Lipoprotein lipase and endothelial lipase expression in mouse brain: regional distribution and selective induction following kainic acid-induced lesion and focal cerebral ischemia

Lipoprotein and endothelial lipases are members of the triglyceride lipase gene family. These genes are expressed in the brain, where the encoded proteins are fulfilling functions that have yet to be elucidated. In this study, we examined the distribution of their respective mRNAs in the C57BL/6 mouse brain by in situ hybridization. In control mice, we observed widespread expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mRNA mainly in pyramidal cells of the hippocampus (CA1, CA2 and CA3 areas), in the striatum and in several cortical areas. Endothelial lipase (EL) mRNA expression was restricted to CA3 pyramidal cells of the hippocampus, to ependymal cells in the ventral part of the third ventricle and to some cortical cell layers. To gain insight into the role played by lipases in the brain, neurodegeneration was induced by intraperitoneal injection of kainic acid (KA) or by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). Upon injection of KA, a rapid increase in EL mRNA expression was observed in the piriform cortex, hippocampus, thalamus and neocortex. However, the levels of LPL mRNA were unaffected by KA injection. Remarkably, after focal cerebral ischemia, the expression of EL was unaffected whereas a dramatic increase in LPL expression was observed in neocortical areas of the lesioned side of the brain. These results show that LPL and EL transcripts are selectively upregulated in function of the type of brain injury. LPL and EL could thus fulfill a function in the pathophysiological response of the brain to injury

On the syntactic status of I

This study tests whether the syntactic status of the subject-adjective combination I'm/I am sure is similar to the subject-verb combination I think (i.e., whether it exhibits the same signs of grammaticalisation along two different parameters). More specifically, the study is concerned with the ability of I'm/I am sure to (i) occur in clause-medial and clause-final position, and with (ii) its preference for that-omission, by comparing the behaviour of I'm/I am sure with the results reported for I think in previous studies. The results show that I'm/I am sure behaves in a similar way to I think both in terms of its ability to occur in clause-medial and clause-final position, and in terms of its preference for that-omission. However, SURE is both much less frequent than THINK in general, and is also proportionally less dominant among the class of adjectival predicates followed by that-clauses than THINK is among verbal predicates. This makes it difficult to argue that they have developed independently through the same frequency correlation. Instead, I argue that SURE and THINK are part of the same grammaticalised constructional schema, and that the frequency of THINK could be seen to have an impact on the grammatical status of the parallel construction with SURE.</p