Glaucoma is characterized by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) pathology and a progressive loss of vision. Previous studies suggest RGC death is responsible for vision loss in glaucoma, yet evidence from other neurodegenerative diseases suggests axonal degeneration, in the absence of neuronal loss, can significantly affect neuronal function. To characterize RGC degeneration in the DBA/2 mouse model o...

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder. Disease alleles contain a trinucleotide repeat expansion of variable length, which encodes polyglutamine tracts near the amino terminus of the HD protein, huntingtin. Polyglutamine-expanded huntingtin, but not normal huntingtin, forms nuclear inclusions. We describe a Drosophila model for HD. Amino-terminal fragments...

Two anionic fluorescein derivatives can be used for the simple and definitive localization of neuronal degeneration in brain tissue sections. Initial work on the first generation fluorochrome, Fluoro-Jade, demonstrated the utility of this compound for the detection of neuronal degeneration induced by a variety of well-characterized neurotoxicants, including kainic acid, 3-nitropropionic acid, i...

background and objectives: studies have documented the morhplogical, neurochemical and functional difference between the dorsal and ventral zones of hippocampus. the aim of this study was to assess the effects of chronic diabetes mellitus type1 on ventral and dorsal zones of hippocampus. methods: experimental diabetes was induced by stereptozotocin at a dose of 60 mg/kg. at the end of 8 weeks ...

The neurotransmitter glutamate is neurotoxic when it is accumulated in a massive amount in the extracellular fluid. Excessive release of glutamate has been shown to be a major cause of neuronal degeneration after central nervous system injury. Under normal conditions, accumulation of synaptically released glutamate is prevented, at least in part, by a glial uptake system in which the glia-speci...

Mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 (LRRK2) gene cause autosomal-dominant Parkinson's disease (PD) and contribute to sporadic PD. LRRK2 contains Guanosine-5'-triphosphate (GTP) binding, GTPase and kinase activities that have been implicated in the neuronal degeneration of PD pathogenesis, making LRRK2, a potential drug target. To date, there is no disease-modifying drug to slow the ne...

We studied the distribution and change of striatal enriched phosphatase (STEP) in the gerbil hippocampus after transient forebrain ischemia. STEP was expressed in the perikarya and in neuronal processes; it was not detected in non-neuronal cells of control animals. After 5-min forebrain ischemia, STEP immunoreactivity (STEP-IR) was preserved for 2 days; it disappeared 4 and more days after isch...

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a debilitating neurological complication of cirrhosis. By definition, HE considered reversible disorder, and therefore should resolve following liver transplantation (LT). However, persisting complications are observed in as many 47% LT recipients. an invasive surgical procedure accompanied by various perioperative factors such blood loss hypotension which could i...

The ubiquitously expressed chloride channel 7 (CLCN7) is present within the ruffled border of osteoclasts. Mutations in the CLCN7 gene in humans (homologous to murine Clcn7) are responsible for several types of osteopetrosis in humans, and deficiencies in CLCN7 can present with retinal degeneration and a neuronal storage disease. A previously reported Clcn7(-/-) mouse showed diffuse osteopetros...