Effects of Neonatal Neural Progenitor Cell Implantation on Adult Neuroanatomy and Cognition in the Ts65Dn Model of Down Syndrome

As much of the aberrant neural development in Down syndrome (DS) occurs postnatally, an early opportunity exists to intervene and influence life-long cognitive development. Recent success using neural progenitor cells (NPC) in models of adult neurodegeneration indicate such therapy may be a viable option in diseases such as DS. Murine NPC (mNPC, C17.2 cell line) or saline were implanted bilaterally into the dorsal hippocampus of postnatal day 2 (PND 2) Ts65Dn pups to explore the feasibility of early postnatal treatment in this mouse model of DS. Disomic littermates provided karyotype controls for trisomic pups. Pups were monitored for developmental milestone achievement, and then underwent adult behavior testing at 14 weeks of age. We found that implanted mNPC survived into adulthood and migrated beyond the implant site in both karyotypes. The implantation of mNPC resulted in a significant increase in the density of dentate granule cells. However, mNPC implantation did not elicit cognitive changes in trisomic mice either neonatally or in adulthood. To the best of our knowledge, these results constitute the first assessment of mNPC as an early intervention on cognitive ability in a DS model

What Does It Mean to Follow? An Exploration of a Followership Profile in Hospitality and Tourism

Although leadership has received considerable attention from many scholars, much less research has focused on those who follow leaders; yet, followers contribute much to the success of an organization. This study explored the followership profiles of stakeholders in hospitality and tourism education. The findings summarize the followership dimensions of a sample of hospitality students, educators, and industry professionals. For each of the five followership dimensions the mean scores for industry professionals were rated higher when compared with students and educators, with courage to participate in transformation being the highest rated among all three groups. Implications for hospitality education are presented

Trisomic mice continued to drink significantly more CS on second exposure than disomic mice.

<p>There was no significant difference in degree of preference during first exposure between disomic and trisomic animals. During the second exposure disomic mice had a greater avoidance of the CS than the trisomic animals (* p<0.05). Treatment did not preferentially affect CTA learning and affected both karyotypes to the same degree. Mean ± SEM shown.</p

Treatment with mNPC significantly increased the density of the granule cells and decreased their diameter.

<p>A. There was no difference in the density of granule cells between disomic and trisomic mice overall. However, treatment with mNPC significantly increased the density of the granule cells (p<0.05). While this effect is more clearly observable in the disomic/NPC group (#), the interaction between treatment and karyotype suggests that mNPC effect was present in both karyotypes. B. Animals implanted with mNPC had granule cells with significantly smaller cell soma than untreated or saline treated animals (p<0.05). Again, this is best observed in the disomic group (#) although statistically both mNPC groups were affected. Mean ± SEM shown.</p