Transcriptional factors and signaling molecules are responsible for regionalization of the central nervous system. In the early stage of neural development, Pax6 is expressed in the prosencephalon, while En1 and Pax2 are expressed in the mesencephalon. Here, we misexpressed Pax6 in the mesencephalon to elucidate the mechanism of the di-mesencephalic boundary formation. Histological analysis, ex...

BACKGROUND As structural brain abnormalities have been reported in infantile autism, the aim of this study was to determine whether such findings also exist in Asperger Syndrome (AS). METHODS The diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome was based on the criteria in ICD-10 and DSM-IV. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed with a 1.5 T imager. T2-weighted axial and coronal slices and T1-we...

Prospective midbrain and cerebellum formation are coordinated by FGF ligands produced by the isthmic organizer. Previous studies have suggested that midbrain and cerebellum development require different levels of FGF signaling. However, little is known about the extent to which specific regions within these two parts of the brain differ in their requirement for FGF signaling during embryogenesi...

We show that intranigral lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection, which provokes specific degeneration of DA neurons, induced caspase-3 activation in the rat ventral mesencephalon, which was mostly associated with glial cells. In contrast, nigral DA neurons exhibited AIF nuclear translocation in response to LPS. A significant decrease of the Bcl-2/Bax ratio in nigral tissue after LPS injection was o...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Dilated Virchow-Robin spaces are an emerging neuroimaging biomarker, but their assessment on MRI needs standardization. METHODS We developed a rating method for dilated Virchow-Robin spaces in 4 brain regions (centrum semiovale, basal ganglia, hippocampus, and mesencephalon) and tested its reliability in a total of 125 MRI scans from 2 population-based studies. Six inve...

In Joubert syndrome, the "molar tooth" sign can be associated with several additional supra- and infratentorial malformations. Here we report on 3 subjects (2 siblings, 8-14 years of age) with Joubert syndrome, showing an abnormal thick bulging of the anterior profile of the mesencephalon causing a complete obliteration of the interpeduncular fossa. DTI revealed that the abnormal tissue consist...