The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of long-term denervation on volumetric bone mineral density, and geometrical and mechanical properties of the humerus in turkeys. The experiment was conducted from d 22 after hatching until wk 17 of life. All experimental birds (male turkeys) were randomly divided into 2 weight-matched groups. The first group of turkeys served as the control g...

A prominent clinical feature of ALS is muscle weakness due to dysfunction, denervation and degeneration of motoneurons (MNs). While MN degeneration is a late stage event in the ALS mouse model, muscle denervation occurs significantly earlier in the disease. Strategies to prevent this early denervation may improve quality of life by maintaining muscle control and slowing disease progression. The...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate efficacy of denervation of the of the hip joint capsule (HJC), as a treatment of hip joint pain. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that HJC denervation will significantly reduce the number of sensory neurons innervating the capsule. STUDY DESIGN Denervation of the HJC from a medial or lateral approach was followed by retrograde tracing of sensory neurons innervating...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of ventral cardiac denervation in the incidence of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass surgery. METHODS Between September and November, 50 patients without history or previous diagnosis of atrial arrhythmia from the same institution presenting coronary heart disease with indication for coronary artery graft bypass surgery were enrolled in a prospe...

Progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons is the neuropathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). Symptoms of the disease can often be treated by DA D2 agonists and thus seem related to disinhibition of the indirect striatal pathway. However, there is no evidence that symptoms arise by low extracellular DA concentration or are associated with reduced D2 receptor binding. He...

Historically, the role of the carotid bodies in ventilatory control has been understated, but the current view suggests that the carotid bodies (1) provide a tonic, facilitory input to the respiratory network, (2) serve as the major site of peripheral O2 chemoreception and minor contributor to CO2/H(+) chemoreception, and (3) are required for ventilatory adaptation to high altitude. Each of the...

Sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) is increased in both patients and experimental animals with renal failure. The kidney is a richly innervated organ and has both efferent and afferent nerves. Renal denervation shows protective effects against renal failure in both animals and humans. The underlying mechanisms include a decrease in blood pressure, a decrease in renal efferent SNA, a decrease in c...

Terminal Schwann cells overlying the neuromuscular junction sprout elaborate processes upon muscle denervation. We show here that motor axons use these processes as guides/substrates during regeneration; in so doing, they escape the confines of endplates and grow between endplates to generate polyneuronal innervation. We also show that Schwann cells in the nerve provide similar guidance. Axons ...

Denervation deeply affects muscle structure and function, the alterations being different in slow and fast muscles. Because the effects of denervation on fast muscles are still controversial, and high-throughput studies on gene expression in denervated muscles are lacking, we studied gene expression during atrophy progression following denervation in mouse tibialis anterior (TA). The sciatic ne...

Aging muscle exhibits a progressive decline in mass and strength, known as sarcopenia, and a decrease in the adaptive response to contractile activity. The molecular mechanisms mediating this reduced plasticity have yet to be elucidated. The purposes of this study were 1) to determine whether denervation-induced muscle disuse would increase the expression of autophagy genes and 2) to examine wh...