Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are highly conserved cellular proteins that contribute to adaptive responses of organisms to a variety of stressors. In response to stressors, cellular levels of HSPs are increased and play critical roles in protein stability, folding and molecular trafficking. The mRNA expression pattern of two well-known heat shock protein transcripts, HSP70 and HSP90 were studied in two tissues of nerve ganglia, cerebral ganglion and pleuropedal ganglion of Pacific abalone (Haliotis discus hannai). It was observed that both HSP70 and HSP90 transcripts were upregulated under heat stress in both ganglion tissues. Expression level of HSP70 was found higher than HSP90 in both ganglia whereas cerebral ganglion showed higher expression than pleuropedal ganglion. The HSP70 and HSP90 showed higher expression at Day-1 after exposed to heat stress, later decreased at Day-3 and Day-7 onwards. The present result suggested that HSP70 and HSP90 synthesize in nerve ganglion tissues and may provide efficient protection from stress.

The deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) protein mediates attractant responses to netrin during axonogenesis. In the rat trigeminal ganglia (TG), axons must extend toward and grow into the trigeminal nerve to innervate target tissues such as dental pulp. Our present study aimed to investigate the exp- ression of DCC in the TG. Four developmental timepoints were assessed in the experiments: postnatal days 0, 7 and 10 and adulthood. RT-PCR and western blotting revealed that the expression of DCC mRNA and protein does not signi- ficantly change throughout development. Immunohistoche- mistry demonstrated that DCC expression in the TG was detectable in the perikarya region of the ganglion cells du- ring development. Nerve injury at 3 and 5 days after the man- dibular nerve had been cut did not induce altered expression of DCC mRNA in the TG. Moreover, DCC-positive cell bodies also showed similar immunoreactive patterns after a nerve cut injury. The results of this study suggest that DCC constituti- vely participates in an axonogenesis attractant in ways other than expression regulation.

This study aimed at investigating the gene expression profile in basal ganglia of hexa-valence chromium exposed rat based on cDNA array analysis. For cDNA array, Sprague-Dawley male rats (300 ± 25 g) were administrated with 15 mg/kg B.W/day of potassium dichromate by gavage (0.3 ml) dissolved in saline for 10 days (n=5). For dose-related gene expression analysis, rats were administrated with 0, 1, 5 mg/kg B.W/day of potassium dichromate for 10 days. Control rats were administrated with equal volume of saline (n=5). For cDNA array analysis, RNA samples were extracted from brain tissue and reverse-transcribed in the presence of [α³²P]-dATP. Membrane sets of the Atlas array II and Toxicology array kits were hybridized with cDNA probe sets. RT-PCR and Northern blot hybridization methods were employed for validation and assessment of the dose-related gene expression profile, respectively. Among the 2352 cDNAs, 43 genes showed significant (>two-fold) changes in expression. 22 genes were up-regulated and 21 genes were down-regulated in the 15 mg/kg B.W/day hexa-valence chromium treated group than control. According to the Northern blot hybridization analysis, heat shock protein 47, neurodegeneration associated protein 1 and pituitary specific growth factor 1a genes were up-regulated, but Gamma-aminobutyl-acid a1 subunit, neuroligin2, brain calcium-transporting plasma membrane type ATPase genes were down-regulated even in the low-dose of hexa-valence chromium exposed group (1 mg/kg B.W/day) than control. Genes that detected in this study may be closely related to the hexa-valence chromium-induced neurotoxicity in the rat basal ganglia and addition study of these genes can give some more useful information about the neuro-toxic mechanism by hexa-valence chromium.

흡연 유무의 남성을 대상으로 뇌 회백질의 손상 유무를 파악 할 수 있는 확산텐서영상을 검사하여 영상을 획득 한 후 Tract-Based Spatial Statics(TBSS)방법으로 뇌 회백질 부위의 기저핵 신경섬유로의 비등방도 FA(fractional anisotropy)값을 측정 분석한 결과 모든 영역에서 흡연자가 비흡연자보다 비등방성 측정값이 낮게 관찰되었으며 FA값은 통계적으로 유의하였다. 본 연구의 측정한 FA결과 값으로 추측하자면 즉, 흡연이 뇌 회백질 기저핵의 모든 해부학적 미세 구조성 변화에 크게 영향을 미치며 신경 섬유로를 손상시키고 이와 관련된 기능적 이상에 영향을 준다고 할 수 있다.