The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
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The cancer-related event that is most disruptive to the cancer patient's quality of life is pain. To begin to define the mechanisms that give rise to cancer pain, we examined the neurochemical changes that occur in the spinal cord and associated dorsal root ganglia in a murine model of bone cancer. Twenty-one days after intramedullary injection of osteolytic sarcoma cells into the femur, there was extensive bone destruction and invasion of the tumor into the periosteum, similar to that found in patients with osteolytic bone cancer. ⋯ The alterations in the neurochemistry of the spinal cord and the sensitization of primary afferents were positively correlated with the extent of bone destruction and the growth of the tumor. This "neurochemical signature" of bone cancer pain appears unique when compared to changes that occur in persistent inflammatory or neuropathic pain states. Understanding the mechanisms by which the cancer cells induce this neurochemical reorganization may provide insight into peripheral factors that drive spinal cord plasticity and in the development of more effective treatments for cancer pain.
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Elevated levels of extracellular glutamate ([Glu](o)) can induce seizures and cause excitotoxic neuronal cell death. This is normally prevented by astrocytic glutamate uptake. Neoplastic transformation of human astrocytes causes malignant gliomas, which are often associated with seizures and neuronal necrosis. ⋯ Glutamate release was enhanced by extracellular glutamine and inhibited by (S)-4-carboxyphenylglycine, which blocked cystine-glutamate exchange. These data suggest that the unusual release of glutamate from glioma cells is caused by reduction-mislocalization of Na(+)-dependent glutamate transporters in conjunction with upregulation of cystine-glutamate exchange. The resulting glutamate release from glioma cells may contribute to tumor-associated necrosis and possibly to seizures in peritumoral brain tissue.
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When released into the bloodstream, proinflammatory cytokines have the ability to trigger the transcription of different genes in cells of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), including members of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) family and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), the limiting enzyme for the formation of prostaglandins (PGs). The present study investigated the possibility that interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) plays an essential role in these events during a systemic inflammatory response. Both wild-type and IL-1beta-deficient mice were killed at different times after two different immunogenic stimuli, i.e., intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection and intramuscular turpentine injection, used here as a model of systemic localized inflammatory insult. ⋯ In contrast, the induction of these genes that was quite selective to the cells of the BBB in response to intramuscularly turpentine insult was completely abolished in IL-1beta-deficient mice. Indeed, a late and prolonged expression of IkappaBalpha and COX-2 mRNAs was found along the cerebral blood vessels in response to the sterile and localized inflammation in wild-type mice, whereas such induction was absent in the brain of IL-1beta-deficient animals. These results indicate that IL-1beta has an obligatory role in the activation of NF-kappaB molecules and PGs within endothelial cells of the BBB in an experimental model of intramuscularly turpentine-induced inflammation but not during endotoxemia.
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Serotonin (5-HT) plays a crucial neuromodulatory role in numerous physiological and behavioral functions, and dysfunction of the serotonergic system has been implicated in several psychiatric disorders. Despite the widespread importance of the central serotonergic neurotransmitter system, little is known about the molecular mechanisms controlling the development of 5-HT neurons. We previously identified an ETS domain transcription factor, Pet-1, that is expressed in a small number of tissues, including the brain. ⋯ Conserved Pet-1 binding sites are present in or near the promoter regions of the human and mouse 5-HT1a receptor, serotonin transporter, tryptophan hydroxylase, and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase genes whose expression is characteristic of the serotonergic neuron phenotype. These sites are capable of supporting transcriptional activation through interactions with the Pet-1 ETS domain and can function as enhancers. Together, our findings establish Pet-1 as an early and precise marker of 5-HT neurons and suggest that it functions specifically in the differentiation and maintenance of these neurons.