Heptanol and 18 beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (18 beta GA) block gap junctions, but have other actions on transmitter release that have not been characterised. This study investigates the prejunctional and postjunctional effects of these compounds in guinea pig and mouse vas deferens using intracellular electrophysiological recording and confocal Ca(2+) imaging of sympathetic nerve terminals. In mic...

The importance of glial cells in the generation and maintenance of neuropathic pain is becoming widely accepted. We examined the role of glial-specific gap junctions in nociception in the rat trigeminal ganglion in nerve-injured and -uninjured states. The connexin 43 (Cx43) gap-junction subunit was found to be confined to the satellite glial cells (SGCs) that tightly envelop primary sensory neu...

The 43-kD growth-associated protein (GAP-43) is a major protein kinase C (PKC) substrate of growing axons, and of developing nerve terminals and glial cells. It is a highly hydrophilic protein associated with the cortical cytoskeleton and membranes. In neurons it is rapidly transported from the cell body to growth cones and nerve terminals, where it accumulates. To define the role of GAP-43 in ...

Nerve regeneration was followed in 15 median and 1 ulnar nerve of eight Macaca fascicularis monkeys by serial electrophysiological assessments over a period of three and a half years. Nerve gaps of 5 mm at the wrist were bridged by collagen-based nerve guides, nerve autografts, or direct suture repairs. Thenar muscle reinnervation occurred between 50 and 70 d for all groups, indicating axonal e...

Recently it has been demonstrated that the growth-associated protein GAP-43 is not confined to neurons but is also expressed by certain central nervous system glial cells in tissue culture and in vivo. This study has extended these observations to the major class of glial cells in the peripheral nervous system, Schwann cells. Using immunohistochemical techniques, we show that GAP-43 immunoreact...

conclusions the results of this study showed that the meticulous microsurgical nerve repair, which was performed using the vein tubulization induced significantly better sciatic nerve regeneration. however, the addition of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell to vein conduit failed to promote any significant changes in regeneration outcome. results all animals tolerated the surgical procedures and...

Brain development is composed of several processes, which are chronologically and mechanistically overlapping each other. However, the process of the earliest neural circuit formation in the rostral brain is less understood compared with other processes in brain development, in part because of the lack of appropriate molecular markers. Accordingly, the identification of molecular markers for ne...