We developed an isolation technique for motor neurons from adult rat spinal cord. Spinal cord enlargements were discretely microdissected into ventral horn tissue columns that were trypsin-digested and subjected to differential low-speed centrifugation to fractionate ventral horn cell types. A fraction enriched in alpha-motor neurons was isolated. Motor neuron enrichment was verified by immunof...

Apoptosis has been implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We previously demonstrated a role for G1 to S phase cell cycle regulators in ALS with increased levels of hyperphosphorylated retinoblastoma (ppRb) and E2F-1 in ALS spinal cord motor neurons. In this study we examined the levels of the cell cycle checkpoint tumor suppressor protein p...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the morphology, cytoarchitecture, and lumbosacral spinal cord projections of the red nucleus (RN) in cattle. ANIMALS 8 healthy Friesian male calves. PROCEDURES Anesthetized calves underwent a dorsal laminectomy at L5. Eight bilateral injections (lateral to the midline) of the neuronal retrograde fluorescent tracer fast blue (FB) were administered into the exposed lumbos...

Neuroadapted Sindbis virus (NSV) is a neurotropic virus capable of inducing the death of spinal motor neurons in mice and rats. In this study we investigated the mechanisms that underlie NSV-induced motor neuron death. We found that many degenerating spinal motor neurons were not infected directly with NSV, suggesting that bystander cell death occurs. An excitotoxic mechanism was confirmed when...

The analysis of the interaction and synchronization of relatively large ensembles of neurons is fundamental for the understanding of complex functions of the nervous system. It is known that the temporal synchronization of neural ensembles is involved in the generation of specific motor, sensory or cognitive processes. Also, the intersegmental coherence of spinal spontaneous activity may indica...

prior animal models have shown that rats sustaining 3-second immediate spinal cord compression had significantly better functional recovery and smaller lesion volumes than rats subjected to compression times of 1 hour, 6 hours, 3 weeks, and 10 weeks after spinal cord injury. we compare locomotor rating scales and spinal cord histopathology after 3 seconds and 10 minute compression times. . ten ...

BACKGROUND Detrusor overactivity (DO) secondary to partial bladder outlet obstruction (PBOO) is closely associated with alteration of ion channels. The objective of this study is to investigate the expression of the TWIK-related arachidonic acid-activated K(+) channel (TRAAK) in the L6-S1 spinal cord of DO rats after PBOO. METHODS Female Sprague-Dawley rats undergoing PBOO surgery were screen...

The pathophysiology of acute spinal cord injury (SCI) involves primary and secondary mechanisms of injury. Secondary injury mechanisms include inflammation, oxidative stress. The secondary inflammation of spinal cord tissue after SCI was critical for the survival of motor neuron and functional recovery. Flaxseed is a rich source of lignan phytoestrogen, α-linolenic acid. Flaxseed has rema...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is an untreatable, neurodegenerative disease of motor neurons characterized by progressive muscle atrophy, limb paralysis, dysarthria, dysphagia, dyspnae and finally death. Large motor neurons in ventral horns of spinal cord and motor nuclei in brainstem, large pyramidal neurons of motor cortex and/or large myelinated axons of corticospinal tracts are affecte...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: damage to peripheral nerves stimulates a series of morphological and biochemical changes in neurons, which are not concentrated only in the injured region, but are also observed in the cell body of neurons of the spinal cord and in the nerve ganglion. The aim of this study was evaluation of the protective effects of aqueous extract of Achillea millifolium on neuron den...