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The present study aimed to explore the mechanism underlying the protective effects of hydrogen sulfide against neuronal damage caused by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. We established the middle cerebral artery occlusion model in rats via the suture method. Ten minutes after middle cerebral artery occlusion, the animals were intraperitoneally injected with hydrogen sulfide donor compound sodium hydrosulfide. Immunofluorescence revealed that the immunoreactivity of P2X 7 in the cerebral cortex and hippocampal CA1 region in rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury decreased with hydrogen sulfide treatment. Furthermore, treatment of these rats with hydrogen sulfide significantly lowered mortality, the Longa neurological deficit scores, and infarct volume. These results indicate that hydrogen sulfide may be protective in rats with local cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by down-regulating the expression of P2X 7 receptors.

Therapeutic strategies for neurological deficits and for promoting nerve regeneration after peripheral nerve injuries have received much focus in clinical research. Advances in basic research in recent years have increased our understanding of the anatomy of peripheral nerves and the importance of the microenvironment. Various new intervention methods have been developed, but with varying effectiveness. In the present study, we selected 911 papers on different repair methods for peripheral nerve injury from the Web of Science and indexed in the Science Citation Index from 2010 to 2014. We quantitatively examine new repair methods and strategies using bibliometrics, and we discuss the present state of knowledge and the problems and prospects of various repair methods, including nerve transfer, neural transplantation, tissue engineering and genetic engineering. Our findings should help in the study and development of repair methods for peripheral nerve injury.

Curcumin has been shown to significantly improve spatial memory impairment induced by HIV-1 gp120 V3 in rats, but the electrophysiological mechanism remains unknown. Using extracellular microelectrode recording techniques, this study confirmed that the gp120 V3 loop could suppress long-term potentiation in the rat hippocampal CA1 region and synaptic plasticity, and that curcumin could antagonize these inhibitory effects. Using a Fura-2/AM calcium ion probe, we found that curcumin resisted the effects of the gp120 V3 loop on hippocampal synaptosomes and decreased Ca 2+ concentration in synaptosomes. This effect of curcumin was identical to nimodipine, suggesting that curcumin improved the inhibitory effects of gp120 on synaptic plasticity, ameliorated damage caused to the central nervous system, and might be a potential neuroprotective drug.

With advances in biomedical methods, tissue-engineered materials have developed rapidly as an alternative to nerve autografts for the repair of peripheral nerve injuries. However, the materials selected for use in the repair of peripheral nerve injuries, in particular multiple injuries and large-gap defects, must be chosen carefully. Various methods and materials for protecting the healthy tissue and repairing peripheral nerve injuries have been described, and each method or material has advantages and disadvantages. Recently, a large amount of research has been focused on tissue-engineered materials for the repair of peripheral nerve injuries. Using the keywords "pe-ripheral nerve injury", "autotransplant", "nerve graft", and "biomaterial", we retrieved publications using tissue-engineered materials for the repair of peripheral nerve injuries appearing in the Web of Science from 2010 to 2014. The country with the most total publications was the USA. The institutions that were the most productive in this field include Hannover Medical School (Germany), Washington University (USA), and Nantong University (China). The total number of publications using tissue-engineered materials for the repair of peripheral nerve injuries grad-ually increased over time, as did the number of Chinese publications, suggesting that China has made many scientific contributions to this field of research.

Increasing evidence indicates that sialic acid plays an important role during nerve regeneration. Sialic acids can be modified in vitro as well as in vivo using metabolic oligosaccharide engineering of the N-acyl side chain. N-Propionylmannosamine (ManNProp) increases neurite outgrowth and accelerates the reestablishment of functional synapses in vitro. We investigated the influence of systemic ManNProp application using a specific in vivo mouse model. Using mice expressing axonal fluorescent proteins, we quantified the extension of regenerating axons, the number of regenerating axons, the number of arborising axons and the number of branches per axon 5 days after injury. Sciatic nerves from non-expressing mice were grafted into those expressing yellow fluorescent protein. We began a twice-daily intraperitoneal application of either peracetylated ManNProp (200 mg/kg) or saline solution 5 days before injury, and continued it until nerve harvest (5 days after transection). ManNProp significantly increased the mean distance of axonal regeneration (2.49 mm vs. 1.53 mm; P < 0.005) and the number of arborizing axons (21% vs. 16% P = 0.008) 5 days after sciatic nerve grafting. ManNProp did not affect the number of regenerating axons or the number of branches per arborizing axon. The biochemical glycoengineering of the N-acyl side chain of sialic acid might be a promising approach for improving peripheral nerve regeneration.

