Stress accelerates neural degeneration and exaggerates motor symptoms in a rat model of Parkinson's disease

The causes of most cases of Parkinson's disease (PD) are still poorly understood. Here we show that chronic stress and elevated corticosterone levels exaggerate motor deficits and neurodegenerative events in a Parkinson's disease rat model. Animals were tested in skilled and non-skilled movement while being exposed to daily restraint stress or oral corticosterone treatment. Stress and corticosterone compromised normal motor function and exaggerated motor deficits caused by unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of the nigrostriatal bundle. Moreover, stress and corticosterone treatments diminished the ability to acquire compensatory strategies in limb use during skilled reaching and skilled walking. In contrast, lesion control animals were able to significantly improve in the ability of skilled limb use during the repeated test sessions. The exaggerated motor impairments in stress-treated animals were related to accelerated loss of midbrain dopamine-producing neurons during the first week postlesion. Correlation analysis revealed a significant connection between loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cells and increase in Fluoro-Jade-positive cells only in stress- and corticosterone-treated animals. Furthermore, stress and elevated corticosterone levels caused greater permanent loss of midbrain neurons than found in non-treated lesion animals. These findings demonstrate that stress and elevated corticosterone levels can exaggerate nigral neuronal loss and motor symptoms in a rat analogue of PD. It is therefore possible that stress represents a key factor in the pathogenesis of human PD by impeding functional and structural compensation and exaggerating neurodegenerative processes

Methods to Collect, Compile, and Analyze Observed Short-lived Fission Product Gamma Data

A unique set of fission product gamma spectra was collected at short times (4 minutes to 1 week) on various fissionable materials. Gamma spectra were collected from the neutron-induced fission of uranium, neptunium, and plutonium isotopes at thermal, epithermal, fission spectrum, and 14-MeV neutron energies. This report describes the experimental methods used to produce and collect the gamma data, defines the experimental parameters for each method, and demonstrates the consistency of the measurements

MIF as a glucocorticoid-induced modulator of cytokine production

Glucocorticoid hormones are important for vital functions and act to modulate inflammatory and immune responses. Yet, in contrast to other hormonal systems, no endogenous mediators have been identified that can directly counter-regulate their potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. Recent investigations of the protein macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), which was discovered originally to be a T-lymphocyte-derived factor, have established it to be a pro-inflammatory pituitary and macrophage cytokine and a critical mediator of septic shock. Here we report the unexpected finding that low concentrations of glucocorticoids induce rather than inhibit MIF production from macrophages. MIF then acts to override glucocorticoid-mediated inhibition of cytokine secretion by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated monocytes and to overcome glucocorticoid protection against lethal endotoxaemia. These observations identify a unique counter-regulatory system that functions to control inflammatory and immune responses