神经生物学

The calcium phosphate transfection is a widely used method for introducing foreign DNA plasmids into cells. Mechanisms underlying this transfection method are not yet defined; however, DNA–calcium phosphate precipitates are internalized by the cells and DNA is efficiently expre ...

Primarily cultured Schwann cells are essential for the investigation of molecular mechanisms regulating proliferation, survival, differentiation, and myelination of Schwann cell and for the development of efficient transplantation for regeneration of injured spinal c ...

The use of enriched oligodendrocyte lineage cell cultures has yielded insight into functions of these cells and regulatory mechanisms. This chapter details methods that result in such cultures.

The use of cultures has informed us of functions and regulation of astrocytes that were previously unknown. This chapter details the methods that result in such cultures.

Dopaminergic neurons are involved in a variety of normal brain functions; degenerations of these neurons cause diseases in human. Investigation of how dopaminergic neurons respond to extracellular signals and molecular mechanisms regulating dopaminergic neuron survival a ...

The cerebellum plays an important role in motor control, motor skill acquisition, memory and learning among other brain functions. In rodents, cerebellar development continues after birth, characterized by the maturation of granule neurons. Cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) are ...

Nucleoside analog pulse labeling is an important technique which can assess the birthdate, cell cycle maintenance, or cycling rates of cells during development. This method has evolved over several decades of use and is now applied to a multitude of tissue subtypes and systems. The methodolo ...

Pluripotent stem cells are promising potential sources for cell replacement therapy and are useful research tools for exploring disease mechanisms. Neural cells are one of the cell types that have been most efficiently differentiated through several established protocols. This c ...

Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) or neural stem cells are important tools for investigating central nervous system (CNS) development. NPCs can be used in therapeutic strategies and for characterizing differentiation mechanisms. Here, we describe methods for isolating and cultur ...

CO2 fixation by the nervous system has been demonstrated with the use of 14C-labeled bicarbonate in the retina (Crane and Ball, 1951), in the brain of 1-d-old mice (Moldave et al., 1953), and in the adult cat brain (Berl et al., 1962a,b). When cat brain was perfused with labeled bicarbonate and the specific radi ...

The successful measurement of cerebral high-energy phosphates (ATP, ADP, AMP, and phosphocreatine) by the enzymatic techniques to be described in this chapter is dependent on: (1) adequate tissue fixation, (2) preparation, dissection, and weighing of samples to be analyzed, and (3) fluor ...

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the various methods that are presently available for the proper fixation of the brain in the investigation of cerebral energy metabolism. The advantages, disadvantages, and procedures of each method will be described in detail for those investiga ...

Under normal physiological conditions, cerebral function requires a continuous supply of glucose for its energetic and biosynthetic needs. Pyruvate oxidation via the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex (PDHC) represents a step of key importance in cerebral glucose utiliz ...

The present review focuses on the methodological aspects of glycolytic, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and related enzymes, and on a discussion of how the methodologies can be usefully exploited in different experimental settings. Because of this primary focus and space limitation, t ...

The postulate that useful information about the activity of cerebral tissue can be deduced from a measure of energy metabolism, as reflected by the cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc), is supported by a considerable body of data. Because there are adequate reviews of this subject (e.g., S ...

The brain is a complex, heterogeneous organ composed of many anatomical and functional components with markedly different levels of functional activity that vary independently with time and function. Other tissues are generally far more homogeneous, with most of their cells functi ...

The mammalian brain has very small reserves of carbohydrates, which under normal circumstances are the preferred sources of energy in vivo. Thus, the cerebral cortex contains glucose at l–l.5 μmol/g fresh weight and a little more of the equivalent amount of glucose stored as glycogen (McIlwain ...

Mammalian brain slices are used to study a broad range of cellular neural functions, and their use as a neuroscience tool has greatly expanded in the past decade, especially in the realm of electrophysiological determinations. Warburg (1923) initially developed tissue slice techniques ...

Until the mid-1960s, studies on the metabolism of brain mitochondria were hampered by the lack of suitable methodologies for brain mitochondrial isolation. In the majority of the studies up to this time, crude mitochondrial preparations were isolated from mammalian brain homogenates ...

The synapse plays pivotal roles in various neuronal functions, with its efficacy determining the opening and closing of neuronal circuits. Among the parameters that determine synaptic efficacy, presynaptic factors are of crucial importance. However, these factors are among those ...