Neural tube defects (NTDs) are severe congenital malformations that result from incomplete neurulation of the central nervous system. While collapsin response mediator protein 4 (CRMP-4) plays a critical role in the regulation of neurulation, information regarding the temporal expression of CRMP-4 during embryonic development of the spinal cord has yet to be reported. We therefore investigated ...

If the lateral olfactory tract (LOT) of the golden hamster is transected in the first week of postnatal life, axons will grow back through the cut and reinnervate the terminal regions. Functional recovery occurs only when the terminal regions are reinnervated. The experiments reported here tested the hypothesis that reinnervation is due to neogenesis: the continued growth of newly formed axons ...

Protoporphyrin-protoheme hybrid hemoglobins (Hb), in which the protohemes (Fe) in either the alpha- or beta-subunits were substituted with protoporphyrins IX (PP) alpha(PP)2 beta(Fe)2 and alpha(Fe)2 beta(PP)2 have been prepared. The structural and functional properties of these hybrid Hbs were investigated by measuring oxygen equilibrium curves and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The...

Neurons in the nucleus laminaris (NL) of birds act as coincidence detectors and encode interaural time difference to localize the sound source in the azimuth plane. GABAergic transmission in a number of CNS nuclei including the NL is subject to a dual modulation by presynaptic GABA(B) receptors (GABA(B)Rs) and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Here, using in vitro whole-cell patch clam...

The sensory neurons of the embryonic mouse trigeminal ganglion are supported in culture by different neurotrophins at successive stages of development. Initially the neurons survive in response to BDNF and NT3 and later switch to becoming NGF-dependent (Buchman, V. I. and Davies, A. M. (1993), Development 118, 989-1001). To determine if this in vitro switch in neurotrophin responsiveness is phy...

Neurogenesis begins with the closure of the neural tube around mid gestation and continues in the rat for about two weeks postnatally. Therefore, we investigated the role of neuronatin, a novel cDNA that we cloned from neonatal rat brain (Joseph et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 201 (1994) 1227-1234), in brain development. Further studies described in the present manuscript, lead to the i...

A monoclonal antibody, 4D7, obtained with embryonic rat brain as an immunogen, recognizes an epitope on 3 protein species of 150-160, 100-110, and 80 kDa, present in mouse and rat brain during the fetal period. Vital immunostaining of dissociated cultures of fetal forebrain indicates that the antigen is localized largely on the external plasma membrane of a subpopulation of neurites. Immunocyto...

High-accuracy age estimations of tsunami deposits are very important for tsunami deposit research because the recurrence interval and frequency of tsunami deposits allow us to assess the devastating impacts of tsunamis in a populated country such as Japan. The correlation of tsunami events between remote coastal areas further enables us to constrain tsunami scenarios and fault segmentation alon...