Medical Anatomy Commons^™

Temporal Changes In Innate Immune Signals In A Rat Model Of Alcohol Withdrawal In Emotional And Cardiorespiratory Homeostatic Nuclei., Kate Freeman, Anthony Brureau, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, Mary M Staehle, Melanie M Brureau, Gregory E Gonye, Jan B Hoek, D Craig Hooper, James S Schwaber

Mary Staehle

BACKGROUND: Chronic alcohol use changes the brain's inflammatory state. However, there is little work examining the progression of the cytokine response during alcohol withdrawal, a period of profound autonomic and emotional upset. This study examines the inflammatory response in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and dorsal vagal complex (DVC), brain regions neuroanatomically associated with affective and cardiorespiratory regulation in an in vivo rat model of withdrawal following a single chronic exposure.

METHODS: For qRT-PCR studies, we measured the expression of TNF-α, NOS-2, Ccl2 (MCP-1), MHC II invariant chain CD74, and the TNF receptor Tnfrsf1a in CeA and DVC …

Emergence Of Bimodal Cell Population Responses From The Interplay Between Analog Single-Cell Signaling And Protein Expression Noise., Marc R Birtwistle, Jens Rauch, Anatoly Kiyatkin, Edita Aksamitiene, Maciej Dobrzyński, Jan Hoek, Walter Kolch, Babatunde A Ogunnaike, Boris N Kholodenko

Anatoly Kiyatkin

BACKGROUND: Cell-to-cell variability in protein expression can be large, and its propagation through signaling networks affects biological outcomes. Here, we apply deterministic and probabilistic models and biochemical measurements to study how network topologies and cell-to-cell protein abundance variations interact to shape signaling responses. RESULTS: We observe bimodal distributions of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) responses to epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulation, which are generally thought to indicate bistable or ultrasensitive signaling behavior in single cells. Surprisingly, we find that a simple MAPK/ERK-cascade model with negative feedback that displays graded, analog ERK responses at a single cell level can explain the experimentally …

A Compact Guide To The Diagnosis And Management Of Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Timothy Beer, David Strayer, Md, Phd

Timothy C Beer

Brief Introduction Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1) is a multisystem neurocutaneous disorder resulting from mutations in the NF-1 gene on chromosome 17 (q11.2). Mutations in NF-1 result in deficient activity of the tumor suppresor protein neurofibromin, allowing for uncontrolled constitutive activity of the proliferative Raspathway in several neural cell types, including neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and Schawnn cells. Half of NF-1 cases are inherited in autosomal dominant fashion, while half develop sporadically. The syndrome has 100% penetrance but highly variable expressivity. The prevalence of this syndrome is 1/3,000, making it common enough to warrant YOU, the physician, taking a moment to learn …