This study reports the results of a long-term economic evaluation of riluzole in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) versus best supportive care in the United Kingdom. The aim was to assess the cost implications of the life extension offered by riluzole through cost utility analysis based on patient assessed utilities of different health states.A Markov model was used to assess...

The ventral tegmental area dopamine (DA VTA) neurons have the spontaneous tonic activity and an alteration of firing pattern from tonic to burst accelerates dopamine transmission more effectively in the mesoaccumbal dopaminergic system, leading to the reinforcing process of drugs of abuse such as alcohol and nicotine. In the present study, we examined whether a persistent Na+ current would cont...

Oscillatory activity is widespread in dynamic neuronal networks. The main paradigm for the origin of periodicity consists of specialized pacemaking elements that synchronize and drive the rest of the network; however, other models exist. Here, we studied the spontaneous emergence of synchronized periodic bursting in a network of cultured dissociated neurons from rat hippocampus and cortex. Surp...

The effects of sciatic nerve crush (SNC) and treatment with Riluzole on muscle activity during unrestrained locomotion were identified in an animal model by analysis of the EMG activity recorded from soleus (Sol) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles of both hindlimbs; in intact rats (IN) and in groups of rats treated for 14 days with saline (S) or Riluzole (R) after right limb nerve crus...

25 The objectives of this study were to probe the contribution of spinal neuron persistent sodium 26 conductances to reflex hyper-excitability in human chronic spinal cord injury. The intrinsic 27 excitability of spinal neurons provides a novel target for medical intervention. Studies in animal 28 models have shown that persistent inward currents, such as persistent sodium currents, 29 profound...

BACKGROUND Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia type 2 (CPVT2) results from autosomal recessive CASQ2 mutations, causing abnormal Ca2+-handling and malignant ventricular arrhythmias. We aimed to establish a patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) model of CPVT2 and to use the generated hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to gain insights into patient-specific dise...

The central glutamatergic system has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain, and a highly active central glutamate transporter (GT) system regulates the uptake of endogenous glutamate. Here we demonstrate that both the expression and uptake activity of spinal GTs changed after chronic constriction nerve injury (CCI) and contributed to neuropathic pain behaviors in rats. CCI ind...

36 37 The properties of voltage-gated ion channels on the neuronal membrane shape electrical 38 activity such as generation and back-propagation of action potentials, initiation of 39 dendritic spikes, and integration of synaptic inputs. Subthreshold currents mediated by 40 sodium channels are of interest because of their activation near rest, slow inactivation 41 kinetics, and consequent effec...