal loss. In particular, a subpopulation of inhibitory neurones, characterized by the expression of the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV), is selectively destroyed early in the course of human and experimental prion diseases. By contrast, nerve cells expressing calbindin D28 k (CB), another calcium-binding protein, as wel...

Studies have shown that estrogen has neuroprotective effects on the nigrostriatal system. The present study established a Parkinson's disease model in C57BL/6 mice by intraperitoneal injection of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrapyridine. The mice were subjected to 17β estradiol injection into the lateral ventricle. Immunofluorescence double staining showed that estrogen increased tyrosine hydrox...