Correlating gene expression with behavior at the single-cell level is difficult, largely because the small amount of available mRNA (<1 pg) degrades before it can be reverse transcribed into a more stable cDNA copy. This study tested the capacity for a novel acoustic microstreaming method ("micromixing"), which stirs fluid at microliter scales, to improve cDNA yields from reverse transcription ...

The complex biology of Parkinson's disease and the obscure mechanism of dopaminergic cell death in the course of the disease indicate that multiple intracellular pathways and numerous crucial elements contribute to the demise of these neurons. Therefore, multi-factorial approaches would more likely confer long-lasting survival and potentiate the biological function of dopamine neurons. We are p...

Prenatal exposure to infection has been linked to increased risk of neurodevelopmental brain disorders, and recent evidence implicates altered dopaminergic development in this association. However, since the relative risk size of prenatal infection appears relatively small with respect to long-term neuropsychiatric outcomes, it is likely that this prenatal insult interacts with other factors in...

Hereditary Parkinson's disease can be triggered by an autosomal dominant overdose of alpha-Synuclein (SNCA) or the autosomal recessive deficiency of PINK1. We recently showed that the combination of PINK1-knockout with overexpression of A53T-SNCA in double mutant (DM) mice potentiates phenotypes and reduces survival. Now we studied brain hemispheres of DM mice at age of 18 months in a hypothesi...

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate ultrasound-triggered effects of PEGylated liposomes-coupled microbubbles mediated gene transfer of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) plasmid (PLs-GDNF-MBs) on behavioral deficits and neuron loss in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods: The unloaded PLs-MBs were characterized for particle size, concentration an...

Various retinoid X receptor (RXR) agonists have recently been developed, and some of them have shown anti-tumor effects both in vivo and in vitro. However, there has been no report showing the effects of RXR agonists on Cushing's disease, which is caused by excessive ACTH secretion in a corticotroph tumor of the pituitary gland. Therefore, we examined the effects of synthetic RXR pan-agonists H...

Activation of dendritic cells (DCs) leads to cell maturation, which is accompanied by a regulated pattern of gene expression changes. Two significant and contradictory consequences of DC activation are that, although activation is necessary for maximal T-cell stimulation, it also leads to the initiation of gene expression that results ultimately in cell death. We have identified a gene, MINOR (...

CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling has been reported to regulate three essential processes for the establishment of neural networks in different neuronal systems: neuronal migration, cell positioning and axon wiring. However, it is not known whether it regulates the development of A9-A10 tyrosine hydroxylase positive (TH(+)) midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons. We report here that Cxcl12 is expressed in th...