This article describes the progression of steps followed to demonstrate a gender difference associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to gain an understanding of the basis, mechanisms, and implications of this gender specificity. First, a review…
Whether two copies of the neurotrophin-3 (NT3) gene are necessary for proper development of cardiac sympathetic innervation was investigated in mice carrying a targeted inactivation of the NT3 gene. Heterozygous (+/-) and null (-/-) mutant mice had…
Previous studies have implicated human alpha-2-macroglobulin (alpha2M) as a potential regulator of neuronal development and function. Rat alpha-1-macroglobulin (alpha1M) and acute-phase alpha-2-macroglobulin (alpha2M) are murine homologues of human…
Striatal synaptosomes from ovariectomized rats were prepared to examine the effect of 17beta-estradiol on [3H]dopamine uptake. Estradiol inhibited [3H]dopamine uptake in a dose-dependent manner, with an IC50 of 7.2 microM. Use of identical…
Adult female rats were ovariectomized and received a 21-day release pellet containing either (17)beta-estradiol (0.1 mg), tamoxifen (5.0 mg), a combination of estradiol and tamoxifen or no further treatment. At 14 days following ovariectomy +/-…
In the present report adult female rats were ovariectomized (OVX) and assigned to one of four treatment conditions. Treatments consisted of administering pellets containing 17 beta-oestradiol (E), tamoxifen (TMX), a combination of TMX and E or no…
Monoamine-activated alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) has been shown to inhibit choline acetyltransferase in basal forebrain neurons as well as neurotrophin-dependent neuronal functions. The objective of this study was to determine whether…
In the present experiment we tested the effects of L-DOPA upon dopamine (DA) efflux in vitro from superfused corpus striatal tissue fragments in medium containing reserpine. The purposes of this experiment were first, to evaluate the effects of…
In the present report we examined the differences in in vitro dopamine (DA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) efflux from the corpus striatum (CS) of intact versus 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned (in substantia nigra) male rats in response…
In the present experiment, habituation/dishabituation behavioral tests were conducted to measure discriminatory olfactory recognition responses to chemical cues among control, castrated, and castrated+L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA)-treated…
Three different approaches were employed to assess various markers associated with sex differences in responses to methamphetamine (MA). Bioassay measures reveal that MA treatment results in significantly greater reductions in body weight and…
Treatment with methamphetamine (MA - 20 mg/kgx4 i.p. at 2-h intervals) or its vehicle at 7 days prior to tests of running time to exhaustion were evaluated in 60-day-old CD-1 male mice. Pre-treatment running times were not significantly different…
Depletion of dopamine (DA) reduces D, receptor number, but D-3 receptor expression is also regulated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). We took advantage of transgenic heterozygous BDNF mutant mice (+/-) to determine if reduced BDNF and…
The sex difference in Parkinson's disease, with a higher susceptibility in men, suggests a modulatory effect of sex steroids in the brain. Numerous studies highlight that sex steroids have neuroprotective properties against various brain injuries.…
In this mini-review are first presented data which highlight the capacity and characteristics for estrogen to act as a neuroprotectant of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Estrogen administration significantly attenuates the degree of striatal…
In this report we describe some of the data on the capacity for estrogen to function as a neuroprotectant of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic (NSDA) system. The data show that estrogen (E) can alter two different response characteristics to NSDA…
In the present report, the norepinephrine uptake inhibitor nisoxetine as well as a cocktail of nisoxetine and the alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonist phentolamine were infused unilaterally into the olfactory bulb during microdialysis to assess their…
Concentrations and in vitro release of norepinephrine were determined from left and right olfactory bulbs of adult male CD-1 mice. Norepinephrine concentrations from the left olfactory bulbs were significantly greater than those of the right (p…
Male rats were implanted bilaterally with cannulae directed at the olfactory bulbs and infused with either vehicle or 6-OHDA to selectively deplete norepinephrine concentrations at this site. At 5-7 days following this treatment, these animals…
In this report, a series of four experiments was performed to evaluate the relationship between the olfactory bulb norepinephrine system and intra-olfactory bulb infusion of oxytocin in the preservation of social memory responses. The present data…
Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with para-chlorophenylalanine (pCPA) or alpha-methyl tyrosine (alpha-MT) to study the effect of serotonin or catecholamine depletion on the expression of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) messenger RNA in…
The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to examine photoperiod-dependent and steroid-dependent adjustments in hypothalamic GnRH and catecholamine content in male deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus, and 2) to evaluate whether the commonly used…
Prolactin (PRL) increased basal dopamine (DA) release and attenuated amphetamine (AMPH)-stimulated DA release in vitro from rat corpus striatum in a concentration-dependent manner with 10(-5) M PRL being the most effective. The effects of PRL on DA…
We investigated the effect of ginsenoside Rg(2) on neurotoxic activities induced by glutamate in PC12 cells. The cells were incubated with glutamate (1 mmol/L), glutamate and ginsenoside Rg(2) (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 mmol/L) or nimodipine (5 mu mol/L for 24…
A neurotoxic regimen of methamphetamine (MA-40 mg/kg ip) administered at 0 (control-MA vehicle), 0.5 and 72 h prior to determinations of striatal dopamine (DA) and DOPAC (3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid)/DA ratios were compared among juvenile and…
In this report the role of olfactory bulb (OB) norepinephrine (NE) in the identification and recognition of urinary chemical cues was examined. In Experiment 1, sexually naive adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with either the noradrenergic…
Methamphetamine induces a greater neurodegenerative effect in male versus female mice. In order to investigate this sex difference we studied the involvement of Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) in methamphetamine toxicity as a…
Men and women differ with regard to their use of, and responses to, methamphetamine (MA). Analogous sex differences with regard to MA are observed in animal models. In this report, data from a series of experiments that focus upon dopamine…
Reserpine inhibits vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT-2) function and thereby impairs vesicular dopamine (DA) storage within nerve terminals. The present report compared the effects of reserpine treatment upon the striatal dopaminergic system in…
Mate mice were reported to display greater methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity than females. The present study evaluated the involvement of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) pathways in this…
Studies with the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) animal model of Parkinson's disease have shown the ability of 17 beta-estradiol to protect the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. This paper reviews the signaling pathways mediating…
Information derived from application files of potential cadaveric donors to our body donation program from the period of 1978-1993 was entered into a customized database to assess the characteristics of people contributing to such a program. A total…
