The Fawn-Hooded rat (FHR), a model for primary pulmonary hypertension, shows an unexplained hypersensitivity to airway hypoxia. Because pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs) appear to express a functional oxygen-sensing mechanism and an extensive sensory innervation, possible changes in this system should be taken into consideration. In the present study a comparative analysis of NEBs and the...

The growth factors neurotrophin 4 (NT4) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are expressed in the developing skin, activate the trkB tyrosine kinase receptor, and influence the development and survival of specific types of sensory afferents. Whether each factor is capable of regulating the same or overlapping populations of cutaneous afferents during development is unknown. A previous s...

Studies of the regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation at the neuromuscular junction during development and following denervation suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is regulated by neuronal innervation of muscle. The finding that agrin, a neuronally derived extracellular matrix protein also induces tyrosine phosphorylation of the nicotinic receptor, sug...

Heart failure is characterized by the loss of sympathetic innervation to the ventricles, contributing to impaired cardiac function and arrhythmogenesis. We hypothesized that renal denervation (RDx) would reverse this loss. Male Wistar rats underwent myocardial infarction (MI) or sham surgery and progressed into heart failure for 4 wk before receiving bilateral RDx or sham RDx. After additional ...

BACKGROUND The response of the oesophagus to refluxed gastric contents is likely to depend on intact neural mechanisms in the oesophageal mucosa. The epithelial innervation has not been systematically evaluated in health or reflux disease. AIMS To study oesophageal epithelial innervation in controls, and also inflamed and non-inflamed mucosa in patients with reflux oesophagitis and healed oes...

Cancer is often associated with cachexia, cardiovascular symptoms and autonomic dysregulation. We tested whether extracardiac cancer directly affects the innervation of left ventricular myocardium. Mice injected with Lewis lung carcinoma cells (tumor group, TG) or PBS (control group, CG) were analyzed after 21 days. Cardiac function (echocardiography), serum levels of TNF-α and Il-6 (ELISA), st...

The serotonergic and cholinergic neurotransmitter systems interact during processes of learning and memory. Although the effects of aging on cholinergic innervation has been extensively investigated, it is not clear how the serotonergic innervation is altered during aging. The hippocampal formation, a target area of both cholinergic and serotonergic fibers, is a crucial structure for learning a...

The autonomic nervous system (cANS) is essential for proper heart function, and complications such as heart failure, arrhythmias and even sudden cardiac death are associated with an altered cANS function. A changed innervation state may underlie (part of) the atrial and ventricular arrhythmias observed after myocardial infarction. In other cardiac diseases, such as congenital heart disease, aut...

The electroreceptors located in the bill skin of the platypus are modified secretory glands. The electroreceptive nerve terminals form bare endings in close proximity to the duct of these glands. In this study, we describe the autonomic innervation of the glands and a separate specialized autonomic innervation of the epidermal portion of the glandular duct. A range of immunohistochemical labels...

Trigeminal sensory innervation of the cornea is critical for protection and synthesis of neuropeptides required for normal vision. Little is known about axon guidance during mammalian corneal innervation. In contrast to the chick where a pericorneal nerve ring forms via Npn/Sema signaling, mouse corneal axons project directly into the presumptive cornea without initial formation of an analogous...