The transplantation of polylactic glycolic acid conduits combining bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and extracellular matrix gel for the repair of sciatic nerve injury is effective in some respects, but few data comparing the biomechanical factors related to the sciatic nerve are available. In the present study, rabbit models of 10-mm sciatic nerve defects were prepared. The rabbit models were repaired with autologous nerve, a polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, or a polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells + extracellular matrix gel. After 24 weeks, mechanical testing was performed to determine the stress relaxation and creep parameters. Following sciatic nerve injury, the magnitudes of the stress decrease and strain increase at 7,200 seconds were largest in the polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells + extracellular matrix gel group, followed by the polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells group, and then the autologous nerve group. Hematoxylin-eosin staining demonstrated that compared with the polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells group and the autologous nerve group, a more complete sciatic nerve regeneration was found, including good myelination, regularly arranged nerve fibers, and a completely degraded and resorbed conduit, in the polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells + extracellular matrix gel group. These results indicate that bridging 10-mm sciatic nerve defects with a polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells + extracellular matrix gel construct increases the stress relaxation under a constant strain, reducing anastomotic tension. Large elongations under a constant physiological load can limit the anastomotic opening and shift, which is beneficial for the regeneration and functional reconstruction of sciatic nerve. Better regeneration was found with the polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells + extracellular matrix gel grafts than with the polylactic glycolic acid conduit + bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells grafts and the autologous nerve grafts.

Peripheral nerve injury has been shown to result in ectopic spontaneous discharges on soma and injured sites of sensory neurons, thereby inducing neuropathic pain. With the increase of membrane proteins on soma and injured site neurons, the negatively charged sialic acids bind to the external domains of membrane proteins, resulting in an increase of this charge. We therefore speculate that the electrophoretic velocity of injured neurons may be faster than non-injured neurons. The present study established rat models of neuropathic pain via chronic constriction injury. Results of the cell electrophoresis test revealed that the electrophoretic velocity of injured neuronal cells was faster than that of non-injured (control) cells. We then treated cells with divalent cations of Ca 2+ and organic compounds with positive charges, polylysine to counteract the negatively charged sialic acids, or neuraminidase to specifically remove sialic acids from the membrane surface of injured neurons. All three treatments significantly reduced the electrophoretic velocity of injured neuronal cells. These findings suggest that enhanced sialic acids on injured neurons may accelerate the electrophoretic velocity of injured neurons.

Hydrogen can relieve tissue-damaging oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis. Injection of hydrogen-rich saline is an effective method for transporting molecular hydrogen. We hypothesized that hydrogen-rich saline would promote the repair of spinal cord injury induced by Allen′s method in rats. At 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours after injury, then once daily for 2 weeks, 0.25 mL/kg hydrogen-rich saline was infused into the subarachnoid space through a catheter. Results at 24 hours, 48 hours, 1 week and 2 weeks after injury showed that hydrogen-rich saline markedly reduced cell death, inflammatory cell infiltration, serum malondialdehyde content, and caspase-3 immunoreactivity, elevated serum superoxide dismutase activity and calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivity, and improved motor function in the hindlimb. The present study confirms that hydrogen-rich saline injected within 2 weeks of injury effectively contributes to the repair of spinal cord injury in the acute stage.

The tumor suppressor p63 is one of p53 family members and plays a vital role as a regulator of neuronal apoptosis in the development of the nervous system. However, the role of p63 in mature neuronal death has not been addressed yet. In this study, we first compared ischemia-induced effects on p63 expression in the hippocampal regions (CA1- 3) between the young and adult gerbils subjected to 5 minutes of transient global cerebral ischemia. Neuronal death in the hippocampal CA1 region of young gerbils was significantly slow compared with that in the adult gerbils after transient global cerebral ischemia. p63 immunoreactivity in the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in the sham-operated young group was significantly low compared with that in the sham-operated adult group. p63 immunoreactivity was apparently changed in ischemic hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in both ischemia-operated young and adult groups. In the ischemia-operated adult groups, p63 immunoreactivity in the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons was significantly decreased at 4 days post-ischemia; however, p63 immunoreactivity in the ischemia-operated young group was significantly higher than that in the ischemia-operated adult group. At 7 days post-ischemia, p63 immunoreactivity was decreased in the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in both ischemia-operated young and adult groups. Change patterns of p63 level in the hippocampal CA1 region of adult and young gerbils after ischemic damage were similar to those observed in the immunohistochemical results. These findings indicate that higher and longer-term expression of p63 in the hippocampal CA1 region of the young gerbils after ischemia/reperfusion may be related to more delayed neuronal death compared to that in the adults.

