Destruction of nigrostriatal dopaminergic (DA) pathway triggers various persistent responses, such as inflammation and increased synthesis of neural growth factors, both in striatum and in substantia nigra. The pathological processes involved in such responses are poorly characterized and could contribute to secondary damage and/or regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS). Cystatin C wa...

BACKGROUND The etiology of Parkinson disease (PD) has yet to be fully elucidated. We examined the consequences of injections of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde (DOPAL), a toxic metabolite of dopamine, into the substantia nigra of rats on motor behavior and neuronal survival. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A total of 800 nl/rat of DOPAL (1 µg/200 nl) was injected stereotaxically into the substanti...

The treatment of Parkinson's disease by transplantation of dopaminergic (DA) neurons from human embryonic mesencephalic tissue is a promising approach. However, the origin of these cells causes major problems: availability and standardization of the graft. Therefore, the generation of unlimited numbers of DA neurons from various types of stem or progenitor cells has been brought into focus. A s...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is considered the second most frequent and one of the most severe neurodegenerative diseases, with dysfunctions of the motor system and with nonmotor symptoms such as depression and dementia. Compensation for the progressive loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons during PD using current pharmacological treatment strategies is limited and remains challenging. Pluripotent stem...

neuromelanin (nm) pigment accumulates with age in catecholaminergic neurons in man, and the ventral substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons that are the most vulnerable to degeneration in parkinson's disease (pd) contain the greatest amount of this pigment. in vitro data indicate that nm pigment is formed from the excess cytosolic catecholamine that is not accumulated into synaptic vesicles via t...

Objective(s): Exercise ameliorates the quality of life and reduces the risk of neurological derangements such as Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Irisin is a product of the physical activity and is a circulating hormone that regulates the energy metabolism in the body. In the nervous system, Irisin influences neurogenesis and neural differentiation in mic...

Immunostaining with anti-tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) revealed that a small subset (~2.5%) of primary neurons (from rat embryonic E13-14 midbrains) is dopaminergic (DA). In this study, we tested whether DA neurons in culture are selectively degenerated by well-known PD toxins such as rotenone (5-100nM) and MPP+ (10μM). Both toxins significantly decreased the number of DA neurons and neurite length...

Clinical studies with intrastriatal transplants of human embryonic mesencephalic tissue have provided proof-of-principle for the cell replacement strategy in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. The grafted dopaminergic neurons can reinnervate the denervated striatum, restore regulated dopamine (DA) release and movement-related frontal cortical activation, and give rise to significant symptomatic...

Wnts are a family of secreted proteins that regulate multiple steps of neural development and stem cell differentiation. Two of them, Wnt1 and Wnt5a, activate distinct branches of Wnt signaling and individually regulate different aspects of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neuron development. However, several of their functions and interactions remain to be elucidated. Here, we report that loss of Wn...

Dopamine (DA) was applied to CA1 region pyramidal cells in slices of guinea pig hippocampus maintained in vitro in order to examine its electrophysiological effect on CNS neurons. DA induced hyperpolarization of membrane potential and an increased conductance in 75% the 21 CA1 neurons to which it was applied. DA also augmented the afterhyperpolarizations and increased conductance which normally...