The Nigrostriatal pathway (NSP) is formed by dopaminergic axons that project from the ventral midbrain to the dorsolateral striatum as part of the medial forebrain bundle. Previous studies have implicated chemotropic proteins in the formation of the NSP during development but little is known of the role of substrate-anchored signals in this process. We observed in mouse and rat embryos that mid...

Specific antagonists of central dopaminergic receptors constitute the major class of antipsychotic drugs (APD). Two principal effects of APD are used as criteria for the pre-clinical screening of their antipsychotic action: (i) inhibition of basal and depolarization-induced activity of mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons; (ii) antagonism of the locomotor effects of dopaminergic agonists. Given that...

Dopaminergic neuronal circuits underlying self-injurious behavior (SIB) were investigated in neonatal 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced dopamine-depleted rats. The extent of damaged dopamine neuronal areas was investigated by quantitative analysis of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunocytochemistry and the biochemical quantification of dopamine levels in three groups; neonatal 6-OHDA-treated rats...

Nurr1 is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily of transcription factors that is expressed predominantly in the central nervous system, including developing and mature dopaminergic neurons. Recent studies have demonstrated that Nurr1 is essential for the induction of phenotypic markers of ventral mid-brain dopaminergic neurons whose generation is specified by the floor plate-derived morph...

It is known that the posterior ventral tegmental area (p-VTA) differs from the anterior VTA (a-VTA) in that rats learn to self-administer ethanol into the p-VTA, but not into the a-VTA. Because activation of VTA dopaminergic neurons by ethanol is a cellular mechanism underlying the reinforcement of ethanol consumption, we hypothesized that ethanol may exert different effects on dopaminergic neu...

Direct cellular reprogramming is a powerful new tool for regenerative medicine. In efforts to understand and treat Parkinson's Disease (PD), which is marked by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain, direct reprogramming provides a valuable new source of these cells. Astrocytes, the most plentiful cells in the central nervous system, are an ideal starting population for the di...

Ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), showed very promisingneuroprotection action, but it suffers from high first pass metabolism and limited abilityto cross blood brain barrier. Severe gastric toxicity following oral administration furtherlimits its utility. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate whether ibuprofen loadedmucoadhesive microemulsion (MMEI) could enha...

A substantial amount of evidence has proposed an important role for Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme in brain diseases and affiliate disorders. The purpose of this research was studying the effects of COX-2 selective inhibition on haloperidol-induced catatonia in an animal model of drug overdose and Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, the effect of acute and Sub-chronic oral administration ...

Wnts are secreted, lipidated proteins that regulate multiple aspects of brain development, including dopaminergic neuron development. In this study, we perform the first purification and signaling analysis of Wnt2 and define the function of Wnt2 in ventral midbrain precursor cultures, as well as in Wnt2-null mice in vivo. We found that purified Wnt2 induces the phosphorylation of both Lrp5/6 an...