3 documents found, page 1 of 1
Recovery of depleted miR-146a in ALS cortical astrocytes reverts cell aberranci...
Barbosa, Marta; Gomes, Cátia; Sequeira, Catarina; Gonçalves-Ribeiro, Joana; Pina, Carolina Campos; Carvalho, Luís A.; Moreira, Rui; Vaz, Sandra H.Reactive astrocytes in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) change their molecular expression pattern and release toxic factors that contribute to neurodegeneration and microglial activation. We and others identified a dysregulated inflammatory miRNA profile in ALS patients and in mice models suggesting that they represent potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Such cellular miRNAs are known to be relea...
Going the extra (synaptic) mile: excitotoxicity as the road toward neurodegener...
Armada-Moreira, Adam; Gomes, Joana I.; Pina, Carolina Campos; Savchak, Oksana K.; Gonçalves-Ribeiro, Joana; Rei, Nádia; Pinto, Sara; Morais, Tatiana P.Excitotoxicity is a phenomenon that describes the toxic actions of excitatory neurotransmitters, primarily glutamate, where the exacerbated or prolonged activation of glutamate receptors starts a cascade of neurotoxicity that ultimately leads to the loss of neuronal function and cell death. In this process, the shift between normal physiological function and excitotoxicity is largely controlled by astrocytes si...
Glutamate transporters in hippocampal LTD/LTP: not just prevention of excitotox...
Gonçalves-Ribeiro, Joana; Pina, Carolina Campos; Sebastião, Ana M; Vaz, Sandra H.Glutamate uptake is a process mediated by sodium-dependent glutamate transporters, preventing glutamate spillover from the synapse. Typically, astrocytes express higher amounts of glutamate transporters, thus being responsible for most of the glutamate uptake; nevertheless, neurons can also express these transporters, albeit in smaller concentrations. When not regulated, glutamate uptake can lead to neuronal de...