Abstract Combined oral contraceptive pill contains ethinyl estradiol and a synthetic progestin, which prevent ovulation by suppressing the release of gonadotropins resulting in inhibition ovarian follicles’ development. Although advantageous birth control, impact on learning memory is limited necessitating this study its effect spatial learning, hippocampal CA3 microstructure. Thirty two female...

A long-standing question in neurobiology is whether astrocytes respond to the neuronal release of neurotransmitters in vivo. To address this question, acutely isolated hippocampal slices were loaded with the calcium-sensitive dye Calcium Green-1 and the responses of the astrocytes to electrical stimulation of the Schaffer collaterals were monitored by confocal microscopy. To confirm that the re...

Motoneuron loss and reactive astrocytosis are pathological hallmarks of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a paralytic neurodegenerative disease that can be triggered by mutations in Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1). Dysfunctional astrocytes contribute to ALS pathogenesis, inducing motoneuron damage and accelerating disease progression. However, it is unknown whether ALS progression is assoc...

Median neurofilament and glial fibrillary acidic protein concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid of 18 infants with posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation were 20-200 times higher than control values. S-100 protein in cerebrospinal fluid was four times higher than control values. Glial fibrillary acidic protein concentrations correlated with death or disability and with parenchymal lesions b...

Astrocytes are capable of regulated release of messenger molecules. Astrocytes cultured from new born rodent brain express a variety of classical presynaptic proteins. We investigated the question whether the capability to express synaptic proteins in culture was a feature only of immature astrocytes, and whether these proteins were also expressed by astrocytes in situ. Experiments were perform...

The activation of hepatic stellate cells is the conversion of quiescent cells into proliferative, contractile, and fibrogenic myofibroblasts. The alpha-smooth muscle actin is a well known marker of hepatic stellate cells activation. On the other hand, the Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein expression is a key step in the astrocytes differentiation and constitutes the hallmark response of astrocyte...

OBJECTIVE To examine the changes of glial fibrillary acidic protein in the hippocampus after whole brain irradiation of adult rats. METHODS Forty-one male Sprague-Dawley rats (180-220 g weight and 6-8 weeks) were divided into the 9 irradiation subgroups, sham, and control groups. Their whole brain was irradiated by a single dose of 2, 10, and 30 Gy. At one day, one week, and one month after i...

The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a glial-specific intermediate filament protein, which is expressed in astrocytes in the central nervous system, as well as in astrocytoma cell lines. To investigate the function of GFAP, we have studied the human astrocytoma cell line, U251, which constitutively expresses GFAP and vimentin in the same 10-nm filaments. These cells respond to neurons ...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have demonstrated that glial cells play an important role in the generation and maintenance of neuropathic pain. Activated glial cells produce numerous mediators such as proinflammatory cytokines that facilitate neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity. Similarly, bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis shares many characteristics of neuropathic pain. However, r...