Severe mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II) is a progressive lysosomal storage disease caused by mutations in the IDS gene, leading to a deficiency in the iduronate-2-sulfatase enzyme that is involved in heparan sulphate and dermatan sulphate catabolism. In constitutive form, MPS II is a multi-system disease characterised by progressive neurocognitive decline, severe skeletal abnormalities an...

In contrast to conventional opioid analgesics, antagonists acting at the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptors are capable of suppressing pain-related phenomena in chronic pain models while having little or no effect on acute nociception. One of the few clinically used NMDA receptor antagonists, memantine, differs from prototypic antagonists with psychotomimetic activity su...

Peter H. Tonner, MD* BACKGROUND: The IV anesthetic, etomidate, has structural and clinical similarities to specific 2-adrenoceptor agonists such as dexmedetomidine. We investigated whether the sedative effects of etomidate may be mediated by 2-adrenoceptors. METHODS: The anesthetic potency of etomidate (1–20 M) was determined in Xenopus laevis tadpoles in the absence and presence of the specifi...

The antinociceptive effect of six novel synthetic pyrazolines (3-ethoxymethyl-5-ethoxycarbonyl-1H-pyrazole (Pz 1) and its corresponding 1-substituted methyl (Pz 2) and phenyl (Pz 3) analogues, and 3-(1-ethoxyethyl)-5-ethoxycarbonyl-1H-pyrazole (Pz 4) and its corresponding 1-substituted methyl (Pz 5) and phenyl (Pz 6) analogues) was evaluated by the tail immersion test in adult male albino mice....

This study aimed to investigate the effects of enriched environment (EE) on promoting angiogenesis and neurobehavioral function in an animal model of chronic hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury. HI brain damage was induced in seven day-old CD-1® mice by unilateral carotid artery ligation and exposure to hypoxia (8% O2 for 90 min). At six weeks of age, the mice were randomly assigned to either EE...

Ischemic stroke is caused by the interruption of cerebral blood flow that leads to brain damage with long-term sensorimotor deficits. Stem cell transplantation may recover functional deficit by replacing damaged brain. In this study, we attempted to test whether the human neural stem cells (NSCs) can improve the outcome in the rat brain with intravenous injection and also determine the migratio...

Recovery of complex neural function after injury to the adult CNS is limited by minimal spontaneous axonal regeneration and/or sprouting from remaining pathways. In contrast, the developing CNS displays spontaneous reorganization following lesion, in which uninjured axons can develop new projections to appropriate target neurons and provide partial recovery of complex behaviours. Similar pathwa...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Though newer antiepileptic drugs are considered safer than conventional antiepileptics, the effects of lamotrigine, levetiracetam and topiramate on neurobehavioural functions are yet to be established. This study evaluated neurobehavioural parameters and oxidative stress markers in brain tissue of rats treated with lamotrigine, levetiracetam and topiramate compared to so...

BACKGROUND Patients with ALS may be exposed to variable degrees of chronic intermittent hypoxia. However, all previous experimental studies on the effects of hypoxia in ALS have only used a sustained hypoxia model and it is possible that chronic intermittent hypoxia exerts effects via a different molecular mechanism from that of sustained hypoxia. No study has yet shown that hypoxia (either chr...

Mice expressing the human Cu(2+)/Zn(2+) superoxide dismutase 1 (hSOD1) gene mutation (hSOD1(G93A); G93A) were exposed to methylmercury (MeHg) at concentrations that did not cause overt motor dysfunction. We hypothesized that low concentrations of MeHg could hasten development of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-like phenotype in G93A mice. MeHg (1 or 3 ppm/day in drinking water) concentr...