No description available.

No description available.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

The distribution of nociceptive axons has not been fully determined in the whole rat and mouse heart. Previous anatomical studies have relied on sectioned tissue, which disrupts the organization of nerves and makes it more difficult to study their pattern, and most studies only used male tissues. We addressed this in the following two studies. First, flat-mounts of the right and left atria and ventricles, and the interventricular septum in rats were immunohistochemically labeled for calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Tissues were imaged with a high-quality microscope to generate complete montages and detailed images. We found that 1) CGRP-IR axons extensively innervated all regions of the atrial walls and the walls of the great vessels including the sinoatrial (SA) node region, auricles, atrioventricular (AV) node region, superior/inferior vena cava, left pre-caval vein, and pulmonary veins. 2) CGRP-IR axons formed varicose terminals around individual neurons in some cardiac ganglia. 3) Varicose CGRP-IR axons innervated the blood vessels. 4) CGRP-IR axons extensively innervated the right/left ventricular walls and interventricular septum. Second, flat-mount preparations of the left and right atria of male and female mice were labeled for CGRP, imaged, and digitally traced. The results show that 1) Large nerve bundle entry points and regional concentration of CGRP-IR axons were similar in both sexes. 2) The detailed distribution of nerves was digitized and mapped using sophisticated software and was similar between sexes. 3) Nerve density in the SA/AV node regions was not significantly different. 4) Morphometric parameters of varicosities in the auricle, SA/AV node regions was not significantly different between sexes. The distribution of CGRP-IR axons in the whole rat heart and the male/female mouse atria was shown for the first time at the single-cell/axon/varicosity resolution. Future studies will quantify the differences in CGRP-IR axon innervation between disease models, and other species.

No description available.

No description available.

Inaugural dissertation--Leipzig. / At head of title: Aus dem Institut für Geschichte der Medizin an der Universität Leipzig. Lebenslauf. Bibliographical foot-notes.

The name of William Harvey is imortal, and it is fitting that a quotation form his epoch-making 'De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis' should preface this thesis. the discoverer of the circulation did not fall to point out the difference between foetal and postnatal conditions of the heart and great vessels. Harvey, however, was not particularly concerned with the problems of the foetal circulation, and devoted only a passing glance to the subject, using foetal conditions to illustrate his general argument about the circulation of the blood. The subsequent progress of though on the subject of foetal circulation has been admirably set out in the first chapter of Barclay, Frankin, and Prichard's book 'The Foetal Circulation', published in 1944, but there is no doubt that the major advance since Harvey's time is represented by the cine-radiographic observations made by the authors of this book on the foetal lamb. They provided, for this species, a convincing and complete picture of the pattern of the foetal circulation, together with the change brought on by allowing the foetus to breathe and by severing the umbilical cord, thus simulating the event of birth.

No description available.

Specific regions within the adult mammalian brain maintain the ability to generate neurons. The largest of these, the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ), comprises the entire lateral wall of the lateral ventricles. Here, a subset of glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP)-positive astrocytes (B cells) gives rise to neurons and oligodendrocytes throughout life. This process of neurogenesis involves quiescent B cells becoming proliferative (epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive) and giving rise to neuroblasts via transit amplifying precursors. The neuroblasts then migrate through the rostral migratory stream (RMS) to the olfactory bulbs (OBs), where they mature into neurons. Studying the stem cells in the V-SVZ has been hindered by the shortage of molecular markers to selectively target them. Using microarray and qPCR analysis of putative quiescent neural stem cells we determined that they were enriched for PDGFRβ mRNA. We used immunostaining to determine the in vivo identity of PDGFRβ+ cells, and discovered that only GFAP+ cells within the V-SVZ stem cell lineage express PDGFRβ. Moreover, these PDGFRβ+ B cells contact the ventricle at the center of ependymal pinwheel structures and the vast majority of them are EGFR-. Importantly, the V-SVZ/RMS/OBcore axis was highly enriched for PDGFRβ expression compared with other brain regions. Detailed morphological analyses of PDGFRβ+ B cells revealed primary cilia at their apical process in contact with the ventricle and long radial processes contacting blood vessels deep within the V-SVZ, both of which are characteristics of adult neural stem cells. When PDGFRβ+ cells were lineage traced in vivo they formed olfactory bulb neurons. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to purify PDGFRβ+ astrocytes we discovered this receptor is expressed by all adult V-SVZ neural stem cells, including a novel population of EGFR+ PDGFRβ+ cells which correspond to the activated neural stem cells. RNA-sequencing analysis of the purified populations revealed that PDGFRβ+ EGFR+ cells possess a transcriptional profile intermediate between quiescent neural stem cells and actively proliferating GFAP- progenitor cells. Finally, when PDGFRβ is deleted in adult GFAP+ NSCs we observe a decrease in EGFR+ and Dcx+ progenitor cells, together with an increase in quiescent GFAP+ astrocytes. A larger proportion of these mutant cells come in contact with the ventricular lumen, suggesting that PDGFRβ is required for V-SVZ astrocytes to act as stem cells, possibly by mediating interactions with their niche. Taken together, these data identify PDGFRβ as a novel marker for adult V-SVZ neural stem cells that is an important regulator of their stem cell capabilities.