BACKGROUND Deficits in cognitive functioning have been reported in humans exposed to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. Evidence suggests that dioxins induce cholinergic dysfunction mediated by hypothyroidism. However, little is known about direct effects of dioxins on the cholinergic system. OBJECTIVES We investigated the action of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) on acetylcholines...

Neurons of the sensory ganglia are the major site of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) latency and may undergo productive infection during reactivation. Although the VZV glycoprotein E/glycoprotein I (gE/gI) complex is known to be critical for neurovirulence, few studies have assessed the roles of these proteins during infection of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) due to the high human specificity of the v...

Background/Aim: Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder that causes atrophy and neuronal death in the brain. Currently, there not any effective therapy for disease. The current research was designed to investigate beneficial effects of allicin on Alzheimer’s SHSY-5Y cells vitro elucidating neuroprotective mechanism allicin. Methods: Human neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y) differentiated w...

The nuclear matrix is defined as the insoluble framework of the nucleus and has been implicated in the regulation of gene expression, the cell cycle, and nuclear structural integrity via linkage to intermediate filaments of the cytoskeleton. We have discovered a novel nuclear matrix protein, NRP/B (nuclear restricted protein/brain), which contains two major structural elements: a BTB domain-lik...

Recent studies have demonstrated the role of indirect effect of radiation in neurodegeneration. However, the role of glial cells in neuroprotection against indirect effect of radiation is still not clear, although they are known to protect neurons under stress conditions in central nervous system. Our study showed that indirect effect of radiation increased the oxidative stress that further enh...

Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) synthesizes the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, at cholinergic nerve terminals. ChAT contains nuclear localization signals and is also localized in the nuclei of neural and non-neuronal cells. Nuclear ChAT might have an as yet unidentified function, such as transcriptional regulation. In this study, we investigated the alteration of candidate gene transcription...

Opioid receptors are involved in regulating neuronal survival. Here we demonstrate that activation of the -opioid receptor in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells led to the phosphorylations of I B kinase (IKK) and p65, denoting the stimulation of the nuclear factorB (NF B) transcription factor. This response was mediated through pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins. The -opioid-induced IKK phosph...

Mammalian homologues of the Drosophila canonical transient receptor potential (TRP) proteins have been implicated to function as plasma membrane Ca(2+) channels. This study examined the role of TRPC1 in human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells. SH-SY5Y cells treated with an exogenous neurotoxin, 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP(+)) significantly decreased TRPC1 protein levels. Confocal microscop...

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged recently as a new class of genes that regulate cellular processes. HOTAIR (Hox transcript antisense intergenic RNA), an approximately 2.2 kb long noncoding RNA transcribed from the HOXC locus, is upregulated in various diseases. However, the role of HOTAIR in Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear. A mouse model of PD was developed by intraperitoneal...