Several lines of evidence have suggested that the glutamatergic system in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays an important role in the conditioned rewarding effect of drugs of abuse. In addition, it is recognized that extracellular glutamate is rapidly removed from the synaptic cleft by Na+-dependent glutamate transporters in neurons and glial cells, thereby maintaining physiological levels of gl...

The general linear model (glm) provides a general framework for a large set of models whose common goal is to explain or predict a quantitative dependent variable by a set of independent variables which can be categorical of quantitative. The glm encompasses techniques such as Student’s t test, simple and multiple linear regression, analysis of variance, and covariance analysis. The glm is adeq...

AIM Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) induced by chronic hypoperfusion is a common cause of vascular dementia. The aim of this study was to determine whether the protective effect of carnosine on white matter lesion after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion through suppressing astrocyte activation. METHODS Adult male mice (C57BL/6 strain) were subjected to permanent occlusion of the ri...

Glutamate/Aspartate transporters cotransport three Na(+) and one H(+) ions with the substrate and countertransport one K(+) ion. The binding sites for the substrate and two Na(+) ions have been observed in the crystal structure of the archeal homolog Glt(Ph), while the binding site for the third Na(+) ion has been proposed from computational studies and confirmed by experiments. Here we perform...

Transient global ischemia, as with cardiac arrest, causes loss of CA1 hippocampal neurons 2-4 d later, whereas nearby dentate gyrus (DG) neurons are relatively resistant. Whether differential astrocyte vulnerability in ischemic injury contributes to CA1 neuronal death is uncertain. Here, we find that CA1 astrocytes are more sensitive to ischemia than DG astrocytes. In rats subjected to transien...

The choice of glucose-lowering therapy (GLT) has expanded to include 11 different classes in addition to insulin. Since the 2008 Food and Drug Administration guidance for industry and mandate of demonstrating cardiovascular (CV) safety prior to any new drug approval, there were several trials primarily conducted to establish that goal. Some had neutral effects, while there were positively benef...

Decreased basal glutamate levels are observed in the rat nucleus accumbens (NA) core following cocaine self-administration. This disruption of glutamate homeostasis arises from a reduction in the export of glutamate via system x(C)(-) and is accompanied by a decrease in expression of xCT, the catalytic subunit of system x(C)(-). A second hallmark of disrupted homeostasis is a decrease in expres...

This paper deals with an innovative experimental study performed on glued-laminated timber (GLT) beams, machined and made three tropical hardwood species. Defect-free beams were obtained by combining alternatively the lamellas taken from densest to least dense species, have TRIO DUO specimens. Then, static 3-point bending tests these assess their mechanical properties reliability. Finally, shea...

Objective(s): Glutamate is the most widespread neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and has several functions as a neuromodulator in the brain although in pathological conditions like ischemia it is excessively released causing cell death. Under physiological conditions, glutamate is rapidly scavenged from the synaptic cleft by excitatory amino-acid transport...

In rat frontal cortex, extracellular levels of glutamate are raised by the anti-psychotic drug clozapine. We have recently shown that a significant reduction in the levels of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 may be one of the mechanisms responsible for this elevation. Here we studied whether GLT-1 down-regulation induced by chronic clozapine treatment is associated with changes in the expression...