Faculty Bibliography

Testicular orphan nuclear receptor 4 (TR4) has been suggested to play important roles in the development and functioning of the central nervous system (CNS). We find reduced myelination in TR4 knockout (TR4(-/-)) mice, which is particularly obvious in forebrains and in early developmental stages. Further analysis reveals that CC-1-positive (CC-1+) oligodendrocytes are decreased in TR4(-/-) forebrains. The O4+ signals are also reduced in TR4(-/-) forebrains when examined at postnatal d 7. However, the number and proliferation rate of platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha-positive (PDGFalphaR+) oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) remain unaffected in these regions, suggesting that loss of TR4 interrupts oligodendrocyte differentiation. This is further supported by the observation that CC-1+ oligodendrocytes derived from 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporating OPCs are significantly reduced in TR4(-/-) forebrains. We also find higher Jagged1 expression levels in axon fiber-enriched regions in TR4(-/-) forebrains, suggesting a more activated Notch signaling in these regions that correlates with previous reports showing that Notch activation inhibits oligodendrocyte differentiation. Together, our results suggest that TR4 is required for proper myelination in the CNS and is particularly important for oligodendrocyte differentiation and maturation in the forebrain regions. The altered Jagged1-Notch signaling in TR4(-/-) forebrain underlies a potential mechanism that contributes to the reduced myelination in the forebrain.

Acetazolamide, a potent carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitor, is the most commonly used and best studied agent for the amelioration of acute mountain sickness (AMS). The actual mechanisms by which acetazolamide reduces symptoms of AMS, however, remain unclear. Traditionally, acetazolamide's efficacy has been attributed to inhibition of CA in the kidneys, resulting in bicarbonaturia and metabolic acidosis. The result is offsetting hyperventilation-induced respiratory alkalosis and allowance of chemoreceptors to respond more fully to hypoxic stimuli at altitude. Studies performed on both animals and humans, however, have shown that this explanation is unsatisfactory and that the efficacy of acetazolamide in the context of AMS is likely due to a multitude of effects. This review summarizes the known systemic effects of acetazolamide, and incorporates them into a model encompassing several factors that are likely to play a key role in the drug's efficacy. Such factors include not only metabolic acidosis resulting from renal CA inhibition, but also improvements in ventilation from tissue respiratory acidosis, improvements in sleep quality from carotid body CA inhibition, and effects of diuresis. Key words: carbonic anhydrase, periodic breathing, hypercapnic ventilatory response, metabolic acidosis, altitude sickness

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hypoperfusion of the normal-appearing white matter in multiple sclerosis (MS) may be related to ischemia or secondary to hypometabolism from wallerian degeneration (WD). This study evaluated whether correlating perfusion and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics in normal-appearing corpus callosum could provide support for an ischemic mechanism for hypoperfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and 17 control subjects underwent perfusion MR imaging and DTI. Absolute measures of cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and mean transit time (MTT) were calculated. Mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) maps were computed from DTI data. After visual coregistration of perfusion and DTI images, regions of interest were placed in the genu, central body, and splenium of normal-appearing corpus callosum. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated using mean DTI and perfusion measures in each region. RESULTS: In the RRMS group, CBF and CBV were significantly correlated with MD in the splenium (r = 0.83 and r = 0.63, respectively; both P < .001) and in the central body (r = 0.86 and r = 0.65, respectively; both P < .001), but not in the genu (r = 0.23 and 0.25, respectively; both P is nonsignificant). No significant correlations were found between MTT and DTI measures or between FA and any perfusion measure in the RRMS group. No significant correlations between diffusion and perfusion metrics were found in control subjects. CONCLUSION: In the normal-appearing corpus callosum of patients with RRMS, decreasing perfusion is correlated with decreasing MD. These findings are more consistent with what would be expected in primary ischemia than in secondary hypoperfusion from WD.

