Topic: occludin

Cerebrovascular damage and dysfunction have been suggested to be closely related to pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The effect of adiponectin (APN), an adipocyte-secreted hormone, on the risk and progression of AD patients remains unclear. APN has been demonstrated to play a protective role in peripheral vasculature, while little is known about its impact on cerebrovascular dysfunction in AD. In this study, we examined the cerebrovascular integrity of wildtype, 5xFAD, APN knockout (APN-/-), and APN-deficient 5xFAD (5xFAD;APN-/-) mice in terms of blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeabil

Astronauts endure repetitive episodes of hypergravity (HG) during takeoff and landing of spaceflights, and also in space due to microgravity. We have recently shown subtle BBB breakdown in a mouse model of centrifugation-induced HG (Dubayle et al., 2023); here we have evaluated if the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) was also damaged in this model.Eight-week-old C57Bl/6J male mice were subjected to HG in a centrifuge at 2g for 24h, while control mice stayed in normogravity (N=9/group). Mice were sacrificed after centrifugation, and thoracic spinal cords collected for immunohistochemistry. For

Antibiotics are tremendously beneficial in reducing mortality rates by combating infections but their excessive use has led to severe antibiotic resistance worldwide. The ingestion of oral antibiotics dramatically alters the gut microbiome. Critically, there is limited understanding of the effects of a dysfunctional microbiome on brain function. Male C57BL/6J mice (2–4 months) were given drinking water containing antibiotics (ABX group; ampicillin, neomycin, gentamicin, metronidazole, and vancomycin) or untreated water (CON group). Separate cohorts received butyrate, a key microbiome-derived m

BBB disruption is a disease-driving feature of several neurological disorders, including ALS, yet today no treatment exists to repair the BBB. Here, we screened the effect of a subcommissural organ-spondin-derived peptide (NX210c), known to promote functional recovery in several models of neurological disorders, on BBB integrity.Mouse endothelial cell (EC) monolayers and human BBBs (EC, astrocytes, pericytes) in static or microfluidic conditions, were treated with NX210c (1-100μM) or its vehicle. In mouse EC, NX210c induced a transient increase in occludin levels after 24h treatment (+37%, 100