Bcl-2 is a major regulator of programmed cell death, a critical process in shaping the developing nervous system. To assess whether Bcl-2 is involved in regulating neuronal survival and in mediating the neuroprotective action of neurotrophic factors, we generated Bcl-2-deficient mice. At birth, the number of facial motoneurons, sensory, and sympathetic neurons was not significantly changed, and...

Neuregulins (NRGs) are expressed in spinal cord motor neurons and accumulate at the neuromuscular junction where they may increase the synthesis of postsynaptic acetylcholine receptors and voltage-gated sodium channels. We demonstrate here that NRG expression is selectively increased in rat ventral spinal cord neurons at approximately the time that nerve-muscle synapses first form. A rapid incr...

........................................................................................................12 1. LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................14 1.1 NEUROTROPHIC FACTORS ....................................................................................14 1.2 THE GDNF FAMILY OF NEUROTROPHIC FACTORS ...................................

Royal jelly (RJ) is known to have a variety of biological activities toward various types of cells and tissues of animal models, but nothing is known about its effect on brain functions. Hence, we examined the effect of oral administration of RJ on the mRNA expression of various neurotrophic factors, their receptors, and neural cell markers in the mouse brain. Our results revealed that RJ selec...

Extracellular application of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) to developing neuromuscular junctions in Xenopus nerve-muscle cultures resulted in an increase in the frequency of spontaneous synaptic currents (SSCs) and in the amplitude of nerve-evoked synaptic currents. Analyses of the amplitude and time course of the SSCs suggest that these effects...

background: the primary phase of traumatic spinal cord injury (sci) starts by a complex local inflammatory reaction such as secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines from microglia and injured cells that substantially contribute to exacerbating pathogenic events in secondary phase. valproic acid (vpa) is a histone deacetylase inhibitor. acetylation of histones is critical to cellular inflammatory...

The neurotrophin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, prevents motoneuron cell death during the normal development of the chick embryo. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a ligand for the low-affinity NGF receptor, p75, and for the high-affinity neurotrophin receptor, trkB. If motoneurons respond directly to brain-derived neurotrophic factor then they must possess at least one, and possibly bo...

[Purpose] The aim of the present study was to investigate effects of skilled reach training with affected forelimb and treadmill exercise on the expression of neurotrophic factor following ischemia-induced brain injury in rats. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups randomly: namely, the control sacrified 2 weeks after surgery, skilled reach training w...