Background: The failure of regeneration after spinal cord injury (SCI) has been attributed to axonal demyelination and neuronal death. Cellular replacement and white matter regeneration are both necessary for SCI repair. In this study, we evaluated the co-transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC) and embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived motor neurons (ESMN) on contused SCI. Methods: OEC...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are among the most common motor neuron diseases to afflict the human population. A deficiency of the survival of motor neuron (SMN) protein causes SMA and is also reported to be an exacerbating factor in the development of ALS. However, pathways linking the two diseases have yet to be defined and it is not clear precisely how...

The survival of developing motor neurons depends on factors secreted from skeletal muscles and from cells within the central nervous system. Although several members of the nerve growth factor protein family [neurotrophins (NTs)] are able to maintain developing rat motor neurons in vitro, only the brain-derived neurotrophic factor has been shown to have significant effects on the survival of mo...

zinc is a substance that regulates neural excitability by binding whit sodium channel and potassium channel. the efficiency of free zinc ion, make down the neural survival rate, reduced the peak amplitude of na+ and make depolarization na channel, increased the peak amplitude of transition outward k+ currents and delayed rectifier. also it is an effective blocker of one subtype of tetrodoxine (...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most common hereditary motor neuron disease in children and young adults is caused by mutations in the telomeric survival motor neuron (SMN1) gene. The human genome, in contrast to mouse, contains a second SMN gene (SMN2) which codes for a gene product which is alternatively spliced at the C-terminus, but also gives rise to low levels of full-length SMN protei...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord, brain stem, and motor cortex. Mutations in superoxide dismutase (SOD1) are associated with familial ALS and lead to SOD1 protein misfolding and aggregation. Here we show that the molecular chaperone, HSJ1 (DNAJB2), mutations in which cause distal her...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive death of cortical and spinal motor neurons, for which there is no effective treatment. Using a cell-based assay for compounds capable of preventing motor neuron cell death in vitro, a collection of approximately 40,000 low-molecular-weight compounds was screened to identify potential small-mol...

Zinc is a substance that regulates neural excitability by binding whit sodium channel and potassium channel. The efficiency of free zinc ion, make down the neural survival rate, reduced the peak amplitude of Na+ and make depolarization Na channel, increased the peak amplitude of transition outward k+ currents and delayed rectifier. Also it is an effective blocker of one subtype of tetrodoxine (...

objective(s) motor deficit and neuron degeneration is seen after nerve transection. the aim of this study is to determine whether a poled polyvinelidene fluoride (pvdf) tube with other supportive strategies can protect the neuronal morphology and motor function after sciatic nerve transaction in rats. materials and methods after transection of the left sciatic nerve in 60 male wistar rats (200-...