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Biomedical subjects

S Brickley

Publications and source records attributed to S Brickley.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Cerebellar granule cell Cre recombinase expression.

The cerebellum maintains balance and orientation, refines motor action, stores motor memories, and contributes to the timing aspects of cognition. We generated two mouse lines for making Cre recombinase-mediated gene disruptions largely confined to adult cerebellar granule cells. For this purpose we chose the GABA(A) receptor alpha6 subunit gene, whose expression marks this cell type. Here we describe mouse lines expressing Cre recombinase generated by 1) Cre knocked into the native alpha6 subunit gene by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells; and 2) Cre recombined into an alpha6 subunit gene carried on a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) genomic clone. The fidelity of Cre expression was tested by crossing the mouse lines with the ROSA26 reporter mice. The particular alpha6BAC clone we identified will be valuable for delivering other gene products to cerebellar granule cells.

Animals↗

NMDA receptor subunits: diversity, development and disease.

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are present at many excitatory glutamate synapses in the central nervous system and display unique properties that depend on their subunit composition. Biophysical, pharmacological and molecular methods have been used to determine the key features conferred by the various NMDAR subunits, and have helped to establish which NMDAR subtypes are present at particular synapses. Recent studies are beginning to address the functional significance of NMDAR diversity under normal and pathological conditions.

Alternative Splicing↗

Endomyocardial biopsy after heart transplantation in children.

Clinical evaluation, physical examination, and noninvasive testing have been suggested as adjuncts to endomyocardial biopsy for diagnosing acute graft rejection in children after heart transplantation. Because the consequences of delayed diagnosis or unnecessary treatment of rejection may be serious in pediatric transplant recipients, we reviewed our experience with repeated endomyocardial biopsy in seven children (aged 6 months to 19 years) and assessed the sensitivity and specificity of clinical and noninvasive data for diagnosing acute rejection. There were no serious complications in 71 biopsy procedures. In no patient did the presence of abnormal clinical findings or noninvasive testing coincide with treatable rejection that was proved on biopsy. However, there were nine episodes of treatable rejection in the absence of abnormal physical findings or noninvasive studies. At this time we consider repeated endomyocardial biopsy to be a feasible and safe procedure in infants and children and do not consider clinical findings and noninvasive testing sufficient to make therapeutic judgments in regard to acute graft rejection.

Adolescent↗