Journal of Experimental Neurology

Brief Report Open Access

Irradiation of Drosophila melanogaster Leads to Increased Autophagy in Multiple Adult Tissues

Terrence M Trinca , Bilal R Malik

A common source of tissue toxicity is ionizing radiation to which humans can be exposed in a variety of ways including environmental contamination, radiotherapy, space and aviation travel. Radiotherapy is the most common method used to treat majority of cancers. However, the irradiation of patients can lead to many negative secondary effects causing irreparable internal organ damage due to its genotoxic effects and disruption of oxidative state of cells which, if left unresolved, can lead to cell death. Cells use autophagy as a homeostatic mechanism to remove debris and damaged organelle. However, it is not known whether autophagy is affected by radiation.

Research Article Open Access

Efficacy of NeuroHelp Topical Herbal Medicine in Treating Painful Diabetic Neuropathy (DPN)

Ourmaan Nezami Narjabad , Mina Mohebbi , Fatemeh Salamat , Maryam Zahedi , Shohre Vosoogh , Sona Ghorashi

Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus and a major cause of disability and poor quality of life in patients with diabetes. In addition, health care costs associated with DPN are increasing. Given the challenges and limitations of current pharmacological treatments, traditional herbal remedies present a viable option. As a result, we formulated a new topical treatment, “NeuroHelp”.

Review Article Open Access

Protein Citrullination in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

Issa O. Yusuf , Webb Camille , Paul R. Thompson , Zuoshang Xu

Protein citrullination (PC) is a posttranslational modification (PTM) that converts a peptidyl arginine into a peptidyl citrulline. Aberrant PC is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, prion disease, and multiple sclerosis. Common among these diseases is a dramatic increase of PC in reactive astrocytes. Some citrullinated proteins have been identified. 

Review Article Open Access

Current Techniques and Engineering Opportunities for Advancement and Improvement in Electroencephalographic Acquisition and Analyses

Arun Swaminathan

Epilepsy is a highly prevalent condition and affects about 50-65 million people worldwide with great impact on health and quality of life, including medical and social aspects. Electroencephalography (EEG) represents the main diagnostic approach to evaluate patients with epilepsy. EEG techniques have achieved significant improvement over the years and keep evolving to meet increasing demands such as higher accuracy, innovation and better quality and technique to enable improved diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy and other conditions.

Original Research Open Access

Protein Assembly Modulation: A New Approach to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Therapeutics

Shao Feng Yu , Kumar Paulvannan , Dennis Solas , Anuradha F. Lingappa , Ana Raquel Moreira , Shriya Sahu , Maya Michon , Amanda Macieik , Danielle Goldsmith , Nicholas DeYarman , Suguna Mallesh , M. Dharma Prasad , Claudia Maios , Kai Ruan , Giulio S. Tomassy , Elizabeth Jensen , Emma McGuirk , Verian Bader , Andreas Mueller-Schiffmann , Jonathan C. Reed , Jaisri R. Lingappa , Vinod Asundi , Shi Hong , Steve Jacobsen , Nicholas Brandon , Lyle Ostrow , Tom Lloyd , J. Alex Parker , Kim A. Staats , Justin Ichida , James C. Dodge , Debendranath Dey , Carsten Korth , Suganya Selvarajah , Vishwanath R. Lingappa , Jeffrey Rosenfeld

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating and progressive neurodegenerative disease with a complex, multifactorial pathophysiology, culminating in death of motor neurons. We introduce a new mechanism of ALS pathogenesis via study of a novel drug-like small molecule series that targets a subset of protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) within a previously largely unappreciated transient and energy-dependent multi-protein complex enriched for proteins of the ALS interactome. This drug, found by a novel phenotypic screen, has activity in cellular models for both familial and sporadic ALS, as well as in transgenic worms, flies, and mice bearing a diversity of human genes with ALS-associated mutations.