Cortical spreading depression is a technique used to depolarize neurons. During focal or global ischemia, cortical spreading depression-induced preconditioning can enhance tolerance of further injury. However, the und...Cortical spreading depression is a technique used to depolarize neurons. During focal or global ischemia, cortical spreading depression-induced preconditioning can enhance tolerance of further injury. However, the underlying mechanism for this phenomenon remains relatively unclear. To date, numerous issues exist regarding the experimental model used to precondition the brain with cortical spreading depression, such as the administration route, concentration of potassium chloride, induction time, duration of the protection provided by the treatment, the regional distribution of the protective effect, and the types of neurons responsible for the greater tolerance. In this review, we focus on the mechanisms underlying cor- tical spreading depression-induced tolerance in the brain, considering excitatory neurotransmission and metabolism, nitric oxide, genomic reprogramming, inflammation, neurotropic factors, and cellular stress response. Specifically, we clarify the procedures and detailed information regarding cortical spreading depression-induced preconditioning and build a foundation for more comprehensive investigations in the field of neural regeneration and clinical application in the future.展开更多
Spinal cord injury has long been a prominent challenge in the trauma repair process. Spinal cord injury is a research hotspot by virtue of its difficulty to treat and its escalating morbidity. Furthermore, spinal cord...Spinal cord injury has long been a prominent challenge in the trauma repair process. Spinal cord injury is a research hotspot by virtue of its difficulty to treat and its escalating morbidity. Furthermore, spinal cord injury has a long period of disease progression and leads to complications that exert a lot of mental and economic pressure on patients. There are currently a large number of therapeutic strategies for treating spinal cord injury, which range from pharmacological and surgical methods to cell therapy and rehabilitation training. All of these strategies have positive effects in the course of spinal cord injury treatment. This review mainly discusses the problems regarding stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury, including the characteristics and action modes of all relevant cell types. Induced pluripotent stem cells, which represent a special kind of stem cell population, have gained impetus in cell therapy development because of a range of advantages. Induced pluripotent stem cells can be developed into the precursor cells of each neural cell type at the site of spinal cord injury, and have great potential for application in spinal cord injury therapy.展开更多
BACKGROUND Gerstmann-Str?ussler-Scheinker(GSS) disease is an inherited prion disease that is clinically characterized by the early onset of progressive cerebellar ataxia. The incidence of GSS is extremely low and it i...BACKGROUND Gerstmann-Str?ussler-Scheinker(GSS) disease is an inherited prion disease that is clinically characterized by the early onset of progressive cerebellar ataxia. The incidence of GSS is extremely low and it is particularly rare in China. Therefore,clinicians may easily confuse this disease with other diseases that also cause ataxia, resulting in its under-diagnosis or misdiagnosis.CASE SUMMARY Here, we report the first case of genetically diagnosed GSS disease in Northeast China. The patient exhibited typical ataxia and dysarthria 2.5 years after symptom onset. However, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spinal cord revealed a normal anatomy. Screening results for the spinocerebellar ataxia gene were also negative. We thus proposed to expand the scope of genetic screening to include over 200 mutations that can cause ataxia. A final diagnosis of GSS was presented and the patient was followed for more than 3.5 years, during which we noted imaging abnormalities. The patient gradually exhibited decorticate posturing and convulsions. We recommended administration of oral sodium valproate, which resolved the convulsions.CONCLUSION Patients with inherited ataxia should be considered for a diagnosis of GSS via genetic testing at an early disease stage.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.H0906-C090201a grant from the National Science and Technology Support Program of China,No.3G013F843428
文摘Cortical spreading depression is a technique used to depolarize neurons. During focal or global ischemia, cortical spreading depression-induced preconditioning can enhance tolerance of further injury. However, the underlying mechanism for this phenomenon remains relatively unclear. To date, numerous issues exist regarding the experimental model used to precondition the brain with cortical spreading depression, such as the administration route, concentration of potassium chloride, induction time, duration of the protection provided by the treatment, the regional distribution of the protective effect, and the types of neurons responsible for the greater tolerance. In this review, we focus on the mechanisms underlying cor- tical spreading depression-induced tolerance in the brain, considering excitatory neurotransmission and metabolism, nitric oxide, genomic reprogramming, inflammation, neurotropic factors, and cellular stress response. Specifically, we clarify the procedures and detailed information regarding cortical spreading depression-induced preconditioning and build a foundation for more comprehensive investigations in the field of neural regeneration and clinical application in the future.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China,No. 2017YFA0104304 (to BW),2017YFA0205400 (to PPS),and 2017YFA0506000 (to PPS)the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No. 81571213 (to BW)+2 种基金the Nanjing Medical Science and Technique Development Foundation of China,No. QRX17006 (to BW)the Nanjing Medical Science and Innovation Platform,No. ZDX16005 (to BW)the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Plan of Jiangsu Province (2019)(to BW)。
文摘Spinal cord injury has long been a prominent challenge in the trauma repair process. Spinal cord injury is a research hotspot by virtue of its difficulty to treat and its escalating morbidity. Furthermore, spinal cord injury has a long period of disease progression and leads to complications that exert a lot of mental and economic pressure on patients. There are currently a large number of therapeutic strategies for treating spinal cord injury, which range from pharmacological and surgical methods to cell therapy and rehabilitation training. All of these strategies have positive effects in the course of spinal cord injury treatment. This review mainly discusses the problems regarding stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury, including the characteristics and action modes of all relevant cell types. Induced pluripotent stem cells, which represent a special kind of stem cell population, have gained impetus in cell therapy development because of a range of advantages. Induced pluripotent stem cells can be developed into the precursor cells of each neural cell type at the site of spinal cord injury, and have great potential for application in spinal cord injury therapy.
基金Supported by Hungarian-Chinese Scientific Foundation,No.HCSCF-2016-4
文摘BACKGROUND Gerstmann-Str?ussler-Scheinker(GSS) disease is an inherited prion disease that is clinically characterized by the early onset of progressive cerebellar ataxia. The incidence of GSS is extremely low and it is particularly rare in China. Therefore,clinicians may easily confuse this disease with other diseases that also cause ataxia, resulting in its under-diagnosis or misdiagnosis.CASE SUMMARY Here, we report the first case of genetically diagnosed GSS disease in Northeast China. The patient exhibited typical ataxia and dysarthria 2.5 years after symptom onset. However, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spinal cord revealed a normal anatomy. Screening results for the spinocerebellar ataxia gene were also negative. We thus proposed to expand the scope of genetic screening to include over 200 mutations that can cause ataxia. A final diagnosis of GSS was presented and the patient was followed for more than 3.5 years, during which we noted imaging abnormalities. The patient gradually exhibited decorticate posturing and convulsions. We recommended administration of oral sodium valproate, which resolved the convulsions.CONCLUSION Patients with inherited ataxia should be considered for a diagnosis of GSS via genetic testing at an early disease stage.
