Search results for "nerve"
showing 10 items of 1683 documents
Identification of inflammatory neuronal injury and prevention of neuronal damage in multiple sclerosis: hope for novel therapies?
2013
Importance Although multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been considered the prototype for an inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, modern histopathology and imaging techniques show that significant damage to neuronal structures already start occurring in the earliest stages of the disease. As the disease progresses, the extent of neuronal pathology accumulates. Therapeutic progress in terms of the prevention of increased disability has only just begun. Objective To review possible diagnostic improvements of neuronal compartment pathology as well as direct therapeutic interventions based on reports from the last decade and outline clinical results from studies and p…
Neuroglobin: A Respiratory Protein of the Nervous System
2004
Nerve tissues exhibit some of the highest oxygen consumption rates found in the body. Neuroglobin, a heme protein distantly related to hemoglobin, is thought to enhance the supply of oxygen to the neurons, the eye, and some endocrine tissues. Neuroglobin may promote neuronal survival under hypoxic conditions as they occur, for example, in stroke.
Neurodegeneration in excitotoxicity, global cerebral ischemia, and target deprivation: A perspective on the contributions of apoptosis and necrosis.
1998
In the human brain and spinal cord, neurons degenerate after acute insults (e.g., stroke, cardiac arrest, trauma) and during progressive, adult-onset diseases [e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease]. Glutamate receptor-mediated excitotoxicity has been implicated in all of these neurological conditions. Nevertheless, effective approaches to prevent or limit neuronal damage in these disorders remain elusive, primarily because of an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms of neuronal death in in vivo settings. Therefore, animal models of neurodegeneration are crucial for improving our understanding of the mechanisms of neuronal death. In this review, we evaluate experimen…
Multitasking associative networks.
2012
We introduce a bipartite, diluted and frustrated, network as a sparse restricted Boltzman machine and we show its thermodynamical equivalence to an associative working memory able to retrieve multiple patterns in parallel without falling into spurious states typical of classical neural networks. We focus on systems processing in parallel a finite (up to logarithmic growth in the volume) amount of patterns, mirroring the low-level storage of standard Amit-Gutfreund-Sompolinsky theory. Results obtained trough statistical mechanics, signal-to-noise technique and Monte Carlo simulations are overall in perfect agreement and carry interesting biological insights. Indeed, these associative network…
Cycle-triggered averaging of respiration-related neuronal activity
1985
Abstract A computer system is presented which provides off-line computation of cycle-triggered histograms (CTH) of respiration-related neuronal activity. Binwidths of the histograms are freely selectable by software from 10 ms to 100 ms. For special evaluation purposes. CTHs can be standardized in different ways concerning cycle duration as well as amplitude. Time incidence of maximum frequency, center of gravity and expiration-to-inspiration phase transition within the respiratory cycle are computed. The system employs special hardware interfaces to an 8-bit microcomputer which are briefly described. Data acquisition, data manipulation and output handling of the results are performed by ch…
Normal Function of the mushroom body defect Gene of Drosophila Is Required for the Regulation of the Number and Proliferation of Neuroblasts
1994
In the developing central nervous system of Drosophila, proliferation follows a reproducible and well-described spatial and temporal pattern. This pattern involves a defined number and distribution of neural stem cells (neuroblasts), as well as a precisely regulated time course of division of these neuroblasts. We show that mutations in the mushroom body defect (mud) gene interfere with the regulation of this pattern in a rather specific manner. In the abdominal neuromeres a subset of neuroblasts prolongs the period of proliferation. Additional daughter cells persist into the imago. Similar defects are expressed in the anterior ventral nerve cord and in the lateral central brain region. In …
Neuroblast formation and patterning during early brain development in Drosophila.
2004
The Drosophila embryo provides a useful model system to study the mechanisms that lead to pattern and cell diversity in the central nervous system (CNS). The Drosophila CNS, which encompasses the brain and the ventral nerve cord, develops from a bilaterally symmetrical neuroectoderm, which gives rise to neural stem cells, called neuroblasts. The structure of the embryonic ventral nerve cord is relatively simple, consisting of a sequence of repeated segmental units (neuromeres), and the mechanisms controlling the formation and specification of the neuroblasts that form these neuromeres are quite well understood. Owing to the much higher complexity and hidden segmental organization of the bra…
General anaesthetics and the developing brain: an overview
2014
Various experimental studies in animals have shown that general anaesthetics are potentially toxic to the developing brain. By inducing apoptosis or interfering with neurogenesis, anaesthetic exposure during a critical period of neuronal development can have significant impact on neurocognitive function later in life. It remains controversial whether these experimental results can be transferred to human beings and this is under intensive scientific evaluation. To gain more insight into possible neurotoxic effects on the human brain of infants and small children, a number of retrospective studies have been performed. At present, there is no clear evidence that exposure to anaesthesia up to …
Mildronate and its neuroregulatory mechanisms: targeting the mitochondria, neuroinflammation, and protein expression.
2013
This review for the first time summarizes the data obtained in the neuropharmacological studies of mildronate, a drug previously known as a cardioprotective agent. In different animal models of neurotoxicity and neurodegenerative diseases, we demonstrated its neuroprotecting activity. By the use of immunohistochemical methods and Western blot analysis, as well as some selected behavioral tests, the new mechanisms of mildronate have been demonstrated: a regulatory effect on mitochondrial processes and on the expression of nerve cell proteins, which are involved in cell survival, functioning, and inflammation processes. Particular attention is paid to the capability of mildronate to stimulate…
Effects of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents on Neuronal Nicotine Receptors of Motor Nerves: Blockade of Nicotinic Autofacilitation and Backfiring
1991
ABSTRACT Tubocurarine reduced (60%) [3H]acetylcholine release from the isolated rat phrenic nerve at concentrations of 1 or 10 μM, but blocked backfiring of the phrenic nerve occuring after partial blockade of cholinesterase already at a concentration of 100 nM. The distinct potency of tubocurarine suggests differences between the presynaptic nicotine receptors mediating autofacilitation of release and preterminal nicotine receptors mediating backfiring of the motor nerve or a low agonist concentration at the latter receptors. The new neuromuscular blocking agents atracurium, pancuronium and vecuronium less effectively reduced [3H]acetylcholine release than tubocurarine indicating a lower a…