Fragile-X, Astrocytes and BMC Image of the Month

Dr. Laurie Doering and his team at McMaster University are discovering root causes of Fragile X Syndrome. A disease manifested by cognitive impairment, attention deficit and autistic behaviours.

I wanted to share highlights and links to a recent publication as it contains interesting conclusions and some of the best multiple label staining of combined embryonic rat and mouse neurons-astrocytes cultures I have seen. No wonder that this is a highly accessed Biomed Central Article and includes the image of the month. The featured  image references use of our MAP-2 antibody.

Shelley Jacobs , Meera Nathwani and Laurie C Doering. Fragile X astrocytes induce developmental delays in dendrite maturation and synaptic protein expression. BMC Neuroscience 2010, 11:132doi:10.1186/1471-2202-11-132.

Conclusions: These experiments are the first to establish a role for astrocytes in the delayed growth characteristics and abnormal morphological features in dendrites and synapses that characterize the Fragile X syndrome.

Image: Co-culture of embryonic mouse hippocampal neurons and astrocytes. Primary embryonic hippocampal neurons at 7 days in vitro, were stained with Microtubule Associated Protein-2 (MAP, green) to enable the visualization of the dendritic arbors. These neurons were cultured on top of a monolayer of primary cortical astrocytes, stained with an antibody directed against Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP, red). The cell nuclei were visualized by staining with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue).

Related Links:
Neuronal-Glial Markers-Astrocytes, Glia, Microglia, Olidogodendrocytes, Progenitors and Schwann Cell Markers
Neurofilament or NF Antibodies
Stem Cell Research Antibodies
Stem Cell Research Reagents

Primary Neurons and Astrocytes-Primary human, rat and mouse neurons and astrocytes.