实验仪器使用技术

It is customary to credit Rudolf Virchow (1) with the discovery of neuroglia (see ref. 2). As a practicing pathologist who was familiar with inflammatory processes in the brain, Virchow opposed his contemporaries’ assertion that the brain was void of connective tissue. He hypothesized that un ...

The free-radical gas nitric oxide (NO) recently has been identified as an important biological messenger molecule in both the central and peripheral nervous system. NO is generated by the enzyme NO synthase (NOS) by the oxidation of the amino acid L-arginine. As a dissolved gas, NO is an unusual neur ...

The distribution of Ca2+ within the cell is complex and involves binding to cell macromolecules and compartmentalization within the subcellular organelles (1). Normal physiological functions of the cell are regulated by changes in intracellular free Ca2+ (i), which ranges from 0.1 to 0.3 � ...

Cells maintain low concentrations of intracellular free calcium (i) by the effective operation of Ca2+ pumps located in plasma membrane as well as intracellular organelles, such as mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (microsomes) (1,2). Under normal conditions, Ca2+ enters the c ...

Target-cell response to a number of neurotransmitters, growth factors, hormones, and other stimuli are initiated by cell-surface receptor-mediated activation of phospholipase C (PLC) and the rapid hydrolysis of phosphoinositides (1–3). The activation of PLC by receptors for most n ...

Immunoassays are techniques for measuring the concentration or activity of a substance using immunological reactions. Several types of immunoassay are commonly used, including precipitation assays using antibody/antigen complexes, agglutination assays using coated e ...

Neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by damage to selective neuronal populations (1) that could be followed or proceeded by synaptic injury (2). The mechanisms triggering cell death and synaptic damage in these disorders might be related to gain of a toxic property and/or loss of ...

Specific recognition of cell-surface molecules with other cells or extracellular matrix (ECM) is fundamental for cellular motility, reorganization, and proliferation. To carry out these actions, cells often displace space previously occupied by cells or the ECM, thus proteolys ...

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become an indispensable tool of molecular biology (1–5). Since its discovery in 1985 the process has found its integration into all research areas involving the use of DNA and RNA. Using this technique, a small starting sample of DNA or RNA can be used to amplify a spe ...

Microdialysis is a perfusion-based sampling procedure that is now used routinely to study the chemistry of the extracellular environment of a variety of tissues in the living organism (1,2). A microdialysis probe (consisting of an inlet and outlet tube connected by an area of semipermeable m ...

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). Glutamate binds to and activates receptors coupled to both ligand-gated ion channels (ionotropic) and G proteins (metabotropic). The ionotropic glutamate receptors are permeable to cation ...

The cholinesterases (acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase) In this chapter, cholinesterase will be used to refer to both enzymes together (i.e., total cholinesterase), whereas acetylcholinesterase or butyrylcholinesterase will be used when referring to the ...

Silver degeneration stains are typically considered the domain of studies of neural circuitry, but have also proven useful in studies of neurotoxicity. They are particularly well suited to localizing sites of injury, and determining the extent and time-course of degeneration.

The brain depends on other organ systems of the body for oxygen, nutrients, and the elimination of metabolic byproducts. The primary route for such transfer of these essentials is the cerebrovasculature. The cerebrovasculature also participates in metabolizing or excluding xenobi ...

Although structure and function of the major cells comprising nervous tissue have been studied extensively, very little detailed information exists concerning subcellular distributions of water and such elements as Na, K, Cl, and Ca. This information gap limits our understanding of c ...

In order to understand the functionality of genes and the importance of their expression, it is important to be able to understand proteins and, therefore, amino acids. Many techniques allow one to look at proteins at the amino acid level; however, very few allow researchers to understand them at the n ...

Differential gene expression is essential for normal development, and a variety of pathophysiological conditions (including neurodegeneration, neurotrauma, and ischemic injury) of the central nervous system. Various numbers of mRNAs are expressed in a given cell at any time poi ...

The technique of subtractive hybridization is used to enrich abundant cDNAs that differ between two cell populations. This approach is well suited for systems in which a homogenous cell population is activated in culture with an agent or factor that induces the transcription of genes that are ...

RNase protection assay (RPA) is becoming an increasingly popular method for the detection and quantitation of RNA levels in cells and tissues (1–3). Hybridization is conducted in solution using an excess of a labeled antisense single-stranded RNA as probe. Thus, hybridization of the probe w ...

The functional unit of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is the neuron, with its long axon enveloped either by Schwann cells (unmyelinated axons) or by the multilamellar myelin sheath formed and maintained by these cells (myelinated axons) (Fig. 1 A). Neuronal cell bodies may be located within ...