introduction: deficiency in mu opioid receptor signaling pathway is partially responsible for morphine tolerance. this deficiency may be due to uncoupling of opioid receptors and related g proteins, which in turn, it may be caused by their structural changes such as phosphorylation or by decreasing their abundance. in this study, we tried to investigate the effect of chronic administration of m...

Injuries to peripheral nerves are frequent in serious traumas and spinal cord injuries. In addition to surgical approaches, other interventions, such as cell transplantation, should be considered to keep the muscles in good condition until the axons regenerate. In this study, E14.5 rat embryonic spinal cord fetal cells and cultured neural progenitor cells from different spinal cord segments wer...

BACKGROUND Functional aspects of mast cell-neuronal interactions remain poorly understood. Mast cell activation and degranulation can result in the release of powerful pro-inflammatory mediators such as histamine and cytokines. Cerebral dural mast cells have been proposed to modulate meningeal nociceptor activity and be involved in migraine pathophysiology. Little is known about the functional ...

KAIZAWA, J. and TAKAHASHI, I. Motor Cell Columns in Rat Lumbar Spinal Cord. Tohoku J. exp. Med., 1970, 101(1), 25-34•\The distribution pattern of motoneurons in the rat's lumbar spinal cord which send axons to the sciatic nerve was studied by means of staining degenerated motor cells with toluidine blue after relevant roots or nerves had been sectioned or crushed. The columnar arrangement of th...

BACKGROUND Indirect evidence supports a role of spinal cholinergic neurons in tonically reducing response to noxious mechanical stimulation and in effecting analgesia from alpha2-adrenergic agonists. This study directly assessed the role of cholinergic neurons in regulating the level of mechanical allodynia and in participating in the antiallodynic effect of the clinically used alpha2-adrenergi...

Myeloablative preconditioning using irradiation is the most commonly used technique to generate rodents having chimeric bone marrow, employed for the study of bone marrow-derived cell accumulation in the healthy and diseased central nervous system. However, irradiation has been shown to alter the blood-brain barrier, potentially creating confounding artefacts. To better study the potential of b...

This study was undertaken to explore the spinal cord segments controlling the canine and human vas deferens and differentiation of the mammalian sympathetic pathways to the vas deferens. Thoracolumbar white communicating rami (WCR) were electrically stimulated in the dogs. Stimulation of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lumbar WCR elicited an elevation of intraluminal pressure of the vas deferens in ...

Enzyme replacement therapy with intravenous idursulfase (recombinant iduronate-2-sulfatase) is approved for the treatment of Hunter syndrome. Intravenous administration does not, however, treat the neurological manifestations, due to its low central nervous system bioavailability. Using intrathecal-lumbar administration, iduronate-2-sulfatase is delivered directly to the central nervous system....

Utilization of endogenous adult spinal cord progenitor cells (SCPCs) for neuronal regeneration is a promising strategy for spinal cord repair. To mobilize endogenous SCPCs for injury repair, it is necessary to understand their intrinsic properties and to identify signaling factors that can stimulate their neurogenic potential. In this study, we demonstrate that adult mouse SCPCs express distinc...