biology

  

1. The standard of care for      ischemic stroke is:

  

steroids   (cortisone/prednisone), to prevent edema

 

recombinant tissue   plasminogen activator (tPA), aka alteplase (Activase) within three hours of onset, to dissolve the clot

 

Hemodilution (replacement   of some whole blood with plasma/saline), to reduce whole blood viscosity and   improve perfusion

 

Hemicraniectomy   (cutting a hole in the), to relieve pressure

10 points   

QUESTION 2

1. What are neural      progenitor cells? What populations of cells to they give rise to? Are they      only present in early development or do they persist in the adult brain      (in rodents and/or humans)?

    

10 points   

QUESTION 3

1. What does it mean that a      drug is an "agonist" of a receptor or pathway? What about an      antagonist?

10 points   

QUESTION 4

1. What is      angiogenesis?  What secreted substances are mainly responsible for      angiogenesis in the brain? 

    

10 points   

QUESTION 5

1. What sort of markers do      the authors rely on to (a) identify and (b) assess differentiation      potential of neural progenitor cells? 

  

10 points   

QUESTION 6

1. Describe the MCAO. What      processes are typically responsible for the actual lesion formed in the      brain following MCAO?

10 points   

QUESTION 7

1. Choose one (1) neurological      or motor function test from figure 1, and describe it. Also, look at those      p-values! 1.776x10^-15, what do you think that even means?

  

10 points   

QUESTION 8

1. Figure 2: What are      "sham", "vehicle", and "sova"? What can you      say about the expression of doublecortin in the fore/midbrain of rats that      experienced an ischemic attack (both those treated with vehicle and those      that received the drug)?

  

10 points   

QUESTION 9

1. In case it's not clear,      I'd like to point out that in figure 3B (and others) the p values are      between the bars on the left and right sides of the line. For example,      p=0.128 represents the difference between Sham_RH and Veh_RH.
   
   
        Questions:
   
        What pair(s) of groups show a statistically significant difference in the      expression of HuC/HuD?
   
        What are HuC/HuD?

  

10 points   

QUESTION 10

1. Figure 4 A and B show      that the mature neuron marker NeuroD1 is very significantly upregulated      post-injury in sovateltide-treated brains. What is the experiment shown in      4C and 4D? 

  

10 points   

QUESTION 11

1. Figure 5, why do you      think the authors looked at Drp1 and Mfn2? What results are shown? What      could those results mean?

  

10 points   

QUESTION 12

1. Figures 6 and 7 show      mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) responding to model stroke and      sovateltide. Are mitochondria only important because of their critical      role in energy homeostasis? If not (obviously the answer to that last      question is "no"), what are some consequences of mitochondrial      dysfunction following ischemia/reperfusion? That is, what's the mechanism      by which damage to the mitochondria causes/worsens the lesion in the brain