Background and Purpose—Niacin is the most effective medication in current clinical use for increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. We tested the hypothesis that niacin treatment of stroke promotes synaptic plasticity and axon growth in the ischemic brain. Methods—Male Wistar rats were subjected to 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion and treated with or without Niaspan (a prolon...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Niacin is the most effective medication in current clinical use for increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. We tested the hypothesis that niacin treatment of stroke promotes synaptic plasticity and axon growth in the ischemic brain. METHODS Male Wistar rats were subjected to 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion and treated with or without Niaspan (a prol...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious injury of the central nervous system and up until now there is no evident effective treatment for SCI. Axonal regeneration is the only way to restore functions after serious SCI that interrupt the long tracts mediating motor and sensory function. The hurdles for axonal regeneration in SCI include: glial scar tissue and molecular barriers, the inhibiting mic...

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited disorder characterized by neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in striatum and cerebral cortex. Although the signaling pathways involved in HD are not yet clearly elucidated, mutant huntingtin protein is a key factor in the induction of neurodegeneration. The mutant huntingtin protein alters intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis, disrupts intracellular traf...

The tyrosine kinase receptor trkB is thought to mediate the biological actions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This receptor is expressed by a large variety of neurons during development. Truncated trkB molecules lacking the tyrosine kinase domain have also been described, but their functions remain elusive. In order to gain insight into their role, we studied the pattern of expression an...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a candidate gene for response to antidepressant treatment. However, response to pharmacological treatments is moderated by both genetic and other factors within individuals. For example, there is evidence of an influence of the temperamental trait of harm avoidance on the outcome of depressive disorders. In the present study we aimed to investigate the effec...

Early life adversity increases the risk of mental disorders later in life. Chronic early life stress may alter neurotrophic factor gene expression including those for brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) that are important in neuronal growth, survival, and maintenance. Maternal separation was used in this study to model early life stress. Fo...

Citation: Jiang H, Zhang X, Lu J, Meng H, Sun Y, Yang X, Zhao B and Bao T (2018) Antidepressant-Like Effects of Acupuncture-Insights From DNA Methylation and Histone Modifications of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Front. Psychiatry 9:102. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00102 antidepressant-like effects of acupuncture-insights From Dna Methylation and histone Modifications of Brain-Derived neurotro...

Clinical background Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as a growth factor is part to the family of neurotrophins. It is a central mediator of stress effects to the neuronal plasticity and links stress and affective disorders as well as somatic diseases. The neurotrophic functions of BDNF influence the survival of neurons und thereby important functions as learning, memory, appetite and sl...

This article reviews recent studies that have examined differences and similarities in the neurotrophic growth factor requirements of neural crest- and neural placode-derived sensory neurons of the developing chick embryo. From in vitro experiments using both explant and dissociated, neuron-enriched cultures of spinal and cranial nerve sensory neurons, it has been established that only sensory ...