background: alzheimer’s disease (ad) is characterized by progressive neuronal loss in hippocamp. epidermal neural crest stem cells (epi-ncsc) can differentiate into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of transplanting epi-ncsc into ad rat model. methods: two weeks after induction of ad by injection of amyloid-β 1-40 into ca1 area of ra...

introduction cholinergic system is one of the important systems of mammalian cns. cholinergic neurons distributed in brain and spinal cord and contributed to principal functions like: consciousness, learning and memory, and motor control. in this study we investigated the differentiation potentiality of mouse embryonic stem cells toward cholinergic neurons. the aim of this study was to evaluate...

background: bone marrow stromal cells (bmsc) are used as a source for cell therapy in different model for neurological disorder such as stroke and spinal cord injury. however, the transdifferentiation of bmsc into cholinergic phenotype requires more investigation. methods: bmsc were isolated from adult rats, pre-induced with β-mercaptoethanol (bme) and followed by nerve growth factor (ngf) indu...

This study demonstrates the presence of positive and negative regulatory elements within a 2336-base pair-long region of the rat choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) gene promoter that cooperate to direct cell type-specific expression in cholinergic cells. A 21-base pair-long neuron-restrictive silencer element (NRSE) was identified in the proximal part of this region. This element was recognized b...

Mammalian motor programs are controlled by networks of spinal interneurons that set the rhythm and intensity of motor neuron firing. Motor neurons have long been known to receive prominent "C bouton" cholinergic inputs from spinal interneurons, but the source and function of these synaptic inputs have remained obscure. We show here that the transcription factor Pitx2 marks a small cluster of sp...

Midbrain dopamine neurons fire in bursts conveying salient information. Bursts are associated with pauses in tonic firing of striatal cholinergic interneurons. Although the reciprocal balance of dopamine and acetylcholine in the striatum is well known, how dopamine neurons control cholinergic neurons has not been elucidated. Here, we show that dopamine neurons make direct fast dopaminergic and ...

We have investigated the release of two peptide cotransmitters from the terminals of a cholinergic motor neuron in Aplysia. Identified motor neuron B15 synthesizes the two small cardioactive peptides (SCP) A and B in addition to acetylcholine. A symmetrical pair of B15 neurons innervate symmetrical buccal muscles, termed I5, which are involved in generating biting movements. The amplitude of I5...

Forebrain cholinergic neurons modulate complex mammalian behaviors such as reward-related learning and cognitive functions. Although their dysfunction is implicated in various psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, the factors governing cholinergic neuron differentiation and diversity are mostly unknown. We tested the role of the LIM-homeobox gene Isl1 in the development of forebrain choli...

Acetylcholine (ACh), acting at muscarinic ACh receptors (mAChRs), modulates the excitability and synaptic connectivity of hippocampal pyramidal neurons. CA1 pyramidal neurons respond to transient ("phasic") mAChR activation with biphasic responses in which inhibition is followed by excitation, whereas prolonged ("tonic") mAChR activation increases CA1 neuron excitability. Both phasic and tonic ...