How a neuron becomes polarized remains an outstanding question. Here, we report that selection of the future axon among neurites of a cultured hippocampal neuron requires the activity of growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase), as well as atypical protein kinase C (aPKC). The PI 3-kinase activity, highly localized to the tip of the newly specified axo...

An understanding of sleep requires the identification of distinct cellular circuits that mediate the action of specific sleep:wake-regulating molecules, but such analysis has been very limited. We identify here a circuit that underlies the wake-promoting effects of octopamine in Drosophila. Using MARCM, we identified the ASM cells in the medial protocerebrum as the wake-promoting octopaminergic...

Hippocampal pyramidal neurons express three major voltage-dependent potassium currents, IA, ID, and IK. During hippocampal development, IA, the rapidly activating and inactivating transient potassium current, is detected soon after pyramidal neurons can be morphologically identified. Appearance of IA in developing pyramidal neurons is dependent on contact with cocultured astroglial cells; cultu...

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that plays a pivotal role during development and in the homeostasis of the adult nervous systems. However, mechanisms that regulate neuronal apoptosis are not well defined. Here, we report that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protects cortical neurons against apoptosis induced by camptothecin or serum deprivation and activates the extracellu...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons. There is no effective treatment or drug against ALS, and the precise mechanisms leading to the selective loss of motor neurons are still unknown. We investigated the effect of a Chinese prescription, Wen-Pi-Tang, on the ALS model mouse SOD1(G93A). Although the or...

Biochemical analysis of muscarinic- and metabotropic-glutamate receptor stimulated phosphoinositide (PI) turnover in rat cortical preparations during the first three weeks of postnatal development indicates the existence of a transiently increased accumulation of labeled inositol polyphosphates during the first postnatal week (Gonzales and Crews, 1985; Dudek et al., 1989). We now report for fir...

SIFamide receptor (SIFR) is a Drosophila G protein-coupled receptor for the neuropeptide SIFamide (SIFa). Although the sequence and spatial expression of SIFa are evolutionarily conserved among insect species, the physiological function of SIFa/SIFR signaling remains elusive. Here, we provide genetic evidence that SIFa and SIFR promote sleep in Drosophila. Either genetic ablation of SIFa-expres...

in this paper, at first we mention to some results related to pi and vertex co-pi indices and then we introduce the edge versions of co-pi indices. then, we obtain some properties about these new indices.

Current understanding of IGF-I-mediated neuroprotection implies the activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI-3K), which leads to the activation of Akt/Protein Kinase B. In non-neuronal cells, Akt phosphorylates and activates the transcription factor CREB, implicated in the transcription of the anti-apoptotic bcl-2 gene. This paper further analyses the anti-apoptotic IGF-I action in neuro...

44 Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a major diabetic complication. We 45 previously showed that hyperglycemia induces the appearance of proinsulin 46 (PI)-producing bone marrow-derived cells (PI-BMDCs), which fuse with 47 dorsal root ganglion neurons, causing apoptosis, nerve dysfunction and DPN. 48 In this study, we have devised a strategy to ablate PI-BMDCs in mice in vivo. 49 Use of t...