Molecular Medicine Successes in Neuroscience

The Scientific World JOURNAL

Cornelius

Filis

et al. 2010

The trigeminocardiac reflex (TCR) is a well-known brainstem reflex, first described in skull base and neurosurgery by the senior author in 1999, leading to reflex apnea, bradycardia, and changes of mean arterial pressure. There seem to be differences between peripheral and central stimulation of the TCR, and there is a lack of clear data about the cerebral hemodynamic changes during the TCR. However, the research of this reflex principally focused on clinical cases for peripheral and central stimulation during the last years, and on rabbits for peripheral stimulation several decades ago, so there was a need for an animal model that allows us to use the current state-of-the-art imaging methods. The new animal model protocol as introduced by the authors gives, for the first time, deep insights into the cerebral hemodynamic changes during the TCR and gives substantial evidence whether the TCR represents an oxygen-conserving reflex or not.

Section: Assessment Of Relative Cbf and Relative Cbvmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerebral Hemodynamic Changes during the Trigeminocardiac Reflex: Description of a New Animal Model Protocol

The Scientific World JOURNAL

Cornelius

Filis

et al. 2010

“…Brain tumors are generally difficult to treat because of the unique neuroanatomical location of the lesions next to critical neurovascular structures (1,5,6). In addition, the extensive infiltrative nature of the tumor cells makes their effective and total eradication challenging.…”

Section: Biological Use Of Neural Stem Cells For Brain Tumor Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cytolytic viruses and genes coding for antitumor cytokines, prodrug-converting enzymes and various neurotrophic factors have all been engineered into engraftable NSCs for delivery to tumors (1). Novel brain tumor treatment strategies that involve transplantation or infusion of cells that seek out invading tumor cells demand thorough in vivo monitoring (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)15,16). In particular, NSCs have attracted great interest because they have demonstrated tropism to tumor cells and even long-distance migration to single tumor cells (17,18).…”

Section: Stem Cell Transplantation In Brain Tumors: a New Field For Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although MRI has been extensively used to track cells repeatedly in vivo (37), the higher specificity of positron emission tomography (PET) ligands and the ability of PET to detect reporter genes are promising features for the development of long-term in vivo monitoring of transplanted cells. Such molecular imaging has expanded the role of PET from the research domain into clinical application for neurosciences (6,32,38). Currently, PET is being used as a clinical molecular-imaging tool in neurosurgery.…”

Section: 3 -3 7 S E P T E M B E R -O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 B R a I mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Stem Cell Transplantation in Brain Tumors: A New Field for Molecular Imaging?

Schaller

2010

Mol Med

Self Cite

Neural stem cells have been proposed as a new and promising treatment modality in various pathologies of the central nervous system, including malignant brain tumors. However, the underlying mechanism by which neural stem cells target tumor areas remains elusive. Monitoring of these cells is currently done by use of various modes of molecular imaging, such as optical imaging, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, which is a novel technology for visualizing metabolism and signal transduction to gene expression. In this new context, the microenvironment of (malignant) brain tumors and the blood-brain barrier gains increased interest. The authors of this review give a unique overview of the current molecular-imaging techniques used in different therapeutic experimental brain tumor models in relation to neural stem cells. Such methods for molecular imaging of gene-engineered neural stem/progenitor cells are currently used to trace the location and temporal level of expression of therapeutic and endogenous genes in malignant brain tumors, closing the gap between in vitro and in vivo integrative biology of disease in neural stem cell transplantation.

“…In the last few years, the so-called "oxygen-conserving reflexes" (OCR) [1] have been gaining increasing interest, especially among neurosurgeons and other neuroscientists [2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. This term was coined by the research work of Wolf [2], Andersson and Schagatay [6], and Schaller et al [9], who studied oxygen consumption in resting human beings.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

New Molecular Knowledge Towards the Trigemino-Cardiac Reflex as a Cerebral Oxygen-Conserving Reflex

The Scientific World JOURNAL

Spiriev

Lemaître

et al. 2010

The trigemino-cardiac reflex (TCR) represents the most powerful of the autonomous reflexes and is a subphenomenon in the group of the so-called “oxygen-conserving reflexes”. Within seconds after the initiation of such a reflex, there is a powerful and differentiated activation of the sympathetic system with subsequent elevation in regional cerebral blood flow (CBF), with no changes in the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) or in the cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc). Such an increase in regional CBF without a change of CMRO2 or CMRglc provides the brain with oxygen rapidly and efficiently. Features of the reflex have been discovered during skull base surgery, mediating reflex protection projects via currently undefined pathways from the rostral ventrolateral medulla oblongata to the upper brainstem and/or thalamus, which finally engage a small population of neurons in the cortex. This cortical center appears to be dedicated to transduce a neuronal signal reflexively into cerebral vasodilatation and synchronization of electrocortical activity; a fact that seems to be unique among autonomous reflexes. Sympathetic excitation is mediated by cortical-spinal projection to spinal preganglionic sympathetic neurons, whereas bradycardia is mediated via projections to cardiovagal motor medullary neurons. The integrated reflex response serves to redistribute blood from viscera to the brain in response to a challenge to cerebral metabolism, but seems also to initiate a preconditioning mechanism. Previous studies showed a great variability in the human TCR response, in special to external stimuli and individual factors. The TCR gives, therefore, not only new insights into novel therapeutic options for a range of disorders characterized by neuronal death, but also into the cortical and molecular organization of the brain.