In this study we aimed to determine the precise location of DRN neurons projecting to mPFC and the extent to which they contain serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine); we have also assessed whether Hcrt1/OxA neurons innervate DRN neurons that could sustain behavioral wakefulness through their projections to mPFC. The retrograde tracer

Fluorogold was injected into mPFC and DRN sections were processed for double immunolabeling of anti-Fluorogold and either anti-5-hydroxytryptamine or anti-Hcrt1/OxA antisera. Most DRN neurons projecting to mPFC were located in the ventral sector CX-6258 of the rostral and intermediate DRN, and around half of them were serotonergic. Hcrt1/OxA-immunoreactivity in DRN was observed in unmyelinated axons and axon boutons (varicosities or axon terminals). Hcrt1/OxA immunoreactivity was observed within the cytoplasm and in dense-cored vesicles of these axons. Hcrt1/OxA-labeled boutons established both asymmetric synapses (n=30) and appositional contacts selleck screening library (n=102) with Fluorogold-labeled dendrites belonging to DRN neurons projecting to mPFC. Our results show that Hcrt1/OxA neurons may exert a direct synaptic influence on DRN neurons that could facilitate wakefulness, although other non-synaptic

actions through volume transmission are also suggested. (C) 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Under the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis, sustained metastatic growth requires the dissemination of a CSC from the primary tumour followed by its re-establishment in a secondary site. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a differentiation process crucial to normal development, has been implicated in conferring metastatic ability on carcinomas.

Balancing these two concepts has led researchers to investigate a possible link between EMT and the CSC phenotype-indeed, recent evidence indicates that, following induction of EMT in human breast cancer and related cell lines, stem cell activity increased, as judged by the presence of cells displaying ALOX15 the CD44(high)/CD24(low) phenotype and an increase in the ability of cells to form mammospheres. We mathematically investigate the nature of this increase in stem cell activity. A stochastic model is used when small number of cells are under consideration, namely in simulating the mammosphere assay, while a related continuous model is used to probe the dynamics of larger cell populations. Two scenarios of EMT-mediated CSC enrichment are considered. In the first, differentiated cells re-acquire a CSC phenotype this model implicates fully mature cells as key subjects of de-differentiation and entails a delay period of several days before de-differentiation occurs.