PURPOSE To determine the effects of panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) on the levels of cytochrome oxidase (CO), Zif268, synaptophysin, and growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) in the primary visual cortex of adult monkeys. METHODS Ten adult primates underwent unilateral argon laser PRP with instrument settings at 300 to 500 microns spot diameter, 200 to 500 mW power intensity, and 0.1 to 0.2...

A novel membrane protein from rat brain synaptic vesicles with an apparent 29,000 Mr (p29) was characterized. Using monospecific polyclonal antibodies, the distribution of p29 was studied in a variety of tissues by light and electron microscopy and immunoblot analysis. Within the nervous system, p29 was present in virtually all nerve terminals. It was selectively associated with small synaptic ...

SAMP8 is a strain of mice with accelerated senescence. These mice have recently been the focus of attention as they show several alterations that have also been described in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. The number of dendritic spines, spine plasticity, and morphology are basic to memory formation. In AD, the density of dendritic spines is severely decreased. We studied memory alterations ...

The formation of neural synapses according to the development and growth of neurite were usually studied with various markers. Of these markers, synaptophysin is a kind of synaptic protein located in the synaptic vesicle of neuron or neuroendocrine cell known to be distributed consistently in all neural synapses. The purpose of this study was to investigate differential expression levels and pa...

Various retinal injuries induced by ocular hypertension have been shown to induce plastic changes in retinal synapses, but the potential regulatory mechanism of synaptic plasticity after retinal injury was still unclear. A rat model of acute ocular hypertension was established by injecting saline intravitreally for an hour, and elevating the intraocular pressure to 14.63 kPa (110 mmHg). Western...

Synaptophysin immunostaining of areas of spinal gray matter occupied by radiation-induced intraspinal Schwann cells revealed a loss of immunoreactivity from the neuropil. In contrast, synaptophysin immunoreactivity was preserved on the somata and proximal dendrites of motor neurons. The present study extended these observations to the ultrastructural level and confirmed the absence not only of ...

Brain myosin V is a member of a widely distributed class of unconventional myosins that may be of central importance to organelle trafficking in all eukaryotic cells. Molecular constituents that target this molecular motor to organelles have not been previously identified. Using a combination of immunopurification, extraction, cross-linking, and coprecipitation assays, we demonstrate that the t...