The mechanism underlying acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity remains controversial. Previous studies have focused on acrylamide-induced toxicity in adult rodents, but neurotoxicity in weaning rats has not been investigated. To explore the neurotoxic effect of acrylamide on the developing brain, weaning rats were gavaged with 0, 5, 15, and 30 mg/kg acrylamide for 4 consecutive weeks. No obvious neurotoxicity was observed in weaning rats in the low-dose acrylamide group (5 mg/kg). However, rats from the moderate- and high-dose acrylamide groups (15 and 30 mg/kg) had an abnormal gait. Furthermore, biochemical tests in these rats demonstrated that glutamate concentration was significantly reduced, and γ-aminobutyric acid content was significantly increased and was dependent on acrylamide dose. Immunohistochemical staining showed that in the cerebral cortex, γ-aminobutyric acid, glutamic acid decarboxylase and glial fibrillary acidic protein expression increased remarkably in the moderate- and high-dose acrylamide groups. These results indicate that in weaning rats, acrylamide is positively associated with neurotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner, which may correlate with upregulation of γ-aminobutyric acid and subsequent neuronal degeneration after the initial acrylamide exposure.

The morphological changes that occur in the taste buds after denervation are not well understood in rats, especially in the contralateral tongue epithelium. In this study, we investigated the time course of morphological changes in the taste buds following unilateral nerve transection. The role of the trigeminal component of the lingual nerve in maintaining the structural integrity of the taste buds was also examined. Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: control, unilateral chorda tympani nerve transection and unilateral chorda tympani nerve transection + lingual nerve transection. Rats were allowed up to 42 days of recovery before being euthanized. The taste buds were visualized using a cytokeratin 8 antibody. Taste bud counts, volumes and taste receptor cell numbers were quantified and compared among groups. No significant difference was detected between the chorda tympani nerve transection and chorda tympani nerve transection + lingual nerve transection groups. Taste bud counts, volumes and taste receptor cell numbers on the ipsilateral side all decreased significantly compared with control. On the contralateral side, the number of taste buds remained unchanged over time, but they were larger, and taste receptor cells were more numerous postoperatively. There was no evidence for a role of the trigeminal branch of the lingual nerve in maintaining the structural integrity of the anterior taste buds.

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a crucial role in neural development, axonal guidance, neuropathic pain remission and neuronal survival. In this study, we initially examined the effect of rapamycin on the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway after spinal cord injury, by intraperitoneally injecting spinal cord injured rats with rapamycin over 2 days. Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect the expression levels of β-catenin protein, ca-spase-3 protein and brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein, components of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Rapamycin increased the levels of β-catenin and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the injured spinal cord, improved the pathological morphology at the injury site, reduced the loss of motor neurons, and promoted motor functional recovery in rats after spinal cord injury. Our experimental findings suggest that the neuroprotective effect of rapamycin intervention is mediated through activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway after spinal cord injury.

In this report, we present the results of a single patient with optic neuropathy treated within the Stem Cell Ophthalmology Treatment Study (SCOTS). SCOTS is an Institutional Review Board approved clinical trial and is the largest ophthalmology stem cell study registered at the National Institutes of Health to date- www.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT 01920867. SCOTS utilizes autologous bone marrow-derived stem cells in the treatment of optic nerve and retinal diseases. Pre- and post-treatment comprehensive eye exams were independently performed at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA. A 27 year old female patient had lost vision approximately 5 years prior to enrollment in SCOTS. Pre-treatment best-corrected visual acuity at the Wilmer Eye Institute was 20/800 Right Eye (OD) and 20/4,000 Left Eye (OS). Four months following treatment in SCOTS, the central visual acuity had improved to 20/100 OD and 20/40 OS.

Curcumin has been shown to significantly improve spatial memory impairment induced by HIV-1 gp120 V3 in rats, but the electrophysiological mechanism remains unknown. Using extracellular microelectrode recording techniques, this study confirmed that the gp120 V3 loop could suppress long-term potentiation in the rat hippocampal CA1 region and synaptic plasticity, and that curcumin could antagonize these inhibitory effects. Using a Fura-2/AM calcium ion probe, we found that curcumin resisted the effects of the gp120 V3 loop on hippocampal synaptosomes and decreased Ca(2+) concentration in synaptosomes. This effect of curcumin was identical to nimodipine, suggesting that curcumin improved the inhibitory effects of gp120 on synaptic plasticity, ameliorated damage caused to the central nervous system, and might be a potential neuroprotective drug.