10 documents found, page 1 of 1
Chronic treatment with D2-antagonist haloperidol leads to inhibitory/excitatory...
Santa, Cátia; Rodrigues, Diana; Coelho, Joana F.; Anjo, Sandra I.; Mendes, Vera M.; Bessa-Neto, Diogo; Dunn, Michael J.; Cotter, David; Baltazar, GraçaStriatal dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, a disorder characterized by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. Haloperidol is a typical antipsychotic medication used in the treatment of schizophrenia that is known to antagonize dopamine D2 receptors, which are abundantly expressed in the striatum. However, haloperidol's delayed therapeutic effect also sugge...
Hypothermia Does Not Boost the Neuroprotection Promoted by Umbilical Cord Blood...
Serrenho, Inês; Cardoso, Carla M.; Grãos, Mário; Dinis, Alexandra; Manadas, Bruno; Baltazar, GraçaNeonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is one of the leading causes of death and long-term disability in the perinatal period. Currently, therapeutic hypothermia is the standard of care for this condition with modest efficacy and strict enrollment criteria. Therapy with umbilical cord blood cells (UCBC) has come forward as a strong candidate for the treatment of neonatal HIE, but no preclinical studies ...
A different vision of translational research in biomarker discovery: a pilot st...
Anjo, Sandra I.; Dos Santos, Patrícia Valério; Rosado, Luiza; Baltazar, Graça; Baldeiras, Inês; Pires, Diana; Gomes, Andreia; Januário, CristinaBackground: The identification of circulating biomarkers that closely correlate with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) has failed several times in the past. Nevertheless, in this pilot study, a translational approach was conducted, allowing the evaluation of the plasma levels of two mitochondrial-related proteins, whose combination leads to a robust model with potential diagnostic value to discriminate the PD patients f...
Retinoic acid-loaded polymeric nanoparticles induce neuroprotection in a mouse ...
Esteves, Marta; Cristóvão, Ana C.; Saraiva, Tatiana; Rocha, Sandra M.; Baltazar, Graça; Ferreira, L.; Bernardino, LilianaRetinoic acid (RA) plays an important role in the commitment, maturation and survival of neural cells. Recently, RA was pointed as a therapeutic option for some neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD). The administration of RA has been defying, and in this sense we have previously developed novel RA-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (RA-NPs) that ensure the efficient intracellular transport ...
Rodent models of Parkinson's disease: beyond the motor symptomatology
Campos, Filipa L.; Carvalho, Miguel; Cristovão, Ana C.; Je, Goun; Baltazar, Graça; Salgado, A. J.; Kim, Yoon-Seong; Sousa, NunoParkinson's disease (PD) is classically characterized by motor symptoms; however, non-motor symptoms (NMS) are increasingly recognized as relevant in disease-state, given the associated alterations in mood (depression and anxiety) and cognition. Here, particularly in regards to NMS, we aimed to compare the motor, emotional and cognitive behavior of three animal models of PD that trigger dopaminergic (DAergic) d...
Histamine modulates microglia function
Ferreira, Raquel; Santos, Tiago; Gonçalves, Joana; Baltazar, Graça; Ferreira, Lino; Agasse, Fabienne; Bernardino, LilianaBackground: Histamine is commonly acknowledged as an inflammatory mediator in peripheral tissues, leaving its role in brain immune responses scarcely studied. Therefore, our aim was to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms elicited by this molecule and its receptors in microglia-induced inflammation by evaluating cell migration and inflammatory mediator release. Methods: Firstly, we detected the express...
Driving GDNF expression: The green and the red traffic lights
Saavedra, Ana; Baltazar, Graça; Duarte, Emília P.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T0R-4TCYCK1-4/2/6ab005aaac74c472a6f5d27aaa505084
GDNF modulates HO-1 expression in substantia nigra postnatal cell cultures
Saavedra, Ana; Baltazar, Graça; Carvalho, Caetana M.; Duarte, Emília P.Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been strongly highlighted because of its induction in many cell types by toxic stimuli, including oxidative stress. The intense HO-1 immunostaining in the substantia nigra of Parkinson disease (PD) patients suggests its involvement in the pathogenesis of this neurodegenerative disease. In this work we investigated HO-1 expression in rat substantia nigra postnatal cell cultures under ...
Differential Expression of Syntaxin 1A and 1B by Noradrenergic and Adrenergic C...
Baltazar, Graça; Carvalho, Arsélio P.; Duarte, Emília P.The expression and localization of syntaxin isoforms 1A and 1B in adrenergic and noradrenergic chromaffin cells were examined by both immunoblot analysis and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. Syntaxin 1A was found in higher levels in noradrenergic cells, whereas syntaxin 1B was similarly expressed in most noradrenergic and adrenergic cells. However, some heterogeneity was observed within each catecholamin...
Li influx and binding, and li/mg competition in bovine chromaffin cell suspensi...
Fonseca, Carlos P.; Montezinho, Liliana P.; Baltazar, Graça; Layden, Brian; Freitas, Duarte M.; Geraldes, Carlos F. G. C.; Castro, M. Margarida C. A.Li(+) influx by bovine chromaffin cells, obtained from bovine adrenal medulla, was studied in intact cell suspensions using (7)Li NMR spectroscopy with the shift reagent [Tm(HDOTP)](4-). The influx rate constants, k(i), were determined in the absence and in the presence of two Na(+) membrane transport inhibitors. The values obtained indicate that both voltage sensitive Na(+) channels and (Na(+)/K(+))-ATPase pla...