RNAscope

We identified 2 types of cells, with positive immunohistochemical reaction to EGFR in pituitary tumors with negative reaction to EGFR. In some adenomas, we identified, at the periphery of the tumor, an important accumulation of tumor associated macrophages. In these cells, we identified a strong expression of the receptor EGFR. We identified a strong expression of EGFR in folliculostellate cells with a homogenous or granular cytoplasmatic pattern.Both adherent and gap junctions are between folliculostellate cells and between folliculostellate cells and endocrine cells.

Upregulation of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene is a frequent finding in follicular thyroid carcinomas (FTCs) with metastatic features. The augmented expression is usually caused by TERT promoter mutations. As TERT protein immunohistochemistry might not correlate to TERT mRNA levels in follicular thyroid tumours, we therefore sought to determine if visualisation of TERT mRNA through in situ hybridisation could highlight high-risk cases.

Discovered just over 20 years ago, dopamine neurons have the ability to cotransmit both dopamine and glutamate. Yet, the functional roles of dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission and their implications for therapeutic use are just emerging. This review article encompasses the current body of evidence investigating the functions of dopamine neurons of the ventral midbrain that cotransmit glutamate. Since its discovery in dopamine neuron cultures, further work in vivo confirmed dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission across species.

Mice lacking a microbiota are protected from diet-induced obesity. Previous studies have shown that feeding a Western diet causes hypothalamic inflammation, which in turn can lead to leptin resistance and weight gain. Here, we show that wild-type (WT) mice with depleted gut microbiota, i.e., germ-free (GF) and antibiotic-treated mice, have elevated levels of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), are protected against diet-induced hypothalamic inflammation, and have enhanced leptin sensitivity when fed a Western diet.

Hormonal contraception exposes women to synthetic progesterone receptor (PR) agonists, progestins, and transiently increases breast cancer risk. How progesterone and progestins affect the breast epithelium is poorly understood because we lack adequate models to study this. We hypothesized that individual progestins differentially affect breast epithelial cell proliferation and hence breast cancer risk.

Epidemiological studies have shown that environmental insults and maternal stress during pregnancy increase the risk of several psychiatric disorders in the offspring. Converging lines of evidence from humans, as well as from rodent models, suggest that prenatal stress (PNS) interferes with fetal development, ultimately determining changes in brain maturation and function that may lead to the onset of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Sensorimotor gating is a fundamental pre-attentive process that is defined as the inhibition of a motor response by a sensory event. Sensorimotor gating, commonly measured using the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the auditory startle reflex task, is impaired in patients suffering from various neurological and psychiatric disorders. PPI deficits are a hallmark of schizophrenia, and they are often associated with attention and other cognitive impairments.

The chromatin organization of the gonadotropin gene promoters in the pituitary gonadotropes plays a major role in determining how these gene are activated, but is difficult to study because of the low numbers of these cells in the pituitary gland. Here, we set out to create a cell model to study gonadotropin chromatin, and found that by optimizing cell culture conditions, we can maintain stable proliferating cultures of primary non-transformed gonadotrope cells over weeks to months.

The mechanism of pathogenesis associated with APOL1 polymorphisms and risk for non-diabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not fully understood. Prior studies have minimized a causal role for the circulating APOL1 protein, thus efforts to understand kidney pathogenesis have focused on APOL1 expressed in renal cells.

Selenoprotein V (SELENOV) is a new and the least conserved member of the selenoprotein family. Herein we generated Selenov knockout (KO) mice to determine its in vivo function. The KO led to 16-19% increases (P < 0.05) in body weight that were largely due to 54% higher (P < 0.05) fat mass accumulation, compared with the wild-type (WT) controls.