Roberta SchellinoUniversity of Turin | UNITO · Department of Neuroscience "Rita Levi Montalcini" & NICO - Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi
Roberta Schellino
PhD in Neuroscience
Neurobiologist in the field of Brain Development and Diseases
About
32
Publications
7,539
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480
Citations
Introduction
I work at the NICO - Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy.
I am focused on motor system (neurodegenerative) diseases, in particular in the molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of SMA disease (in cortex and spinal cord), in strategies to counteract sarcopenia in elderly, and in the use of stem cell-derived telencephalic progenitors in Huntington's disease. I also work on the effect of green environment on mental health.
Additional affiliations
February 2016 - October 2022
Position
- Adjunct Professor
Description
- Adjunct Professor of “Neuroanatomy and Neurodevelopment” Course (BIO/16; 48 hours), Master Degree in Biomedical Sciences (LM/6), address “Neuroscience,” Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Italy. Course in English
October 2015 - October 2022
Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi
Position
- PostDoc Position
Education
January 2010 - January 2014
Università degli Studi di Torino
Field of study
- Neuroscience
November 2007 - October 2009
Università degli Studi di Torino
Field of study
- Neurobiology
October 2004 - September 2007
Publications
Publications (32)
The guidance protein Semaphorin7A (Sema7A) is required for the proper development of the immune and nervous systems. Despite strong expression in the mature brain, the role of Sema7A in the adult remains poorly defined. Here we show that Sema7A utilizes different cell surface receptors to control the proliferation and differentiation of neural prog...
Opposite-sex attraction in most mammals depends on the fine-tuned integration of pheromonal stimuli with gonadal hormones in the brain circuits underlying sexual behaviour. Neural activity in these circuits is regulated by sensory processing in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), the first central station of the vomeronasal system. Recent evidence...
Reproductive competence in mammals depends on the projection of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons to the hypothalamic median eminence (ME) and the timely release of GnRH into the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. In adult rodents, GnRH neurons and the specialized glial cells named tanycytes periodically undergo cytoskeletal plasticit...
Adult neurogenesis is a striking form of structural plasticity that adapts the brain to the changing world. Accordingly, new neuron production is involved in cognitive functions, such as memory, learning, and pattern separation. Recent data in rodents indicate a close link between adult neurogenesis and reproductive social behavior. This provides a...
In the olfactory bulb of adult rodents, local interneurons are constantly replaced by immature precursors derived from the subventricular zone. Whether any olfactory sensory process specifically relies on this cell renewal remains largely unclear. By using the well known model of mating-induced imprinting to avoid pregnancy block, which requires ac...
Sarcopenia is the primary cause of impaired motor performance in the elderly. The current prevailing approach to counteract such condition is increasing the muscle mass through inhibition of the myostatin system: however, this strategy only moderately improves muscular strength, not being able to sustain the innervation of the hypertrophic muscle p...
Background
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a motor and cognitive neurodegenerative disorder due to prominent loss of striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs). Cell replacement using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) derivatives may offer new therapeutic opportunities to replace degenerated neurons and repair damaged circuits.
Methods
With the aim to dev...
![Representative [¹⁸F]-VC701 PET coronal images of nude (A) and SD rats...](publication/368475794/figure/fig3/AS:11431281120034442@1676348456794/Representative-F-VC701-PET-coronal-images-of-nude-A-and-SD-rats-D-G-injected_Q320.jpg)
Background
One intrastriatal administration of quinolinic acid (QA) in rats induces a lesion with features resembling those observed in Huntington’s disease. Our aim is to evaluate the effects of the cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist montelukast (MLK), which exhibited neuroprotection in different preclinical models of neurodegeneration, on...
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe autosomal recessive neuromuscular disease affecting children and young adults, caused by mutations of the survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1). SMA is characterized by the degeneration of spinal alpha motor neurons (αMNs), associated with muscle paralysis and atrophy, as well as other peripheral alterations....
Background
Huntington Disease (HD) is a monogenetic dominant neurodegenerative disorder that progressively affects motor and cognitive functions as a consequence of the prominent loss of medium spiny projection neurons (MSNs) in the corpus striatum of the basal ganglia1. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) may provide novel therapeutic chances to re...
Onuf’s nucleus is a small group of neurons located in the ventral horns of the sacral spinal
cord. The motor neurons (MNs) of Onuf’s nucleus innervate striated voluntary muscles
of the pelvic floor and are histologically and biochemically comparable to the other
somatic spinal MNs. However, curiously, these neurons also show some autonomic-like
fea...
Huntington disease (HD) is an inherited late-onset neurological disorder characterized by progressive neuronal loss and disruption of cortical and basal ganglia circuits. Cell replacement using human embryonic stem cells may offer the opportunity to repair the damaged circuits and significantly ameliorate disease conditions. Here, we showed that in...
Current efforts to improve muscle performance are focused on muscle trophism via inhibition of the myostatin pathway: however they have been unsuccessful in the clinic to date. In this study, a novel protein has been created by combining the soluble activin receptor, a strong myostatin inhibitor, to the C-terminal agrin nLG3 domain (ActR-Fc-nLG3) i...
The c-Jun NH2-terminal protein kinase (JNK) is a Janus-faced kinase, which, in the nervous system, plays important roles in a broad range of physiological and pathological processes. Three genes, encoding for 10 JNK isoforms, have been identified: jnk1, jnk2, and jnk3. In the developing spinal cord, JNK proteins control neuronal polarity, axon grow...
Perception of our environment entirely depends on the close interaction between the central and peripheral nervous system. In order to communicate each other, both systems must develop in parallel and in coordination. During development, axonal projections from the CNS as well as the PNS must extend over large distances to reach their appropriate t...
Objective: To improve motor endurance in old mice
Background: Sarcopenia is the primary cause of impaired motor performance in the elderly, also responsible for increased morbidity and mortality. The prevailing approach to improve such condition has been manipulation of the myostatin system resulting in increased muscle mass, moderate improved str...
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe neurodegenerative disorder that occurs in early childhood. The disease is caused by the deletion/mutation of the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene resulting in progressive skeletal muscle atrophy and paralysis, due to the degeneration of spinal motor neurons (MNs). Currently, the cellular and molecular me...
MUSCLE PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT COMPOUNDS
A compound comprising at least two components, a first component being the nLG3 domain from the C-terminus of human agrin, and at least one second component, selected from proteins or an antagonistic antibody that inhibit ActR2B-induced o signaling activity in the presence ofmyostatin, the components being l...
Several studies have shown a link between adult olfactory bulbneurogenesis and reproduction. Male pheromones trigger anincrease in newborn neurons in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) of female mice, and ablation of neurogenesis negatively impactssome intersex social behaviours. In addition, adenohypophysealand gonadal hormones are modulators of a...
The vomeronasal system (VNS) is specialized in the detection of salient chemical cues triggering social and neuroendocrine responses. Such responses are not always stereotyped, instead, they vary depending on age, sex, and reproductive state, yet the mechanisms underlying this variability are unclear. Here, by analyzing neuronal survival in the fir...
Supplementary Figures 1-10 and Supplementary Tables 1-2
Questions
Questions (4)
Hello,
does anyone know possible behavioral tests easily to be performed on mice pups, that are about at P15 of age? I am searching for easy cognitive tests (e.g. memory tests), because I am already performing basic motor tests on pups of this age.
Thank you in advance.
Hello! I am searching for an antibody against Phosphorylated MuSK protein (in tyrosine 754/755 or in serine 751) that is suitable for IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE reactions. I would like to perform IFL and stain neuromuscular junctions also with phospho-MuSK. Do you have any suggestions and recommendations? Thank you!!
Hello! I am looking for good antibodies that help in clearly distinguish between D1- and D2-type medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum, by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent stainings.
Which markers (also in combination) are the best to discriminate between these two MSN populations? Does anybody have any recommendations? Thank you!
Hello! Do you know some good antibodies, suitable for IFL, for differently staining the M2 and M2 microglia phenotypes in rat tissue? I am searching for antibodies specific for RAT because all the Abs I have tried were good for mouse brain, but gave aspecific or no signals in rat brain.
Thank you!
