PELLISTRI , Francesca

In the experiments described in the present report, we evaluated the effects of ethanol on the activity of GABA(A) receptors of cerebellar granule cells in culture. Only very high ethanol concentrations (100-300 mM) showed a clear and significant stimulatory effect on the activity of such receptors. This result was unexpected. In fact, previous...

GABA-activated chloride currents were studied in cerebellar granule cells put in culture from neonatal rats. As previously described, 10 µM GABA perfusion of these cells recorded by whole cell patch-clamp elicits chloride currents displaying a peak and a steady-state component. The two components were studied in the presence of 1 mM...

We review Dennis Gabor's early results in light of more than fifty years of technological achievements, including the advent of CCD cameras and fast computers. By applying digital reading to one of the first holograms, we demonstrate the continuity between the classical technique and the digital implementation. This experiment can be used as a...

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Viene descritto un progetto di tirocinio realizzato all'interno della SSIS per la formazione degli insegnanti. Il tema scelto riguarda l'alimentazione, la cui educazione è indispensabile per i giovanissimi sempre più soggetti a mode importate e dannose per la salute. Vengono anche descritti esempi di lavoro in classe.

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It is widely reported that the Ca2+ increase following nonspecific cell membrane permeabilization is among the earliest biochemical modifications in cells exposed to toxic amyloid aggregates. However, more recently receptors with Ca2+ channel activity such as α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA), N-methyl D-aspartate...

GABAA receptor mediated inhibition plays an important role in modulating the input/output dynamics of cerebellum. A characteristic of cerebellar GABAA receptors is the presence in cerebellar granule cells of subunits such as a6 and d which give insensitivity to classical benzodiazepines. In fact, cerebellar GABAA receptors have generally been...

In previous work our group described the synthesis and the activity on rat cerebellum granule cell GABAA receptors of new 1,5-benzodiazepine compounds. Here we are describing the synthesis of new triazolobenzodiazepines (mainly 1,5-benzodiazepine derivatives) and the evaluation of their biological activity in terms of effects on those GABAA...

The effects of a classical 1,4-benzodiazepine agonist, such as diazepam, its catabolite N-desmethyl-diazepam (nordiazepam), and 1,5-benzodiazepines such as clobazam and RL 214 (a triazolobenzodiazepine previously synthesized in our labs) were evaluated on native GABA(A) receptors of cerebellar granule cells in culture. The parameter studied was...

Glia over-stimulation associates with amyloid deposition contributing to the progression of central nervous system neurodegenerative disorders. Here we analyze the molecular mechanisms mediating microglia-dependent neurotoxicity induced by prion protein (PrP)90–231, an amyloidogenic polypeptide corresponding to the protease-resistant portion of...

Prion diseases recognize, as a unique molecular trait, the misfolding of CNS-enriched prion protein (PrP(C)) into an aberrant isoform (PrP(Sc)). In this work, we characterize the in vitro toxicity of amino-terminally truncated recombinant PrP fragment (amino acids 90-231, PrP90-231), on rat cerebellar granule neurons (CGN), focusing on...

A wide consensus based on robust experimental evidence indicates pyroglutamylated amyloid-β isoform (AβpE3-42) as one of the most neurotoxic peptides involved in the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, AβpE3-42 co-oligomerized with excess of Aβ1-42, produces oligomers and aggregates that are structurally distinct and far more cytotoxic...

Astrogliosis and microglial activation are a common feature during prion diseases, causing the release of chemoattractant and proinflammatory factors as well as reactive free radicals, involved in neuronal degeneration. The recombinant protease-resistant domain of the prion protein (PrP90–231) displays in vitro neurotoxic properties when...

This work aims at elucidating the relation between morphological and physicochemical properties of different ataxin-3 (ATX3) aggregates and their cytotoxicity. We investigated a non-pathological ATX3 form (ATX3Q24), a pathological expanded form (ATX3Q55), and an ATX3 variant truncated at residue 291 lacking the polyQ expansion (ATX3/291Δ)....