Cellular And Molecular Factors That Drive The Behavior Of Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells In Physiological Conditions And Disease

Cellular and Molecular Factors that Drive the Behavior of Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells in Physiological Conditions and Disease

Adult neurogenesis twenty years later: physiological function versus brain repair

The discovery that mammalian brains contain neural stem cells which perform adult neurogenesis - the production and integration of new neurons into mature neural circuits - has provided a fully new vision of neural plasticity. On a theoretical basis, this achievement opened new perspectives for therapeutic approaches in restorative and regenerative neurology. Nevertheless, in spite of striking advancement concerning the molecular and cellular mechanisms which allow and regulate the neurogenic process, its exploitation in mammals for brain repair strategies remains unsolved. In non-mammalian vertebrates, adult neurogenesis also contributes to brain repair/regeneration. In mammals, neural stem cells do respond to pathological conditions in the so called "reactive neurogenesis", yet without substantial regenerative outcome. Why, even in the presence of stem cells in the brain, we lack an effective reparative outcome in terms of regenerative neurology, and which factors hamper the attainment of this goal? Essentially, what remains unanswered is the question whether (and how) physiological functions of adult neurogenesis in mammals can be exploited for brain repair purposes.

Integrative Approaches to the Molecular Physiology of Inflammation

"Integrative Approaches to the Molecular Physiology of Inflammation" presents contributions from the many different fields and approaches to the physiology and the molecular origins of inflammation; particularly those that may be involved in the development and evolution of diseased phenotypes. We selected among the wide scope and multiple views used to probe into the molecular origins of complex inflammatory phenotypes. This book consists of an Introductory Editorial and 6 thematic chapters encompassing 24 articles: 17 original research contributions and 7 review articles (5 reviews, 1 systematic review, and 1 minireview). Both, the research papers and the reviews provide varied and insightful approaches to different facets of inflammation with approaches ranging from general inflammation and signaling depictions deeply rooted on functional biology and physiology, to computational systems biology analyses, translational medicine, and pharmacological explorations. Model systems are also quite diverse: human subjects, mice and other mammal models, cell cultures and in silico, complex networks and database studies.