神经生物学

Cell heterogeneity is intrinsic to both genetically programmed differentiation and stochastic/epigenetic variation. The scientific and technological challenge is to quantitatively study the nature and extent of the heterogeneity of populations of cells. In order to reach t ...

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a body fluid which has direct contact with the central nervous system, and as such, changes in its composition might be informative about various aspects of the brain. It has been postulated for quite a long time that proteomic analysis of CSF will reveal protein markers r ...

HIV-1 proteins are rarely identified during mass spectrometry-based proteomic profiling studies of body fluids from HIV-1-infected people even when elaborated fractionation schema and highly sensitive instruments are used. Genotyping of HIV-1 isolated from body fluids does n ...

Dynamic properties of the nervous system can now be investigated through mass spectrometry technologies. Generally, the application of these powerful techniques requires the destruction of the specimen under study/examination, but recent technological advances have made it ...

The amino acid content of the central nervous system (CNS) is controlled by the blood-brain barrier. Despite a constant exchange of amino acids in both directions, this interface mediates a net uptake from blood plasma into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). As in most other cells, amino acids in the brain h ...

Knowledge of the existence of amino acids dates back over a century in many cases, as does knowledge of their existence in proteins (see Vickery and Schmidt, 1931). When amino acids were discovered, their identity was established by isolating and purifying the individual compounds and obtain ...

Amino acids are involved in many metabolic processes and in protein synthesis. In the central nervous system, they also function as neurotransmitters or neuromodulators (Davidson, 1976; Corradetti et al., 1983; Fonnum, 1981, 1984). Numerous studies have demonstrated the excitatory e ...

The coupling of a gas chromatograph (GC) to a mass spectrometer (MS) results in the marriage of two powerful technologies. The tremendous separative power of the GC is coupled to the direct identification and quantitation capabilities of the MS. The MS produces ions by electron bombardment of el ...

1-Dimethylammo-naphthalene-5-sulfonyl chloride (dansyl chloride, Fig. 1) was originally used by Weber in 1952 for the formation of fluorescent conjugates of albumin. Dansyl chloride reacts with primary and secondary amino groups and with phenols. Fig 1Structure of dansyl chlori ...

Certain amino acids are now well established as the transmitters employed by the majority of neurons in the central nervous system (Curtis and Johnston, 1974; Watkins and Evans, 1981; Fagg and Foster, 1983). Investigation of the physiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry of these amino aci ...

The recognition of the significance of amino acids as mediators of chemical neurotransmission in the mammalian central nervous system has grown extensively in recent years, and no fewer than 16 of these simple compounds have been proposed to function as excitatory or inhibitory neurotr ...

One of the most powerful tools in the identification of various neuronal types and then connectivities is immunocytochemical localization of specific neuronal markers, e g., synthetic enzymes for neurotransmitters at precise cellular and subcellular levels. Several methods ex ...

Five amino acids have received considerable attention as putative neurotransmitters in mammalian brain; namely, γ-ammobutyric acid (GABA), glycine, glutamate, aspartate, and taurine Fonnum, 1978).

Some amino acids may function as neurotransmitters and are presumably released at nerve terminals to interact with specific receptors postsynaptically. Biochemical studies of high-affinity uptake, a potential marker of nerve terminals and of receptor binding, have been employ ...

Astrocytes communicate with the vascular endothelium via direct cell–cell contacts as well as a variety of secreted growth factors and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Integrins are heterodimeric cell surface receptors for ECM protein ligands, and many integrin subunits are e ...

Astrocytes are the predominant nonneuronal cell type in the central nervous system. Although they are electrically nonexcitable, they have been found to play an active role in modulation of neuronal function and plasticity through Ca2+ excitability. Thus, Ca2+ signaling in astrocytes ...

Genetic tools are enabling the molecular dissection of the functions and mechanisms of many biological processes. Transgenic manipulations provide powerful tools with which to test hypotheses regarding functions of specific cell types and molecules in vivo in combination with d ...

The goal of this chapter is to highlight methods used to demonstrate in vivo changes in astrocyte expression at the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Loss of BBB integrity is seen in many acute and chronic disease conditions. However, despite the importance of the BBB to homeostasis and correct functio ...

Direct conversion of glia into neurons by cellular reprogramming represents a novel approach toward a cell-based therapy of neurodegenerative processes. Here we describe a protocol that allows for the direct and efficient in vitro reprogramming of mouse astroglia from the early post ...

Brain stroke is a devastating cerebrovascular disease and ranks as the third most common cause of death and disability in the US. Altered blood–brain barrier (BBB) signaling and permeability characteristics during stroke can increase the risk for life-threatening hemorrhagic tran ...