Papers by Ana Sofia Lourenço
Dissertacao de mestrado em Biologia Celular e Molecular, apresentada a Faculdade de Ciencias e Te... more Dissertacao de mestrado em Biologia Celular e Molecular, apresentada a Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Antioxidants & redox signaling, Jan 24, 2017
Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in the upregulation of endogenous neurogenesis in the subventricula... more Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in the upregulation of endogenous neurogenesis in the subventricular zone and in the hippocampus after injury. One of the main neurogenic pathways activated by NO is the ERK/MAPK pathway, downstream of the EGF receptor. However, the mechanism by which NO stimulates cell proliferation through activation of the ERK/MAPK pathway remains unknown, although p21Ras seems to be one of the earliest targets of NO. Here, we aimed to study the possible neurogenic action of NO by post-translational modification of p21Ras as a relevant target for early neurogenic events promoted by NO in neural stem cells (NSC). We show that NO caused S-nitrosylation of p21Ras in Cys118, which triggered downstream activation of the ERK/MAPK pathway and proliferation of NSC. Moreover, in cells overexpressing a mutant Ras in which Cys118 was replaced by a serine -C118S-, cells were insensitive to NO, and no increase in S-nitrosylation, in ERK phosphorylation or in cell proliferation we...
Frontiers in molecular neuroscience, 2017
In the adult mammalian brain, new neurons continue to be produced throughout life in two main reg... more In the adult mammalian brain, new neurons continue to be produced throughout life in two main regions in the brain, the subgranular zone (SGZ) in the hippocampus and the subventricular zone in the walls of the lateral ventricles. Neural stem cells (NSCs) proliferate in these niches, and migrate as neuroblasts, to further differentiate in locations where new neurons are needed, either in normal or pathological conditions. However, the endogenous attempt of brain repair is not very efficient. Calpains are proteases known to be involved in neuronal damage and in cell proliferation, migration and differentiation of several cell types, though their effects on neurogenesis are not well known. Previous work by our group has shown that the absence of calpastatin (CAST), the endogenous inhibitor of calpains, impairs early stages of neurogenesis. Since the hippocampus is highly associated with learning and memory, we aimed to evaluate whether calpain inhibition would help improve cognitive re...
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Papers by Ana Sofia Lourenço