PURPOSE Sigma receptor 1 (Sigma1R), a nonopioid putative molecular chaperone, has neuroprotective properties in retina. This study sought to determine whether delaying administration of (+)-pentazocine, a high-affinity Sigma1R ligand after onset of diabetes in Ins2Akita/+ diabetic mice would afford retinal neuroprotection and to determine consequences on retinal phenotype in Ins2Akita/+ diabeti...

PURPOSE To characterize the activation of macroglial (Müller) and microglial cells, as well as neuronal cell degeneration, during ischemia-reperfusion in rabbit retina and to test the possible effect of triamcinolone acetonide on gliosis. METHODS Transient retinal ischemia was produced by increasing intraocular pressure for 60 minutes. Triamcinolone (8 mg) was intravitreally applied immediate...

BACKGROUND The mechanisms of agmatine-induced neuroprotective effects in traumatic brain injury (TBI) remain unclear. This study was to test whether inhibition of gliosis, angiogenesis, and neurogenesis attenuating TBI could be agmatine stimulated. METHODS Anesthetized rats were randomly assigned to sham-operated group, TBI rats treated with saline (1 mL/kg, intraperitoneally), or TBI rats tr...

Frontotemporal dementia is a term used to characterize diverse neuropathological conditions that can present with the same clinical phenotype. Five different neuropathologies underlie this disorder. However, consistent frontal and/or temporal neuronal loss and gliosis characterize all cases, the majority having no obvious pathological inclusions. Because neuronal loss and gliosis are consistent...

BACKGROUND Cerebellar hemorrhagic injury (CHI) is being recognized more frequently in premature infants. However, much of what we know about CHI neuropathology is from autopsy studies that date back to a prior era of neonatal intensive care. To update and expand our knowledge of CHI we reviewed autopsy materials and medical records of all live-born preterm infants (<37 weeks gestation) autopsie...

Reactive gliosis is characterized by enhanced glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression, cellular hypertrophy, and astrocyte proliferation. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this process are still largely undefined. We investigated the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in reactive gliosis in corpus callosum after lysolecithin (LPC)-induced focal demyelination and in cultured as...

Soy extracts have been claimed to be neuroprotective against brain insults, an effect related to the estrogenic properties of isoflavones. However, the effects of individual isoflavones on obesity-induced disruption of adult neurogenesis have not yet been analyzed. In the present study we explore the effects of pharmacological administration of daidzein, a main soy isoflavone, in cell prolifera...

Gliosis is a biological process that occurs during injury repair in the central nervous system and is characterized by the overexpression of the intermediate filaments (IFs) glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin. A common thread in many retinal diseases is reactive Müller cell gliosis, an untreatable condition that leads to tissue scarring and even blindness. Here, we demonstrate ...

Age is the main risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease. Yet, cognitive decline in aged rodents has been less well studied, possibly due to concomitant changes in sensory or locomotor function that can complicate cognitive tests. We tested mice that were 3, 11, and 23 months old in cognitive, sensory, and motor measures, and postmortem measures of gliosis and neural activity (c-Fos). Hippo...