Department of Cellular Neurophysiology
Laboratory of Neurobiology
The research focuses on elucidating the role of glial cells in the pathophysiology of brain ischemia/mechanical brain injury using electrophysiological and immunohistochemical methods, Ca2+ imaging and 3D confocal morphometry. Further, the research also focuses on the regeneration of nervous tissue, namely on the functional properties of differentiated neural stem/progenitor cells transplanted into the site of injury.
Increased proliferation of reactive astrocytes in rats in response to a cortical stab wound.
Proliferating astrocytes display an increased expression of outwardly rectifying K+ channels. The astrocyte was labeled during patch-clamp recording with Alexa Fluor hydrazide 488 and is GFAP- and BrdU-positive.
Transplantation of region-specific neural stem/progenitor cells.
(A) In a D6-GFP mouse embryo (embryonic day 12, E12), GFP is expressed throughout the wall of the developing dorsal telencephalon, which contains predominantly neural stem/progenitor cells. (B) After transplantation into the injured rat brain, D6-GFP neural stem/progenitors give rise to NeuN-positive neurons. (C) Electrophysiological analysis revealed that D6-GFP-derived neurons are able to generate action potentials.
Formation of a glial scar in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus in response to global cerebral ischemia.
Neuronal cell death is accomapnied by marked morphological and electrophysiological changes in astrocytes. Reactive astrocytes appearing in the CA1 region of the hippocampus are characterized by the increased expression of glial fibrilary acidic protein (GFAP) and nestin.
Neonatal neural stem/progenitor cells transduced with vectors carying either Sonic hedgehog (Shh) or Wnt-7a differentiate increasingly into neurons.
The expression of both Shh and Wnt-7a increases the number of MAP-2-positive cells; however, only Wnt-7a promotes the outgrowth and development of neuronal processes.
