The transcription factor serum response factor (SRF) controls the expression of genes involved in cellular proliferation and differentiation. Interestingly, SRF also promotes cell survival by regulating the expression of antiapoptotic genes. In in vitro differentiating murine embryonic stem (ES) cells, SRF deficiency leads to increased apoptosis. Loss of SRF correlates with impaired expression ...

Adult skeletal muscles adapt their fiber size to workload. We show that serum response factor (Srf) is required for satellite cell-mediated hypertrophic muscle growth. Deletion of Srf from myofibers, and not satellite cells, blunts overload-induced hypertrophy, and impairs satellite cell proliferation and recruitment to pre-existing fibers. We reveal a gene network in which Srf within myofibers...

Mastication can be triggered by repetitive stimulation of the cortex or of sensory inputs, but is patterned by a brain stem central pattern generator (CPG). This CPG may include the dorsal part of the principal trigeminal sensory nucleus (NVsnpr), where neurons burst repetitively when the extracellular concentration of Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](e)) drops. We examined the effects of repetitive stimulatio...

Primary sensory cortex discriminates incoming sensory information and generates multiple processing streams toward other cortical areas. However, the underlying cellular mechanisms remain unknown. Here, by making whole-cell recordings in primary somatosensory barrel cortex (S1) of behaving mice, we show that S1 neurons projecting to primary motor cortex (M1) and those projecting to secondary so...

A correlated anatomical and physiological investigation of the effects of unilateral cervicothoracic dorsal rhizotomies upon lateral cuneate nucleus of the cat (LCN) is reported. Pairs of adult cats with identical survival times were selected to correlate structural and functional changes. Two phases are described in the development of alterations of neuronal firing patterns . In the first phas...

Potassium channels play an important role in controlling neuronal firing and synaptic interactions. Na(+)-activated K(+) (K(Na)) channels have been shown to exist in neurons in different regions of the CNS, but their physiological function has been difficult to assess. In this study, we have examined if neurons in the spinal cord possess K(Na) currents. We used whole cell recordings from isolat...

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) use their characteristic firing patterns to encode various aspects of visual information and carry them to the brain. It has been thought that the firing pattern of an RGC's light response is determined primarily by the time course and spatiotemporal interaction of the synaptic inputs. However, it is unclear whether there is a difference in intrinsic firing propert...

Serum response factor (SRF) is a transcription factor of the MADS box family. SRF is involved in various cellular processes such as expression of immediate early and tissue-specific genes, cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. The expression of SRF in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and its role have not been investigated, forming the basis for this study. Surgical specimens of 6...

BACKGROUND To identify in vivo new cardiac binding sites of serum response factor (SRF) in genes and to study the response of these genes to mild over-expression of SRF, we employed a cardiac-specific, transgenic mouse model, with mild over-expression of SRF (Mild-O SRF Tg). METHODOLOGY Microarray experiments were performed on hearts of Mild-O-SRF Tg at 6 months of age. We identified 207 gene...

Axonal injury generates growth inert retraction bulbs with dynamic cytoskeletal properties that are severely compromised. Conversion of "frozen" retraction bulbs into actively progressing growth cones is a major aim in axon regeneration. Here we report that murine serum response factor (SRF), a gene regulator linked to the actin cytoskeleton, modulates growth cone actin dynamics during axon reg...