Neural stem cells (NSC) biology is being applied to tumor research because these cells have been shown to share key properties with cancer cells. Gliomas represent the most common brain tumor, and neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPC) or early-differentiated cell type lineages may be on its origin. Here, we identified the developmental stage of the differentiation process of NSC into astrocytes t...

Introduction: Midbrain dopaminergic neurons are involved in various brain functions, including motor behavior, reinforcement, motivation, learning, and cognition. Primary dopaminergic neurons and also several lines of these cells are extensively used in cell culture studies. Primary dopaminergic neurons prepared from rodents have been cultured in both DMEM/F12 and neurobasal mediums in several ...

Brain cells from embryonic rats were dissociated with trypsin, cultivated under constant conditions in Falcon flasks, and studied for periods of one year or more. Antisera against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFA) and myelin basic protein (MBP) were used to identify glial cell types. For scanning electron microscopical (SEM) observation an embedding method in resin was developed that allows...

NSCs are responsible for the generation of CNS cell types derived from the neural tube. Published data resulting from experiments studying the differentiation of NSCs in vitro or in vivo have confirmed their spontaneous tripotency, i.e. their ability to generate cells of the neuronal, astroglial and oligodendroglial lineages. The relationship between NSCs generated in vitro and ependymal cells ...

Recent data have suggested the existence of direct signaling pathways between glial cells and neurons. Here we report the coexistence of distinct types of cells expressing astrocyte-specific markers within the hippocampus that display diverse morphological, molecular, and functional profiles. Usage of transgenic mice with GFAP promoter-controlled enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expres...

In the present study, we addressed the question of whether treatment with mannitol, an osmotic diuretic, affects astrogliovascular responses to status epilepticus (SE). In saline-treated animals, astrocytes exhibited reactive astrogliosis in the CA1-3 regions 2-4 days after SE. In the mannitol-treated animals, a large astroglial empty zone was observed in the CA1 region 2 days after SE. This as...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to clarify the neural mechanisms underlying orofacial pain abnormalities after cervical spinal nerve injury. Nocifensive behavior, phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK) expression and astroglial cell activation in the trigeminal spinal subnucleus caudalis (Vc) and upper cervical spinal dorsal horn (C1-C2) neurons were analyzed in rats wi...

Our recent studies revealed p57kip2 as an intrinsic regulator of late gliogenesis and demonstrated that in oligodendroglial precursor cells p57kip2 inhibition leads to accelerated maturation. Adult neural stem cells have been described as a source of glial progenitors; however, the underlying mechanisms of cell fate specification are still poorly understood. Here, we have investigated whether p...

Hippocampal pyramidal neurons express three major voltage-dependent potassium currents, IA, ID, and IK. During hippocampal development, IA, the rapidly activating and inactivating transient potassium current, is detected soon after pyramidal neurons can be morphologically identified. Appearance of IA in developing pyramidal neurons is dependent on contact with cocultured astroglial cells; cultu...