Partial injury to the corticospinal tract (CST) causes sprouting of intact axons at their targets, and this sprouting correlates with functional improvement. Electrical stimulation of motor cortex augments sprouting of intact CST axons and promotes functional recovery when applied soon after injury. We hypothesized that electrical stimulation of motor cortex in the intact hemisphere after chron...

Tissue expression and distribution of the high-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K+ channel Slo was investigated in rat brain by immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization, and radioligand binding using the novel high-affinity (Kd 22 pM) ligand [3H]iberiotoxin-D19C ([3H]IbTX-D19C), which is an analog of the selective maxi-K peptidyl blocker IbTX. A sequence-directed antibody directed against Slo rev...

Hippocampal mossy fibers, which are the axons of dentate granule cells, are continuously generated owing to adult neurogenesis of granule cells. They extend exclusively into the stratum lucidum, a proximal layer of the CA3 pyramidal cells. We visualized the mossy fiber tracts by Timm histochemical staining and DiI labeling in the cultured hippocampal slices from newborn rats. The fibers were ab...

Charcot used the term ‘Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis’ (ALS), a description based on clinical and neuropathological features in patients assessed by him and studied at autopsy.1 Lord Brain in 1962 used the term Motor Neuron Disease to encompass entities constituting the other clinical manifestations: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, progressive bulbar palsy, and progressive muscular atrophy.2 Esse...

Here we report a boy with epidermal nevus syndrome associated with brainstem and cerebellar malformations and neonatal medulloblastoma. The patient had epidermal nevi and complicated brain malformations including macrocephaly with polymicrogyria, dysmorphic and enlarged midbrain tectum, enlarged cerebellar hemispheres with small and maloriented folia. The patient died after surgical resection o...

Long-term depression (LTD) of the synapse formed between cortical pyramidal neurons and striatal medium spiny neurons is central to many theories of motor plasticity and associative learning. The induction of LTD at this synapse is thought to depend upon D(2) dopamine receptors localized in the postsynaptic membrane. If this were true, LTD should be inducible in neurons from only one of the two...

RATIONALE Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a heterogeneous group of diseases little known in clinical practice due to its low prevalence, slow progression, and difficult diagnosis. This results in an underestimation of HSP leading to belated diagnosis and management. In depth diagnosis is based on clinical presentation and identification of genomic mutations. We describe the clinical pres...

A novel leukoencephalopathy was recently identified based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) findings. Leukoencephalopathy with brainstem and spinal cord involvement and high lactate (LBSL) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by early onset of symptoms and slowly progressive cerebellar, pyramidal and spinal cord dorsal column d...

Extending applications of magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human central nervous system, this work quantitatively describes MTC of the murine brain. As a novel finding, complementing T(1)- and T(2)-weighted MRI, MTC allows for the distinction of densely packed gray matter from normal gray and white matter. Examples include the Purkinje cell layer ...