ROLE OF GLUK2 KAINATE RECEPTOR SUBUNIT IN SEIZURE DEVELOPMENT AND PROPAGATION
It has been very well known that kainate, a potent neurotoxin is capable of inducing electrographic seizures that are similar to those found in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Effect of kainate is partialy produced through the ionotropic kainate receptors (KARs), which when physiologically activated by its agonist L-glutamate, play a key role in the regulation of neuronal excitability and synaptic activity. KARs are composed of combinations of five different subunits that create subtypes with the heterogeneity of the response upon receptor activation. The aim of this study is to analyse the contributions of different KAR subunit assemblies to the convulsant effect of kainate. Moreover we wish to find out, whether different KARs play a role in temporal lobe seizures induced by convulsants other than kainate.
ROLE OF CD44 ADHESION MOLECULE IN SCHWANN CELL PLASTICITY
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19385056
CD44 is a multifunctional surface glycoprotein which regulates cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in variety of tissues. In particular, the CD44 protein was found to be expressed in glial cells of developing, but not adult, peripheral nerves, where it is involved in the signaling mediated by ErbB class of receptors for neuregulins. Here, we demonstrate, using high resolution morphological methods, bichemical fractionation, and RT-PCR, that CD44 is strongly expressed in terminal Schwann cell (TSC) at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) of the adult rat skeletal muscle. As CD44 molecule is also expressed by Schwann cells of the non-myelinated Remak bundles of the proximal peripheral nerves, it appears to be a marker of non-myelinating Schwann cells. The analysis of transgenic rats which harbouring a mutated gene of superoxide-dismutase (SOD1G93A) causing familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) revealed that TSC activation and morphological plasticity at the NMJ, caused by the ongoing denervation-reinnervation is associated with a strong increase in CD44 expression therein. Notably, CD44 immunoreactivity is present in fine axon-escheating processes of the glial cells that guide reinnervation. In addition, we have found that both in control and SOD1(G93A) muscle, CD44 expression in TSC partially colocalizes with immunoreactivities of neuregulin receptors ErbB2 and ErbB3. This colocalization is reflect by a physical interaction, as evidenced by co-immunoprecipitation and fluorescence resonance energy transfer between CD44 and ErbB3. Importantly, when induced by ALS-like neurodegeneration, TCS activation, leads to the significant increase in molecular proximity of CD44 and ErbB3, which may have an impact on plasticity of glia cells at the NMJ.
CONTRIBUTION OF ABERRANT GLUK2-CONTAINING KAINATE RECEPTORS TO CHRONIC SEIZURES IN TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25043179
CD44 REGULATES DENDRITE MORPHOGENESIS THROUGH SRC TYROSINE KINASE-DEPENDENT POSITIONING OF THE GOLGI
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25300795
ROLE OF MATRIX METALLOPROTEINASE 9 IN EPILEPTOGENESIS