At day 2 of postnatal age, undernourished pups showed lower body and brain weights, but higher plasma CRH and corticosterone than normal pups. At

day 40 of age, brain weight was significantly decreased in the undernourished rats, while plasma corticosterone, plasma CRH and systolic pressure were significantly increased in these animals. At days 2 and 40 of postnatal age, increased CRH mRNA expression and CRH concentration were found in the hypothalamus of undernourished rats. Results indicate that, in the rat, prenatal undernutrition led to fetal programming of CRH overexpression, a neuropeptide serving as activating signal to the HPA axis and/or to extrahypothalamic brain regions concerned with cardiovascular regulation. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Polymorphisms in the gene encoding SORL1, involved in cellular trafficking of APP, have been implicated in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, by a mechanism thought to affect mRNA MK-0518 expression. To search for regulatory polymorphisms, we have measured allele-specific mRNA expression of SORL1 in human autopsy tissues from the prefrontal cortex of 26 Alzheimer’s patients, and 51 controls, using

two synonymous marker SNPs (rs3824968 in exon 34 (11 heterozygous AD subjects and 16 controls), and rs12364988 in exon 6 (8 heterozygous AD subjects)). Significant allelic expression imbalance (AEI), indicative of the presence of cis-acting see more regulatory factors, was detected in a single control subject, while allelic ratios were near unity for all other subjects. We genotyped 7 SNPs in two haplotype blocks that had previously been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. Since each of these SNPs was heterozygous in several subjects lacking AEI, this study fails to support a

regulatory role Oxygenase for SORL1 polymorphisms in mRNA expression. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“The present study was aimed at determining whether human recombinant hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) ameliorates cerebral edema induced by microsphere embolism (ME). Rats were injected with 700 microspheres (48 mu m in diameter). Continuous administration of HGF at 1:3 mu g/3 days/animal into the right ventricle was started from 10 min after embolism to the end of the experiment by using an osmotic pump. On day 3 after the ME, the rats were anesthetized, and their brains were perfused with an isotonic mannitol solution to eliminate constituents in the vascular and extracellular spaces. Thereafter, tissue water and cation contents were determined. A significant increase in tissue water content of the right hemisphere by ME was seen. This ME-induced increase in water Content was associated with increases in tissue sodium and calcium ion contents and decreases in tissue potassium and magnesium ion contents of the right hemisphere. The treatment of the animal with HGF suppressed the increases in water and sodium and calcium ion contents, but not the decreases in potassium and magnesium ion contents.