In this test, rabbit-derived cornea1 cells are cultured in the presence of test compounds, the toxicity of which are determined by their effects on cell viability. A decrease in cell number, as measured by uptake of the dye Neutral Red, serves as an indicator of potential cytotoxicity. This test has be ...

The cytotoxic effect of test chemicals in V79 cell culture can be determined by assessing damage to the plasma membrane as determined by a nucleic acid leakage assay.

The cytotoxic effect of chemicals on Balb/c 3T3 cells in culture is measured by cell viability (Neutral Red Uptake) and total cell protein (Kenacid Blue R dye binding method). Healthy Balb/c 3T3 cells (an established cell line), when maintained in culture, continuously divide and multiply over t ...

In this test, rabbit articular chondrocytes are cultured in the presence of a test compound, the toxicity of which is then determined by its effect on the production of proteoglycan by the cells, as detected by the dye Alcian Blue.

Over the last few years several groups of workers have endeavored to devise a replacement for the Draize eye test (1) in order to reduce the numbers of experiments carried out in vivo in fulfillment of safety requirements for medicinal preparations, toiletries, and cosmetics that might, either by ...

The potential irritancy of compounds may be detected by observing adverse changes that occur in the chorionallantoic membrane of the egg after exposure to test chemicals (1).

In monitoring possible cytotoxic effects of bioactive chemicals, it is desirable to have easy and sensitive test systems. The in vitro culture of pollen can provide a sensitive indication of toxicity at the cellular level, since germination and growth of pollen tubes are inhibited in the pres ...

In the search for valid alternatives to animals in assessing the acute toxicity of substances foreign to humans, the use of cells in vitro is a sound proposition. The validity of any in vitro model is limited, however, because the physiological, immunological, and inflammatory conditions in vivo ...

Neuroepithelial cells of the central nervous system constitute neuroglia (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia), ependyma, and neurons, which make up the stromal cells of the brain. The stromal tissue organization of the brain is tightly regulated, but occasionally the sig ...

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is tightly regulated and has important functions in development, tissue homeostasis, and regeneration. Deregulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling is frequently found in various human cancers. Eighty percent of colorectal cancers alone reve ...

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) against specific molecular targets (e.g., Bcl-2 and Raf-1) are important reagents in cancer biology and therapy. Phosphorothioate modification of the ASO backbone has resulted in an increased stability of ASO in vivo without compromising, in gener ...

Heterotrimeric G proteins attached to the cell membrane convey signals from G protein-coupled receptors in response to stimulation by a number of hormones, neurotransmitters, chemokines, and pharmacological agents to intracellular signaling cascades. The heterotrimeric G ...

Along with the emergence and development of the new field of “proteomics,” neuroscientists together with other life scientists have been offered the greater opportunity to clone and sequence new biologically active proteins and to assess alterations in protein expression at both mRNA ...

Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, despite decades of research, the cause of PD and the underlying mechanism of action responsible for the progressive degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons remain po ...

The incredible in vivo complexity of nervous system and activity oftentimes prevents the neuroscientist from attempting to understand how individual neural cells or a specific phenotype of neural cells contribute to a given function of the nervous system. To elucidate intercellul ...

In this chapter, we describe methodology for in vitro culture of adult neural stem and progenitor cells. The mammalian adult brain, once thought to be completely postmitotic, is now recognized to contain a finite number of neural stem cells, progenitor cells with the capacity for self-renewal a ...

The major advantage of the organotypic culture of striatal slices is that the organotypic culture preserves much of the physiologically relevant environment of striatal neurons. The organotypic culture represents a system more anatomically and physiologically relevant than ...

Microdialysis technique coupled with electrochemical detection (ED) is a relatively new method that allows detection of neurotransmitters and other substances from brain and other tissues. It is based on the insertion of a dialysis probe in a specific area and perfusing it with artifici ...

Acetylcholine (ACh) is a neurotransmitter widely distributed in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). Its role as a neurotransmitter was first elucidated by Dale, who noted that ACh mimicked the effects of parasympathetic nerve stimulation and by Otto Lo ...

Rapid, transient changes in extracellular dopamine concentrations following salient stimuli in freely moving rats have recently been detected using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (1,2). This type of neurotransmission had not been previously observed (for any neurotransmit ...