Scar formation following an ischemic insult to the heart is referred to as reparative fibrosis and represents an essential physiological response to heal the damaged myocardium. The biological events of reparative fibrosis include inflammation, the deposition of collagen by myofibroblasts, sympathetic innervation, and angiogenesis. Several studies have further reported that scar formation was a...

Nestin, which was initially identified as a marker of neural stem cells, has been reported in regenerating pancreas as well as in early embryonic stem (ES) cell derivatives. However, little is known about its specific roles in stem cells as a functional regulator. We investigated the source of the action of nestin in ES and adult pancreatic ductal stem (PDS) cells in regard to the neogenesis of...

It has generally been assumed that bone mass is controlled by endocrine mechanisms and the local bone environment. Recent findings demonstrate that central pathways are involved in the regulation of bone mass. Estrogen is involved in the regulation of bone homeostasis and the CNS is also a target for estrogen actions. The aim of this study was to investigate in vivo the role of central estrogen...

The present study comprised a series of experiments to investigate the mechanism underlying the effect of ginsenoside on the self-renewal, proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) undergoing oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) in vitro. The NSCs, which were isolated from the hippocampus of embryonic day 17 embryo rats, were subjected to OGD/R to establish an in v...

Stem cell research and the prospect of stem cell based therapies depend critically on the identification of specific markers that can be used for the identification and selection of stem and progenitor cells. Nestin is expressed in neuronal progenitor cells and has also been suggested to mark multipotent pancreatic stem cells. We show here that, throughout pancreatic development, markers of pan...

AIMS No effective treatment for lung cancer exists currently. One reason for this, is the development of drug resistance, assumed to be associated with cancer stem cell (CSCs) emergence within the tumour. This pilot study aimed to identify CSCs in 121 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient samples via detection of the expression of stem cell markers - CD133 and nestin. MATERIAL AND METHOD...

BACKGROUND Neoangiogenesis is crucial in plaque progression and instability. Previous data from our group showed that Nestin-positive intraplaque neovessels correlated with histological complications. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the relationship between neoangiogenesis, plaque morphology, and clinical instability of the plaque. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy-three patients (53 m...

We assessed neurological outcomes, infarct volume, and the expression of nestin and caspase-3 in the hippocampal dentate gyrus following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by reperfusion, with mild hypothermia (MH) treatment at the onset of ischemia in a MCAO rat model. Reperfusion began 2 hours after the MCAO model was set-up. MH treatment began at the onset of ischemia and was m...

Recent data indicate that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for resistance of glioblastomas to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, thereby contributing to the poor survival of these patients. In order to identify novel prognostic markers in gliomas, several CSC markers have been investigated. This review summarizes current reports on putative glioma CSC markers and reviews the prognostic valu...