Delivery of neurotrophic factors to the injured spinal cord has been shown to stimulate neuronal survival and regeneration. This indicates that a lack of sufficient trophic support is one factor contributing to the absence of spontaneous regeneration in the mammalian spinal cord. Regulation of the expression of neurotrophic factors and receptors after spinal cord injury has not been studied in ...

DHEA, together with DHEAS, is the most abundant steroid in the blood of young adult humans. Levels in humans decline with age and during certain types of illness or stress. We have found that DHEA(S) can prevent or reduce the neurotoxic actions in the hippocampus of the glutamate agonists N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) both in vitro and in vivo or alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazoleprop...

Effects of chronic ethanol exposure on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function were examined in hippocampal neurons. Rat hippocampal neurons grown in culture were chronically exposed to 100 mM ethanol to examine mechanisms that could underlie ethanol-induced changes in receptor function and excitotoxicity. NMDA-stimulated, but not kainic acid-stimulated, increases in intracellular calcium...