Emerging research implicates the participation of spinal dorsal horn (SDH) neurons and astrocytes in nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain. However, the crosstalk between spinal astrocytes and neurons in neuropathic pain is not clear. Using a lumbar 5 (L5) spinal nerve ligation (SNL) pain model, we testified our hypothesis that SDH neurons and astrocytes reciprocally regulate each other to main...

Gap junctions are intercellular channels that connect the interiors of coupled cells. We sought to determine the extent to which malignant glioma cells form gap junction channels with astrocytes from either adult human brain or rat forebrain. The astrocytic gap junction protein, connexin 43 (Cx43), was identified in immunoreactive plaques at areas of cell-to-cell contact between cocultured glio...

Differentiation of bone marrow (BM) cells into astroglia expressing the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been reported in vitro and after intracerebral or systemic BM transplantation. In contrast, recent data suggest that astrocytic differentiation does not occur from BM-derived cells in vivo. Using transgenic mice that express the enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the co...

STUDY DESIGN In vivo experiments using a rat model of painful facet joint distraction. OBJECTIVE To determine whether tension of the facet capsular ligament is requisite for producing pain for joint loading and to define effects on spinal glial activation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Cervical facet joint loading may initiate pain for certain conditions. While facet capsule tension has been p...

1995;133:61–5. 11. Rosengren LE, Ahlsen G, Belfrage M, Gillberg C, Haglid KG, Hamberger A. A sensitive ELISA for glial fibrillary acidic protein: application in CSF of children. J Neurosci Methods 1992;44:113–9. 12. Ehlers S, Kyllerman M, Rosengren L. Glial fibrillary acidic protein in the cerebrospinal fluid of children investigated for encephalopathy. Neuropediatrics 1994;25:134–9. 13. Doteva...

Cervical nerve root injury commonly leads to radicular pain. Normal sensation relies on regulation of extracellular glutamate in the spinal cord by glutamate transporters. The goal of this study was to define the temporal response of spinal glutamate transporters (glial glutamate transporter 1 [GLT-1], glutamate-aspartate transporter [GLAST], and excitatory amino acid carrier 1) following nerve...

Background Plasma biomarkers have potential to capture features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related pathophysiology, but less is known about how they might associate with an imaging measure cerebral small vessel (cSVD). The present study examined independent and combined associations plasma markers AD pathology (Aβ42, P-tau181), axonal damage (neurofilament light [NfL]), astrocytic activation (...

Clinical and preclinical studies indicate that adaptations in corticostriatal neurotransmission significantly contribute to heroin relapse vulnerability. In animal models, self-administration extinction produce cellular both neurons astrocytes within the nucleus accumbens (NA) core are required for cue-induced seeking. Specifically, decreased glutamate clearance reduced association of perisynap...

Neural stem cells (NSC) self-renew and generate specialized cell types. There are reports indicating that Notch and Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) signaling are involved in cell determination of NSC, either preventing differentiation or promoting astrocytic fate. In this work, we aimed to compare the astrocytogenic effect of activated Notch with that induced by LIF. To this end, rat cerebral ...