The activation of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is critical for naturally occurring neuronal cell death during development and may be important for the pathological neuronal cell death of neurodegenerative diseases. The small molecule inhibitor of the mixed-lineage kinase (MLK) family of kinases, CEP-1347, inhibits the activation of the JNK pathway and, consequently, the cell death ...

Studies at the basic and clinical levels demonstrate that neuronal atrophy and cell death occur in response to stress and in the brains of depressed patients. Although the mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated, progress has been made in characterizing the signal transduction cascades that control neuronal atrophy and programmed cell death and that may be involved in the action of antidepre...

it has been estimated that more than 1.7 million individuals suffer a traumatic brain injury (tbi) each year. tbi causes secondary biochemical and metabolic changes which contribute to subsequent tissue damage and associated neuronal cell death. two early and delayed events occur after tbi, which results in neurological deficits. primary injury events include the mechanical damage that occur at...

hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells (hipp-ns/pcs) of the adult mammalian brain are important sources of neuronal and gial cell production. in this study, the main goal is to investigate the plasticity of these cells in neuronal/astroglial differentiations. to this end, the differentiation of the hipp-ns/pcs isolated from 3-month-old wistar rats was investigated in response to the embryonic...

Caspases play a pivotal role in neuronal cell death during development and after trophic factor withdrawal. However, the mechanisms regulating caspase activity and the role played by caspase activation in response to neuronal injury is poorly understood. The tumor suppressor gene p53 has been implicated in the loss of neuronal viability caused by excitotoxic and DNA damaging agents. In the pres...