RNAscope Multiplex Fluorescent Assay

Thyroid hormone (T3) regulates vertebrate organ development, growth, and metabolism through T3 receptor (TR). Due to maternal influence in mammals, it has been difficult to study if and how T3 regulates liver development. Liver remodeling during anuran metamorphosis resembles liver maturation in mammals and is controlled by T3. We generated Xenopus tropicalis animals with both TRα and TRβ genes knocked out and found that TR double knockout liver had developmental defects such as reduced cell proliferation and failure to undergo hepatocyte hypertrophy or activate urea cycle gene expression.

Amino acid transporters play an important role in supplying nutrition to cells and are associated with cell proliferation.

The regenerative capacity of the mammalian heart is poor with one potential reason being that adult cardiomyocytes cannot proliferate at sufficient levels to replace lost tissue. During development and neonatal stages, cardiomyocytes can successfully divide under injury conditions; however, as these cells mature their ability to proliferate is lost. Therefore, understanding regulatory programs that can induce post-mitotic cardiomyocytes into a proliferative state is essential to enhance cardiac regeneration.

The goal of this study was to evaluate changes in metabolic homeostasis during the first 12 weeks of recovery in a distal middle cerebral artery occlusion mouse model of stroke. To achieve this goal, we compared the brain metabolomes of ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres from aged male mice up to 12 weeks after stroke to that of age-matched naïve and sham mice. There were 707 biochemicals detected in each sample by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS).

Regulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) directly influence brain functions and dysfunctions and involves complex mechanisms, including neurovascular coupling (NVC). It was suggested that the serine protease tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) could control CNV induced by whisker stimulation in rodents, through its action on N-methyl-D-Aspartate receptors (NMDARs).

Alcohol use despite negative consequences is a core phenomenon of alcohol addiction. We recently used alcohol self-administration that is resistant to footshock punishment as a model of this behavior, and found that activity of PKCδ + GABAergic neurons in the central amygdala (CeA) is a determinant of individual susceptibility for punishment resistance.

The excessive release of the antidiuretic hormone vasopressin is implicated in many diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Once thought to be elevated as a consequence of diseases, data now supports a more causative role. We have previously identified CREB3L1 as a transcription factor that co-ordinates vasopressin synthesis and release in the hypothalamus. The objective here was to identify mechanisms orchestrated by CREB3L1 that co-ordinate vasopressin release.We mined Creb3l1 knockdown SON RNA-seq data to identify downstream target genes.

In vertebrate species, fertility is controlled by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. GnRH cells arise outside the central nervous system, in the developing olfactory pit, and migrate along olfactory/vomeronasal/terminal nerve axons into the forebrain during embryonic development.

Based upon our demonstration that the smooth muscle (SMC)-selective putative methyltransferase, Prdm6, interacted with myocardin-related transcription factor A, we examined Prdm6's role in SMCs in vivo using cell-type specific knockout mouse models. Although SMC-specific depletion of Prdm6 in adult mice was well-tolerated, Prdm6 depletion in Wnt1 expressing cells during development resulted in perinatal lethality and a completely penetrant patent ductus arteriosus (DA) phenotype.

Epithelial organoids derived from intestinal tissue, called 'enteroids', recapitulate many aspects of the organ in vitro, and can be used for biological discovery, personalized medicine, and drug development. Here, we interrogated the cell signaling environment within the developing human intestine to identify niche cues that may be important for epithelial development and homeostasis. We identify an EGF family member, EPIREGULIN (EREG), which is robustly expressed in the developing human crypt.