Reports an error in 'Channel, neuronal and clinical function in sodium channelopathies: From genotype to phenotype' by Stephen G. Waxman (Nature Neuroscience, 2007[Apr], Vol 10[4], 405-409). In the version of this article initially published, the online publication date was incorrectly given as 25 February 2007. The correct date is 27 March 2007. This error has been corrected in the PDF version of the article. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-04974-022). In neural integrators, transient inputs are accumulated into persistent firing rates that are a neural correlate of short-term memory. Integrators often contain two opposing cell populations that increase and decrease sustained firing as a stored parameter value rises. A leading hypothesis for the mechanism of persistence is positive feedback through mutual inhibition between these opposing populations. We tested predictions of this hypothesis in the goldfish oculomotor velocity-to-position integrator by measuring the eye position and firing rates of one population, while pharmacologically silencing the opposing one. In complementary experiments, we measured responses in a partially silenced single population. Contrary to predictions, induced drifts in neural firing were limited to half of the oculomotor range. We built network models with synaptic-input thresholds to demonstrate a new hypothesis suggested by these data: mutual inhibition between the populations does not provide positive feedback in support of integration, but rather coordinates persistent activity intrinsic to each population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)

PURPOSE: Thiazide use to prevent recurrent calcium nephrolithiasis is supported by randomized, controlled trials. Concerns regarding adverse metabolic effects of thiazides, which are also used to treat hypertension, have reemerged with analysis of the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial. The risks posed by thiazide induced hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, hypokalemia and dyslipidemia may decrease the expected cardiovascular benefit of lowering blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Whether these side effects occur and are clinically significant in nonhypertensive patients with kidney stones treated with thiazides is unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A review of the literature was performed for randomized, controlled trials with thiazides for calcium nephrolithiasis. We sought data regarding metabolic effects in this population, including hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, hypokalemia and dyslipidemia. RESULTS: Nine randomized, controlled trials of thiazide treatment for kidney stones were included. Mean patient age was 42 years and followup was 2.6 years. Only 2 of the 9 studies measured glucose and lipid levels, which did not significantly change with treatment. Three studies measured serum potassium and 2 showed a significant decrease. Three of the 9 studies measured serum uric acid levels, which increased in all 3. None of the trials studied the development of diabetes mellitus or cardiovascular disease. CONCLUSIONS: There is a lack of data on the metabolic effects of thiazides used to prevent recurrent calcium nephrolithiasis. It remains unclear if metabolic effects occur and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in otherwise healthy patients with recurrent nephrolithiasis on thiazide prophylaxis. Further research is needed to elucidate other alternatives for the treatment of recurrent nephrolithiasis

The long-germ mode of embryogenesis, in which segments arise simultaneously along the anteriorposterior axis, has evolved several times in different lineages of the holometabolous, or fully metamorphosing, insects. Drosophila's long-germ fate map is established largely by the activity of the dipteran-specific Bicoid (Bcd) morphogen gradient, which operates both instructively and permissively to accomplish anterior patterning. By contrast, all nondipteran long-germ insects must achieve anterior patterning independently of bcd. We show that bcd's permissive function is mimicked in the wasp by a maternal repression system in which anterior localization of the wasp ortholog of giant represses anterior expression of the trunk gap genes so that head and thorax can properly form.

[structure: see text]. A highly convergent, enantioselective synthesis of (+) -Sch 642305 is presented, which features a Mukaiyama-Michael addition followed by allylation to establish the syn-anti relationship of the three contiguous stereocenters. The 10-membered macrolactone was formed through ring-closing metathesis.

Osteopontin (OPN) is expressed in many tissues during inflammatory responses. After spinal cord injury, microglia expresses OPN at the site of injury during the early to subacute stages. However, the function of OPN in spinal cord injury is not well understood. This study examines the responses of OPN knock-out (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice to spinal cord contusion injury. KO and WT mice were injured with a modified New York University impactor. Weights of 10 or 5.6 g were dropped 6.25 mm onto the T13 spinal cord under isoflurane anesthesia. At 24 h, homogenized spinal cords were analyzed for total potassium concentration to estimate lesion volumes. Expression of apoptotic genes, proinflammatory cytokines, and nerve growth factors was measured by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and Western blot. In a series of animals, locomotor recovery was assessed with the Basso mouse scale (BMS) for 6 weeks, and histological analyses was performed to determine tissue preservation. Lesion volume showed no significant differences between KO and WT mice at 24 h. RT-PCR indicated that KO mice had significantly less Bcl-2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta, and interleukin-6 mRNA compared with WT controls. Western blot also showed that KO had significantly less Bcl-2 7 d after spinal cord injury. KO mice had significantly worse BMS locomotor scores than WT at 6 weeks. KO mice also had a significantly reduced area of spared white matter and fewer neuronal-specific nuclear protein-positive neurons in the spinal cord surrounding the impact site. This result supports a potential neuroprotective role for OPN in the inflammatory response to spinal cord injury