| 1. |
- Hashemian, Sanazalsadat, 1983-
(author)
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Interaction between nerve fiber formation and astrocytes
- 2014
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Parkinson’s disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder,is characterized by loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. To date,there is no defined cause and cure for the disease. An ideal treatmentstrategy is to replace the lost neurons by transplanting fetal dopaminergicneurons to the brain of parkinsonian patients. Clinical trials have beenperformed and the outcome was variable where one significant obstaclewas the limited graft reinnervation of the host brain. To study this issue,organotypic tissue culture can be utilized to monitor dopaminergic nervefiber outgrowth in vitro and their association with astrocytes. Using thisculture technique, dopaminergic nerve fibers appear in twomorphologically and temporally different types. The early appearing nervefibers are formed in the absence of astrocytes, reach long distances, andare called non-glial-associated tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) -positive nervefibers. After a few days, the second sequence of nerve fibers, the glialassociatedTH-positive nerve fibers, are formed, and their growth arelimited to the presence of astrocytes, that migrate and form a monolayersurrounding the plated tissue. The aim of this thesis was to study theinteraction between nerve fiber formation and astrocytes with a specialfocus on the long-distance growing nerve fibers. Ventral mesencephalic(VM) organotypic slice cultures from embryonic day (E) 12, E14, and E18were incubated for 14, 21, 28, and 35 days in vitro (DIV). The resultsrevealed that the two morphologically different processes were found incultures from the younger stages, while no non-glial-associated growthwas found in cultures of tissue from E18. Instead neurons had migratedonto the migrating astrocytes. Astrocytes migrated longer distances intissue from older stages, and the migration reached a plateau at 21 DIV.Co-cultures of E14 VM tissue pieces and cell suspension of matureastrocytes promoted migration of neurons, as seen in E18 cultures. Thus,9the maturity of the astrocytes was an important factor for nerve fiberoutgrowth. Hence, targeting molecules secreted by astrocytes might bebeneficial for regeneration. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG), amember of proteoglycan family, is produced by the astrocytes and has adual role of being permissive during development and inhibitory afterbrain injury in adult brain. Cultures were treated with chondroitinase ABC(ChABC) or methyl-umbelliferyl-β-D-xyloside (β-xyloside) in twodifferent protocols, early and late treatments. The results from the earlytreated cultures showed that both compounds inhibited the outgrowth ofnerve fibers and astrocytic migration in cultures from E14 tissue, while β-xyloside but not ChABC promoted the non-glial-associated growth incultures derived from E18 fetuses. In addition, β-xyloside but not ChABCinhibited neuronal migration in E18 cultures. Taken together, β-xylosideappeared more effective than ChABC in promoting nerve fiber growth.Another potential candidate, integrin-associated protein CD47, was studiedbecause of its role in synaptogenesis, which is important for nerve fibergrowth. Cultures from E14 CD47 knockout (CD47-/-) mice were plated andcompared to their wildtypes. CD47-/- cultures displayed a massive and longnon-glial-associated TH-positive nerve fiber outgrowth despite theirnormal astrocytic migration. Blocking either signal regulatory protein-α(SIRPα) or thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), which bind to CD47, had nogrowth promoting effect. In conclusion, to promote nerve growth, youngertissue can grow for longer distances than older tissue, and inhibiting CSPGproduction promotes nerve growth in older tissue, while gene deletion ofCD47 makes the astrocytes permissive for a robust nerve fiber growth.
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| 2. |
- König, Niclas, et al.
(author)
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Forced Runx1 expression in human neural stem/progenitor cells transplanted to the rat dorsal root ganglion cavity results in extensive axonal growth specifically from spinal cord-derived neurospheres
- 2011
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In: Stem Cells and Development. - : Mary Ann Liebert Inc. - 1547-3287 .- 1557-8534. ; 20:11, s. 1847-1857
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cell replacement therapy holds great promise for treating a wide range of human disorders. However, ensuring the predictable differentiation of transplanted stem cells, eliminating their risk of tumor formation, and generating fully functional cells after transplantation remain major challenges in regenerative medicine. Here, we explore the potential of human neural stem/progenitor cells isolated from the embryonic forebrain (hfNSPCs) or the spinal cord (hscNSPCs) to differentiate to projection neurons when transplanted into the dorsal root ganglion cavity of adult recipient rats. To stimulate axonal growth, we transfected hfNSPC- and hscNSPC-derived neurospheres, prior to their transplantation, with a Tet-Off Runx1-overexpressing plasmid to maintain Runx1 expression in vivo after transplantation. Although pronounced cell differentiation was found in the Runx1-expressing transplants from both cell sources, we observed extensive, long-distance growth of axons exclusively from hscNSPC-derived transplants. These axons ultimately reached the dorsal root transitional zone, the boundary separating peripheral and central nervous systems. Our data show that hscNSPCs have the potential to differentiate to projection neurons with long-distance axonal outgrowth and that Runx1 overexpression is a useful approach to induce such outgrowth in specific sources of NSPCs.
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| 3. |
- Rytter, Elisabet, 1960-, et al.
(author)
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Biomarkers of oxidative stress in overweight men are not influenced by a combination of antioxidants
- 2010
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In: Free radical research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1071-5762 .- 1029-2470. ; 44:5, s. 522-528
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The effect of antioxidant supplementation on biomarkers of oxidative stress was investigated in a 6-week intervention study in 60 overweight men. The supplement contained a combination of antioxidants aiming to correspond to the antioxidant content found in a diet rich in fruit and vegetables. Placebo, single or double dose of antioxidants was provided to the subjects. Metabolic variables, plasma antioxidants and biomarkers of oxidative stress (lipid peroxidation and DNA damage) were measured. No effect of supplementation on biomarkers of oxidative stress was observed. Both intervention groups showed substantial increases of plasma antioxidants. This study demonstrated that supplementation with a combination of antioxidants did not affect lipid peroxidation and DNA damage in overweight men, despite increased concentrations of plasma antioxidants. The absence of antioxidant supplement effect might possibly be explained by the chosen study group having a normal level of oxidative stress, duration of the intervention and/or doses of antioxidants.
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