Neural stem cells with self-renewal and multilineage potential persist in the subventricular zone of the adult mammalian forebrain. These cells remain relatively quiescent but, under certain conditions, can be stimulated, giving rise to new neurons. Liver growth factor (LGF) is a mitogen for liver cells that shows biological activity in extrahepatic sites and is useful for neuroregenerative the...

Adult neurogenesis persists in the subventricular zone and is decreased in Parkinson disease (PD). The therapeutic potential of neurogenesis in PD requires understanding of mechanisms of 1) neural stem cell generation; 2) their guidance to the lesion site; and 3) the environment that enables neuronal differentiation, survival, and functional integration. We examined the combined intraventricula...

Many studies have attempted to correlate changes of motor cortex activity with progression of Parkinson's disease, although results have been controversial. In the present study we used intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) combined with behavioral testing in 6-hydroxydopamine hemilesioned rats to evaluate the impact of dopamine depletion on movement representations in primary motor cortex (M1)...

Effect of subacute angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) blockade on the converting enzyme activity (ACE activity) in plasma, aorta, lung, kidney and whole brain was evaluated in chemically-sympathectomized (with 6-hydroxydopamine) normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) using captopril given peripherally via the intraperitoneal (i.p) route and centrally through ...

Destruction of the substantia nigra produces striatal D1 dopamine receptor supersensitivity without increasing receptor number or affinity, thus implicating postreceptor mechanisms. The nature of these mechanisms is unknown. Increased striatal c-fos expression ipsilateral to a unilateral lesion of the substantia nigra in rats treated with appropriate dopamine agonists provides a cellular marker...

L-DOPA alleviates the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but its long-term use is associated with undesirable dyskinesia. We now tested whether exercise can attenuate this L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID). We tested the effects of exercise on LID in 6-hydroxydopamine hydrochloride-hemiparkinsonian mice. Animals were treated with L-DOPA/benserazide (25/12.5 mg/kg, i.p.) without and with possi...

Astragalus membranaceus is a medicinal plant traditionally used in China for a variety of conditions, including inflammatory and neural diseases. Astragalus polysaccharides are shown to reduce the adverse effect of levodopa which is used to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the neuroprotective effect of Astragalus polysaccharides per se in PD is lacking. Using Caenorhabditis elegans mode...

Although L-dopa continues to be the gold standard for treating motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), it presents long-term complications. Deep brain stimulation is effective, but only a small percentage of idiopathic PD patients are eligible. Based on results in animal models and a handful of patients, dorsal column stimulation (DCS) has been proposed as a potential therapy for PD. To dat...

The acute effects of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OH-DA) injected directly into the sinus node artery were studied in 57 dogs. The positive chronotropic effect of 6-OH-DA was intermediate between that of norepinephrine and that of tyramine, when these substances were compared on the basis of their ED 50. The increase in heart rate produced by 6-OH-DA was inhibited by prior intranodal injection of propr...