Kynurenic acid (KYNA), a neuroactive metabolite of tryptophan degradation, acts as an endogenous N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist. Elevated levels of KYNA have been observed in pregnant women after viral infections and are considered to play a role in neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the consequences of KYNA-induced NMDAR blockade in human cortical development still remain...

Microglia are increasingly implicated in brain pathology, particularly neurodegenerative disease, with many genes implicated in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and motor neuron disease expressed in microglia. There is, therefore, a need for authentic, efficient in vitro models to study human microglial pathological mechanisms. Microglia originate from the yolk sac as MYB-independent macrophages, migr...

Background: The role of nitric oxide (NO) of endothelial or neuronal origins in cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injuries are far from being settled, extending from being important to not having any role at all.  Objective: To investigate the role of NO of endothelial and neuronal origins in ischemia/reperfusion injuries in focal cerebral ischemia, L-NAME, a non selective NO synthase inhibitor...

Background It is important to find a predictor for the course of Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome for better planning of treatment. Renal cortical echogenicity in ultrasonography has been postulated as a marker for the course of renal disease. The present study aimed at evaluating the relationship between renal cortical echogenicity and the course...

Background: Assisted fertilization procedures are a currently widespread practice to regulate reproduction in humans and animals. The arising question is why the human being manipulating gametes to generate new individuals, if we do not understand yet the molecular mechanism of fertilization?. Successful completion of fertilization in mammals is dependent on three membrane fusion events: 1. the...

Change in transmitting time of impulses along axons is traditionally attributed to two parameters: the myelin formation and the diameter of neurite, both rising during the postnatal development. In the previous study, we showed that conduction velocity of the fibers projecting from the thalamus to the layer IV of the somatosensory (barrel) cortex increases as a function of age. However, the con...

Topographical evaluation of aphasic brain lesions can enhance our knowledge of cognitive physiology and plasticity. This prospective study was conducted on 100 stroke-afflicted patients with aphasia admitted in Valie-Asr Hospital (Khorasan, Iran) in 2003. Topography of infarct lesions was detected by a neurologist based on the map of brain vascular territories in CT-scan. Aphasic lesions catego...

background and aims. all-on-four technique involves the use of tilted implants to allow for shorter cantilevers. this finite element analysis aimed at investigating the amount and distribution of stress in maxillary bone surrounding the implants with all-on-four vs. frequently used method with six implants technique using different numbers and inclination angles. materials and methods. a 3d ede...

BACKGROUND rhFSH and rhActA have been used in mammalian ovarian follicle culture systems for activation of follicular growth in vitro and suggested to be responsible for primordial follicle survival through MAPK and Akt pathways. The aim of our study was to determine the effects of rhFSH and rhActA on Akt, pAkt, MAPK1/3 and pMAPK1/3 protein levels in bovine ovarian cortical strips cultured in v...

PURPOSE The goal of this study was to determine the role of Src family kinases (SFKs) in the development of lens cataract. This question was particularly significant, because these tyrosine kinases mediate the stress pathways known to lead to cataract formation. The experiments were focused on whether the inhibition of SFK activity suppresses the formation of lens opacities. METHODS A whole-l...