Model Systems To Study The Mechanisms Of Neural Development And Disease

Model Systems to Study the Mechanisms of Neural Development and Disease

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Redox-Signaling in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Biomarkers, Targets, and Therapies

Redox homeostasis results from the balance between the production of reactive species (e.g. ROS, RNS, etc) and their detoxification by endogenous or exogenous antioxidants. ROS play several important physiological roles, however, their excessive production or impaired detoxification is associated with oxidative stress and cellular injury. Importantly, oxidative damage to vulnerable central nervous system (CNS) cells is a common pathological feature of several neurodegenerative diseases. Antioxidants have been considered as attractive potential therapeutic agents to prevent or halt disease progression but the clinical efficacy of antioxidant treatment strategies is still marginal. Improvement of antioxidant therapy effectiveness might involve adjustment of preclinical to clinical settings and development of new efficient delivery methods and will require a more in-depth knowledge of cellular redox-signaling mechanisms. Promising novel redox-based therapeutic strategies are gaining relevance to combat oxidative stress associated with neurodegenerative diseases. These include boosting the endogenous antioxidant machinery through activation of the antioxidant master regulator Nrf2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) or modulation of ROS production by NOX (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase) inhibitors. Redox regulation of key cellular functions is currently recognized as an important cellular signaling mechanism and events such as post-translational modifications (e.g. S_glutathionylation, S_nitrosylation, glycosylation, etc) play important roles in redox signal transduction and might be instrumental to uncover pathological mechanisms and identify novel therapeutic targets in neurodegenerative diseases. This Research Topic focuses on redox signaling mechanisms and aims to provide novel insights into the role of redox-signaling, with particular emphasis on redox regulation involving post-translational modifications, in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, it aims to present an overview of the potential of antioxidants as therapeutics for CNS disorders with a special focus on emerging novel therapeutic redox-based strategies. We are particularly interested in studies: -addressing new redox-based molecular mechanisms contributing to neurodegenerative diseases; -exploring the role of naturally occurring compounds, standard medications, and nutraceuticals with antioxidant properties in modulating redox-signaling pathways and limiting and/or preventing oxidative damage associated with these disorders; -addressing mechanistically the role of post-translational modifications in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders.