University of Cagliari

About: University of Cagliari is a education organization based out in Cagliari, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Dopamine. The organization has 11029 authors who have published 29046 publications receiving 771023 citations. The organization is also known as: Università degli Studi di Cagliari & Universita degli Studi di Cagliari.

Selective increase of brain dopamine induced by gamma-hydroxybutyrate: study of the mechanism of action.

Abstract: — γ-Hydroxybutyrate (γ-OH) produces a selective accumulation of brain DA not only in normal animals but also in reserpinized animals. This is especially evident after the administration of DOPA; while in parallel experiments γ-OH does not influence significantly the amount of 5-HT present in brain after 5-HTP treatment. γ-OH does not raise DA in rats after inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase. The accumulation of brain DA is not due to inhibition of MAO or COMT activity.

DRB1-DQA1-DQB1 Loci and Multiple Sclerosis Predisposition in the Sardinian Population

Abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurological disease caused by genetic and environmental factors. Previous genetic analyses have suggested that theMHC/HLA region on chromosome 6p21 contains an MS-predisposing component. Which of the many genes present in this region is primarily responsible for disease susceptibility is still an open issue. In this study, we evaluated, in a large cohort of MS families from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, the role of allelic variation at the HLA-DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1 candidate loci in MS predisposition. Using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT), we found significant evidence of association with MS in both the Sardinian-specific DRB1*0405(DR4)- DQA1*0501-DQB1*0301 haplotype and the DRB1* 0301(DR3)-DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201 haplotype. Detailed comparative analysis of the DRB1-DQA1- DQB1 haplotypes present in this data set did not identify an individual locus that could explain MS susceptibility. The predisposing effect is haplotype specific, in that it is confined to specific combinations of alleles at the DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1 loci. Cross-ethnic comparison between the two HLA haplotypes associated with MS in Sardinians and the DRB1*1501 (DR2)-DQA1*0102-DQB1* 0602 haplotype, associated with MS in other Caucasian populations, failed to identify any shared epitopes in the DR and DQ molecules that segregated with disease susceptibility. These results suggest that another MHC gene(s), in linkage disequilibrium with specific HLA-DRB1, DQA1, DQB1 haploypes, might be primarily responsible for genetic susceptibility to MS. Alternatively, the presence of complex interactions between different HLA haplotypes, other non-HLA predisposing genes and environmental factors may explain different associations in different populations.