Increasing evidence indicates several roles for thrombin-like serine proteases and their cognate inhibitors (serpins) in normal development and/or pathology of the nervous system. In addition to its prominent role in thrombosis and/or hemostasis, thrombin inhibits neurite outgrowth in neuroblastoma and primary neuronal cells in vitro, prevents stellation of glial cells, and induces cell death i...

background and objective: evaluation of degenerative changes of motoneurons and their related synapses can be useful in understanding the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and their potential treatment. the present electron microscopic and immunohistochemical study investigates the axotomy-induced changes of adult spinal motoneurons up to 3 months following sciatic nerve transection. mat...

Gap junctional communication in the adult CNS plays an important role in the synchronization of neuronal activities. In vitro studies have shown evidence of electrotonic coupling through gap junctions between sympathetic preganglionic motoneurons and between somatic motoneurons in the neonatal and adult rat spinal cord. Electrotonic transmission of membrane oscillations might be an important me...

Background and Objective: Sciatic nerve transection is characterized by a rapid wave of motoneuron death associated with progressive synaptic lesions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long term synaptic changes. Materials and Methods: This basic study was carried out on paraffin- or resin-em...

introduction: appropriate thyroid hormone (th) levels are essential during the critical period of brain development, which is associated with the growth of axons and dendrites and synapse formation. in rats, oral motor circuits begin to reach to their adult pattern around 3 weeks after birth, the period in which alteration from sucking to biting and chewing occurs (weaning time). trigeminal mot...

During development, motoneurons experience significant changes in their size and in the number and strength of connections that they receive, which requires adaptive changes in their passive and active electrical properties. Even after reaching maturity, motoneurons continue to adjust their intrinsic excitability and synaptic activity for proper functioning of the sensorimotor circuit in accord...

This is the first of a series of 4 papers in which we describe the regulation of excitatory amino acid receptors on embryonic chick motoneurons dissociated from the lateral motor column and maintained in cell culture. Techniques are described for labeling embryonic chick motoneurons in vivo with Lucifer Yellow or fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugates of wheat germ agglutinin (Fl-WGA). We estima...

An unresolved mystery in the field of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is why a reduction of the ubiquitously expressed Smn protein causes defects mostly in motoneurons. We addressed the possibility that this restricted vulnerability stems from elevated Smn expression in motoneurons. To explore this, we established an ex vivo zebrafish culture system of GFP-marked motoneurons to quantitatively mea...

Introduction: Appropriate thyroid hormone (TH) levels are essential during the critical period of brain development, which is associated with the growth of axons and dendrites and synapse formation. In rats, oral motor circuits begin to reach to their adult pattern around 3 weeks after birth, the period in which alteration from sucking to biting and chewing occurs (weaning time). Trigeminal ...