Activation of microglia commonly occurs in response to a wide variety of pathological stimuli including trauma, axotomy, ischemia, and degeneration in the CNS. In the retina, prolonged or high-intensity exposure to visible light leads to photoreceptor cell apoptosis. In such a light-reared retina, we found that activated microglia invade the degenerating photoreceptor layer and alter expression...

OBJECTIVE Blood neurotrophins, such as the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, are considered to be of great importance in mediating the benefits of physical exercise. In this study, the effect of acute strength exercise and the involvement of small versus large muscle mass on the levels of plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor were evaluated in healthy individuals. METHODS The concentric s...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) supports hippocampal, cortical and basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, which lose function in Alzheimer's disease. In Alzheimer's tissues such as hippocampus and parietal cortex, brain- derived neurotrophic factor mRNA is decreased three- to four-fold compared with controls. However, the molecular mechanism of the down-regulation of BDNF in Alzheimer's ...

Methods. Retinal ischemia was induced in Lewis albino rats by increasing intraocular pressure to 160 mm Hg for 90 minutes. The agents or buffer controls were injected intravitreally at different times, either before or after the ischemic insult, and the postischemic survival time was either 7 or 14 days. The degree of retinal damage was assessed from plastic-embedded sections by cytologic analy...

Among members of the neurotrophin family, brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) stands out for its ability to regulate synaptic plasticity and various cognitive functions of the brain. A Medline search with the terms ‘BDNF’ and ‘synaptic’ yields more than 700 research articles, mostly published in the last 7 years. Given that neurotrophins were initially defined as secretory factors that prom...

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1. Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Medicine of Porto, University of Porto, Portugal; IBMCInstituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Portugal., 2. Molecular Neurobiology Unit, University of Bristol, CSSB, Dorothy Hodgkin Building, Bristol, UK, 3. Department of Urology, Hospital de S. João, Porto, Portugal; IBMCInstituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Unive...