Search results for "neuron"

Neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis: novel treatment strategies.

2012

In recent years it has become clear that the neuronal compartment already plays an important role early in the pathology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Neuronal injury in the course of chronic neuroinflammation is a key factor in determining long-term disability in patients. Viewing MS as both inflammatory and neurodegenerative has major implications for therapy, with CNS protection and repair needed in addition to controlling inflammation. Here, the authors' review recently elucidated molecular insights into inflammatory neuronal/axonal pathology in MS and discuss the resulting options regarding neuroprotective and regenerative treatment strategies.

Dissecting task-specific plasticity capacity in patients with multiple sclerosis with transcranial magnetic stimulation.

2020

Neuronavigated-biopsy in the diagniosis of demyelinating pseudotumoral brain lesions. Case report.

2013

Introduction: Pseudotumoral-demyelinating lesions are typically characterized by severe difficulties in differential diagnosis from gliomas, metastatic tumors and abscesses. Marburg’s disease (MD) is an extremely rare and aggressive form of Mutiple Sclerosis (MS) with acute onset, rapid neurological deterioration, and poor prognosis. MRI images often show pseudotumoral lesions characterized by mild and focal or, sometimes, ring enhancement. Perhaps, radiological aspect can vary, making necessary hystopathological confirmation. Objectives: There is increasing interest in the role of surgical biopsy for a correct and early diagnosis of pseudotumoral demyelinating lesions. We report an histopa…

Acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on the neuromuscular system

2019

Stretching is traditionally incorporated into pre-exercise routines in health, rehabilitation and sporting environments to condition the neuromuscular system for exercise. While a large body of evidence reported that stretching may acutely impair the subsequent muscular performance, some conflicting results highlight possible mitigating factors of neuromuscular responses variability. Because the limited data available do not present a clear consensus, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of different factors on neuromuscular responses to stretch: the muscle group, the stretch duration and modality. By means of four studies, it has been shown that static stretching may alter…

The effect of experimental and clinical musculoskeletal pain on spinal and supraspinal projections to motoneurons and motor unit properties in humans…

2021

Background and Objective Numerous studies have examined the influence of pain on spinal reflex excitability, motor unit behaviour and corticospinal excitability. Nevertheless, there are inconsistencies in the conclusions made. This systematic review sought to understand the effect of pain on spinal and supraspinal projections to motoneurons and motor unit properties by examining the influence of clinical or experimental pain on the following three domains: H-reflex, corticospinal excitability and motor unit properties. Databases and Data Treatment MeSH terms and preselected keywords relating to the H-reflex, motor evoked potentials and motor unit decomposition in chronic and experimental pa…

Damipipecolin and damituricin, novel bioactive bromopyrrole alkaloids from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella damicornis

2007

Two new bromopyrrole alkaloids, damipipecolin (1) and damituricin (2), have been isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella damicornis, and their structures established through spectroscopic methods. Compounds 1 and 2 extend the structural variety of the so far known pyrrole alkaloids; in these compounds, the 4-bromopyrrole 2-carboxylic acid is directly condensed with a non-protein cyclic alpha-amino acid, the (2R, 4R)-trans-4-hydroxypipecolic acid and (2R, 4R)-cis-N,N'-dimethyl-4-hydroxyproline (D-turicine) in 1 and 2, respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 were found to display a modulating effect of the serotonin receptor activity in vitro.

Reduced presynaptic efficiency of excitatory synaptic transmission impairs LTP in the visual cortex of BDNF-heterozygous mice

2006

The neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in neuronal survival, axonal and dendritic growth and synapse formation. BDNF has also been reported to mediate visual cortex plasticity. Here we studied the cellular mechanisms of BDNF-mediated changes in synaptic plasticity, excitatory synaptic transmission and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the visual cortex of heterozygous BDNF-knockout mice (BDNF(+/-)). Patch-clamp recordings in slices showed an approximately 50% reduction in the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) compared to wild-type animals, in the absence of changes in mEPSC amplitudes. A presynaptic impairment of excita…

Beta-amyloid monomers are neuroprotective

2009

The 42-aa-long β-amyloid protein—Aβ1-42—is thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Walsh and Selkoe, 2007). Data from AD brain (Shankar et al., 2008), transgenic APP (amyloid precursor protein)-overexpressing mice (Lesné et al., 2006), and neuronal cultures treated with synthetic Aβ peptides (Lambert et al., 1998) indicate that self-association of Aβ1-42monomers into soluble oligomers is required for neurotoxicity. The function of monomeric Aβ1-42is unknown. The evidence that Aβ1-42is present in the brain and CSF of normal individuals suggests that the peptide is physiologically active (Shoji, 2002). Here we show that synthetic Aβ1-42monomers support …

Dendritic Ih selectively blocks temporal summation of unsynchronized distal inputs in CA1 pyramidal neurons.

2004

The active dendritic conductances shape the input-output properties of many principal neurons in different brain regions, and the various ways in which they regulate neuronal excitability need to be investigated to better understand their functional consequences. Using a realistic model of a hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neuron, we show a major role for the hyperpolarization-activated current, I-h, in regulating the spike probability of a neuron when independent synaptic inputs are activated with different degrees of synchronization and at different distances from the soma. The results allowed us to make the experimentally testable prediction that the I-h in these neurons is needed to reduce ne…

The effects of glutamate receptor antagonists on cerebellar granule cell survival and development.

2007

N-Methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor stimulation promotes neuronal survival and differentiation under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. We studied the effects of various NMDA receptor antagonists acting at different NMDA receptor binding sites and non-NMDA receptor antagonists on the development and survival of cerebellar granule cell (CGC) culture. Only three of the drugs tested induced neurotoxicity-MK-801 (non-competitive NMDA channel blocking antagonist), ifenprodil (an antagonist of the NR2B site and polyamine site of the NMDA receptor) and L-701.324 (full antagonist at glycine site), while CGP-37849 (a competitive NMDA antagonist), (+)-HA-966 (a partial agonist of the glycine site…