Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P42574 (caspase-3)
 45,978 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Caspase-3 activity and the levels of DNA fragments of 200-600 and >4000 b.p. were estimated in the cerebellar vermis, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex of the brains of adult rats four and 24 months after training to extinction of the acoustic startle reaction and conditioned fear. Differently timed changes in the levels of biochemical markers of apoptosis were seen to different extents in these brain areas after training. These changes were characterized by a decrease in caspase-3 activity in the cerebellar vermis and the hippocampus, with decreases in DNA fragmentation in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex and increases in measures of programmed cell death in the hypothalamus. These experimental data support the view that the apoptosis of cells in the mature brain is involved in the mechanisms of learning and memory.
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PMID:Biochemical markers of apoptosis in different parts of the brain during learning. 1702 30

The effects of caspase inhibitors on different types of learning and memory were studied in adult rats on administration into the cerebral ventricles and application to the vermis of the cerebellum. The wide-spectrum caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk, given into the lateral ventricles of adult rats, facilitated the formation of long-term spatial memory in a water maze and increased the ability to rearrange the habit at the early stages of acquisition of this skill. Application of the specific caspase 3 inhibitor z-DEVD-CHO to the cerebellar vermis stimulated the extinction of an acoustic startle reaction but had no effect on its retention or reproduction. These results indicate that caspases may be involved in the mechanisms of learning and memory both via indirect influences on the linked processes of neurogenesis and apoptosis in the adult brain and by regulating synaptic efficiency.
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PMID:Studies of learning and memory processes in adult rats in conditions of intracerebral administration of caspase inhibitors. 1934 May 76