Repulsive guidance molecule member a (RGMa) is a membrane-associated or released guidance molecule that is involved in axon guidance, cell patterning, and cell survival. In our previous work, we showed that RGMa is significantly upregulated in the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease. Here we demonstrate the expression of RGMa in midbrain human dopaminergic (DA) neurons. To inv...

Sexual differentiation of dopaminergic neurons was studied in gender-specific cultures. Dissociated cell cultures were prepared from di- or mesencephalon of gestational day 14 rat embryos and raised in the absence or presence of 17 beta-estradiol or testosterone for up to 13 days in vitro (DIV). Developmental profiles of levels of dopamine (DA) and metabolites as well as capacity for vesicular ...

Trehalose, as a natural disaccharide, is known as an autophagy inducer. The neuroprotectiveeffects of trehalose in the rat model of Parkinson′s disease were the aim of the present study.Parkinson′s disease model was induced by injecting 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in thestriatum of male Wistar rats. Apomorphine-induced behavior and substantia nigra neuronalcounts were app...

Dopaminergic neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells will be useful in future transplantation studies of Parkinson's disease patients. As newly generated neurons must integrate and reconnect with host cells, the ability of hESC-derived neurons to respond to axon guidance cues will be critical. Both Netrin-1 and Slit-2 guide rodent embryonic dopaminergic (DA) neurons in vitro and in vivo...

The selective degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) midbrain neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) is a hallmark of Parkinson disease. DA neurons in the neighboring ventral tegmental area (VTA) are significantly less affected. The mechanisms for this differential vulnerability of DA neurons are unknown. We identified selective activation of ATP-sensitive potassium (K-ATP) channels as a potential mec...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder associated with the degeneration of nigral dopaminergic (DA) neurons. One of the greatest obstacles for PD research is the lack of patient-specific nigral DA neurons for mechanistic studies and drug discovery. The advent of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has overcome this seemingly intractable problem and changed PD research in many profou...

A decreased central dopaminergic and/or noradrenergic transmission is believed to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression. It is known that dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and norepinephrine (NE) neurons in the locus ceruleus (LC) are autoregulated by somatodendritic D(2)-like and alpha(2)-adrenoceptors, respectively. Complementing these autoreceptor-mediated ...

Neural precursors derived from embryonic stem cells, but not those from fetal ventral mesencephalon, maintain the potential to differentiate into dopaminergic neurons after expansion in vitro ABSTRACT Neural precursors (NP) derived from ventral mesencephalon (VM) normally generate dopaminergic (DA) neurons in vivo but lose their potential to differentiate into DA neurons during mitogenic expans...

Mice unable to synthesize dopamine (DA) specifically in dopaminergic neurons were created by inactivating the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene then by restoring TH function in noradrenergic cells. These DA-deficient (DA-/-) mice were born at expected frequency but became hypoactive and stopped feeding a few weeks after birth. Midbrain dopaminergic neurons, their projections, and most characterist...

INTRODUCTIONS: It is well understood that dopamine (DA) has an action in the brain as a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator. However, little is known about the roles of DA in the spinal cord. The periventricular, posterior region (A11) of the hypothalamus is the principle source of descending dopaminergic pathways. Focal electrical stimulation in the region of the A11 area suppresses the nocice...