AIM To evaluate the effects of NMDA receptor antagonist memantine and pancaspase inhibitor Q-VD-Oph in combination or alone in experimental spinal cord injury. MATERIAL AND METHODS 45 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups. Spinal cord injury was created with the clip compression technique. The drugs were administered either alone of in combination to the subjects according to...

The purpose of this study is to examine the cellular and molecular events coincident with muscle denervation, especially the regenerative changes seen following muscle denervation, the role of satellite cells in this process, and the possibility of apoptotic degeneration of myonuclei as a mechanism of myonuclei loss during muscle denervation atrophy. Myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform expression ...

INTRODUCTION To determine whether keeping the heart empty and beating is an effective technique to preserve hypertrophied pig hearts, and to investigate the underlying mechanism. METHODS Ten Bama Miniature pigs with hypertrophied hearts were divided into 2 groups (n = 5 in each group). One group underwent normothermic normokalemic simultaneous perfusion (NNSP). The other group was subjected t...

Organotypic cultures of neuronal tissue were first introduced by Hogue in 1947 (1,2) and have constituted a major breakthrough in the field of neuroscience. Since then, the technique was developed further and currently there are many different ways to prepare organotypic cultures. The method presented here was adapted from the one described by Stoppini et al. for the preparation of the slices a...

OBJECTIVE To compare the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test and the terminal uridine nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay for assessment of sperm DNA damage. DESIGN Prospective comparative experimental study. SETTING Andrology laboratory. PATIENT(S) Twenty subfertile men with unexplained infertility. INTERVENTION(S) Sperm DNA damage was determined in the same semen samples using the TUNEL...

Seizure causes neuronal cell loss in both animal models and human epilepsy. To determine the contribution of apoptotic mechanisms to seizure-induced neuronal cell death, rat brains were examined for the occurrence of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive nuclei after pilocarpine-induced seizure. Numerous TUNEL-positive cells were observed througho...