Life Sciences Commons^™

Morphine Enhances Hiv-1sf162-Mediated Neuron Death And Delays Recovery Of Injured Neurites, Ruturaj R. Masvekar, Nazira El-Hage, Kurt F. Hauser, Pamela E. Knapp

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

HIV-1 enters the CNS soon after initial systemic infection; within the CNS parenchyma infected and/or activated perivascular macrophages, microglia and astrocytes release viral and cellular toxins that drive secondary toxicity in neurons and other cell types. Our previous work has largely modeled HIV-neuropathology using the individual viral proteins Tat or gp120, with murine striatal neurons as targets. To model disease processes more closely, the current study uses supernatant from HIV-1-infected cells. Supernatant from HIV-1SF162-infected differentiated-U937 cells (HIV+sup) was collected and p24 level was measured by ELISA to assess the infection. Injection drug abuse is a significant risk factor for HIV-infection, …

Post-Acute Brain Injury Urinary Signature: A New Resource For Molecular Diagnostics, Andrew K. Ottens, Jillian E. Stafflinger, Hailey E. Griffin, Richard D. Kunz, David X. Cifu, Janet P. Niemeier

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Heterogeneity within brain injury presents a challenge to the development of informative molecular diagnostics. Recent studies show progress particularly in cerebrospinal fluid with biomarker assays targeting one or a few structural proteins. Protein-based assays in peripheral fluids, however, have been more challenging to develop in part due to restricted and intermittent barrier access. Further, a greater number of molecular variables may be required to inform on patient status given the multifactorial nature of brain injury. Presented is an alternative approach profiling peripheral fluid for a class of small metabolic by-products rendered by ongoing brain pathobiology. Urine specimens were collected for …

Neuropathological Responses To Chronic Nmda In Rats Are Worsened By Dietary N-3 Pufa Deprivation But Are Not Ameliorated By Fish Oil Supplementation, Vasken L. Keleshian, Matthew Kellom, Hyung-Wook Kim, Ameer Y. Taha, Yewon Cheon, Miki Igarashi, Stanley I. Rapoport, Jagadeesh S. Rao

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Background

Dietary long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation may be beneficial for chronic brain illnesses, but the issue is not agreed on. We examined effects of dietary n-3 PUFA deprivation or supplementation, compared with an n-3 PUFA adequate diet (containing alpha-linolenic acid [18:3 n-3] but not docosahexaenoic acid [DHA, 22:6n-3]), on brain markers of lipid metabolism and excitotoxicity, in rats treated chronically with NMDA or saline.

Methods

Male rats after weaning were maintained on one of three diets for 15 weeks. After 12 weeks, each diet group was injected i.p. daily with saline (1 ml/kg) or a subconvulsive dose …

A Systems Biology Approach To Detect Eqtls Associated With Mirna And Mrna Co-Expression Networks In The Nucleus Accumbens Of Chronic Alcoholic Patients, Mohammed Mamdani

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol Dependence (AD) is a chronic substance use disorder with moderate heritability (60%). Linkage and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated a number of loci; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying AD are unclear. Advances in systems biology allow genome-wide expression data to be integrated with genetic data to detect expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), polymorphisms that regulate gene expression levels, influence phenotypes and are significantly enriched among validated genetic signals for many commonly studied traits including AD.

We integrated genome-wide mRNA and miRNA expression data with genotypic data from the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a major addiction-related brain region, of 36 …

Investigating The Effects Of Applied Electric Fields On Microglial Cell Behaviour, Eman Bani

Theses and Dissertations

As surveyors of the central nervous system (CNS), microglial cells play an integral part in the inflammatory response following traumatic injuries. Thus, they have been implicated in the limited capability of neurons to regenerate in the CNS. Additionally, the roles of endogenous electric fields in the regenerative process of neurons in the mammalian peripheral nervous system (PNS) or amphibian CNS have long been studied. Further, previous studies in our lab have shown that physiological electric fields are capable of directing behaviours in astrocytes and schwann cells. Therefore in this study, a BV-2 microglia cell line was utilized to investigate whether …

Methods For Integrative Analysis Of Genomic Data, Paul Manser

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the development of new genomic technologies has allowed for the investigation of many regulatory epigenetic marks besides expression levels, on a genome-wide scale. As the price for these technologies continues to decrease, study sizes will not only increase, but several different assays are beginning to be used for the same samples. It is therefore desirable to develop statistical methods to integrate multiple data types that can handle the increased computational burden of incorporating large data sets. Furthermore, it is important to develop sound quality control and normalization methods as technical errors can compound when integrating multiple genomic …