CANDIANI S.

The microRNAs are small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and can be involved in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. They are emerging as possible targets for antisense-based therapy, even though the in vivo stability of miRNA analogues is still questioned. We tested the ability of peptide...

POU genes are a family of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors with key functions in cell type specification and neurogenesis. In vitro experiments have indicated that the expression of some POU genes is controlled by the intercellular signaling molecule retinoic acid (RA). In this work, we aimed to characterize the roles of RA...

Despite the literature providing compelling evidence for the medical efficacy of photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, its consistency in terms of accuracy and standardization needs improving. Identification of new technology and reliable and ethical biological models is, therefore, a challenge for researchers working on PBM. We tested the...

Retinoic acid (RA) is a vitamin A-derived signaling molecule acting during development and in the adult. This chapter provides protocols to characterize the role of RA signaling during development of the invertebrate chordate amphioxus. As sister group to all other chordates and characterized by the most vertebrate-like RA signaling system of...

Glycine is an important neurotransmitter in vertebrates, performing both excitatory and inhibitory actions. Synaptic levels of glycine are tightly controlled by the action of two glycine transporters, GlyT1 and GlyT2, located on the surface of glial cells and neurons, respectively. Only limited information is available on glycinergic...

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a tumor of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system that sub-stantially contributes to childhood cancer mortality. NB originates from neural crest cells (NCCs) undergoing a defective sympathetic neuronal differentiation and although the starting events leading to the development of NB remain to be fully elucidated, the...