in recent years, the development of neuroimaging techniques such as high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (mri), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri), positron emission tomography (pet), or single photon emission tomography (spect) has promoted the identification of structural and functional characteristics underlying mental disorders to a great extent. in anxiety disorders, recent...

PURPOSE To investigate early retinal changes in a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) transgenic mouse (tr029VEGF; rhodopsin promoter) with long-term damage that mimics nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) and mild proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). METHODS Rhodopsin and VEGF expression was assessed up to postnatal day (P)28. Vascular and retinal changes were charted at P...

Complete spinal transection in the mature nervous system is typically followed by minimal axonal repair, extensive motor paralysis and loss of sensory functions caudal to the injury. In contrast, the immature nervous system has greater capacity for repair, a phenomenon sometimes called the infant lesion effect. This study investigates spinal injuries early in development using the marsupial opo...

The structure of the human red blood cell membrane band 3 protein has been investigated by proteolysis of intact cells with papain. Papain cleaves the 35,000-dalton chymotryptic peptide (CH35) of band 3 into two integral fragments of Mr 7,500 (P7) and 28,000 (P28). The papain cleavage of CH35 causes inhibition of band 3-catalyzed Cl transport. The peptide P28 carries the band 3 carbohydrate and...

The nature of CR type 2 (CR2)-ligand interactions which leads to the activation of human B cells was analyzed by using synthetic peptides and CR2-positive cell lines. The third component of C (C3) supported the growth of human lymphoblastoid B cells in serum-free medium containing human transferrin. This effect was inhibited by an antibody to C3d (mAb 130) which specifically inhibits C3d bindin...

BACKGROUND It has been shown that γ-aminobutyric acid exerts excitatory actions on the immature brain due to the increased expression of Na(+)-K(+)-2Cl(-) cotransporter isoform 1. The authors sought to clarify whether midazolam, a γ-aminobutyric acid-mimetic hypnotic agent, causes neuronal excitation that can be blocked by bumetanide, a selective inhibitor of Na(+)-K(+)-2Cl(-) cotransporter iso...

Spinal cord trauma in the adult nervous system usually results in permanent loss of function below the injury level. The immature spinal cord has greater capacity for repair and can develop considerable functionality by adulthood. This study used the marsupial laboratory opossum Monodelphis domestica, which is born at a very early stage of neural development. Complete spinal cord transection wa...

Purpose Sigma 1 Receptor (Sig1R) is a novel therapeutic target in neurodegenerative diseases, including retinal disease. Sig1R-/- mice have late-onset retinal degeneration with ganglion cell loss that worsens under stress. Whether Sig1R plays a role in maintaining other retinal neurons is unknown, but was investigated here using rd10 mice, a model of severe photoreceptor degeneration. Methods...