dexamethasone on lung mechanics and histology, inflammation, and

dexamethasone on lung mechanics and histology, inflammation, and apoptosis in the lung and distal organs in CLP-induced sepsis. The possible mechanisms

of action of both agents were also investigated, www.selleckchem.com/products/PLX-4032.html focusing on oxidative stress (nuclear factor E2-related factor 2, GPx, CAT, iNOS, and SOD expression in lung tissue) and levels of interleukin (IL)-6, KC and IL-10 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). This study was approved by the local Animal Care Committee and conducted in compliance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC). Seventy-eight male BALB/c mice (20–25 g) were kept under specific pathogen-free conditions and a 12-h light/dark cycle in the Laboratory of Pulmonary Investigation animal care facility. All animals were randomly assigned to two groups. In the

control group (C), mice were subjected to sham surgery, while in the CLP group, cecal ligation and puncture was performed. Briefly, animals were anesthetized with ketamine (65 mg/kg, intraperitoneally [i.p.]) and xylazine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) and a midline laparotomy (2-cm incision) was performed. The cecum was carefully isolated to prevent damage to blood vessels. A 3-0 cotton ligature was placed below the ileocecal valve to prevent bowel obstruction. Finally, the cecum was punctured once with an 18-gauge needle and the animals left to recover from anesthesia (Oliveira et al., 2009 and Chao et al., 2010). In sham surgery, the abdominal cavity was opened and the cecum was isolated without ligation and puncture. The animals received subcutaneous injections of 1 mL of warm (37 °C) saline and Enzalutamide purchase tramadol hydrochloride (20 mg/kg, i.p.). Both groups were further randomized to receive saline solution (SAL, 0.1 mL, i.p.), oleanolic acid (OA, 10 mg/kg, i.p.), or dexamethasone (DEXA, 1 mg/kg, i.p.) 1 h after sham or CLP surgery. Thirty-six mice (n = 6 per group) were selected for assessment of lung mechanics and histology; cell apoptosis in lung, kidney, BCKDHA liver, and intestine samples; and measurement of CAT, GPx, iNOS, Nrf2 and SOD mRNA expression. The remaining

42 animals (n = 7/group) were subjected to the same protocol described above to obtain BALF aliquots for analysis. 24 h after sham or CLP surgery, animals were sedated (diazepam, 1 mg/kg, i.p.), anesthetized (thiopental sodium, 20 mg/kg, i.p.), tracheotomized, paralyzed (vecuronium bromide, 0.005 mg/kg, intravenously), and ventilated with a constant flow ventilator (Samay VR15; Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay) using the following settings: respiratory frequency 100 breaths min−1, tidal volume (VT) 0.2 mL, and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) 0.21. A positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 2 cm H2O was applied and the anterior chest wall was surgically removed. After a 10-min ventilation period, static lung elastance (Est,L) was measured by the end-inflation occlusion method (Bates et al., 1985).

Modern research suggested that herbal medicines could be used as

Modern research suggested that herbal medicines could be used as adjuvants for cancer symptom management and cancer therapeutics [44] and [45]. To explore the potential role of AG in colorectal cancer chemoprevention, it is necessary to integrate existing traditional knowledge of diseases with modern biomedical technologies [46]. Data reported in this study suggested that AG, as a candidate of botanical-based colon cancer chemoprevention, should be further investigated for its potential clinical utility. The authors have no potential conflicts of interest. This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health/National

Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NIH/NCCAM) grants P01 AT 004418 and K01 AT005362, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2008194), Jiangsu Overseas

Pifithrin-�� price Research and Training Program for University Prominent Young and Middle-aged Teachers and Presidents, Science and Technology Project of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicines in Jiangsu Province (LZ11163), China. “
“Glucocorticoids (GCs) are used most extensively as anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive TSA HDAC chemical structure drugs to treat a variety of diseases such as inflammation, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. However, protracted usage or a large dose of GC may be the main reason of osteoporosis. GCs have been reported to exhibit detrimental effects on the proliferation and function of osteoblasts. For example, dexamethasone Leukocyte receptor tyrosine kinase (Dex), a synthetic GC hormone, has been described to inhibit the synthesis of both fibronectin and collagen, as well as stimulating collagenase synthesis [1] and [2]. Evidence has shown that GCs induce apoptosis in both bone and cartilage, causing excessive or premature loss of osteoblast precursors, osteocytes,

and articular and growth plate chondrocytes [3]. The mechanism of GC-induced apoptotic cell death is not elucidated. Weinstein et al [4] demonstrated that prednisone increases the rate of apoptosis in both osteoblasts and osteocytes in adult mice. Gohel et al [5] also reported that corticosterone induces apoptosis in rat and mouse osteoblasts by decreasing the Bcl2/Bax ratio. In addition, Chua et al [6] showed that Dex-induced apoptosis is involved in the activation of several types of caspase genes. All these effects lead to decreased bone formation, ultimately causing bone disease and osteoporosis [7]. For over 2,000 years, ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) has been regarded as the most important herbal medicine traditionally in East Asia. Currently, ginseng is one of the extensively used botanical products in the world [8]. It is associated with intrinsic attributes such as antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, and antiadipogenic activities [9] and [10]. Few studies have investigated the antiosteoporotic activity of ginseng [11].

In the case of Polynesia, the Caribbean, and the Channel Islands,

In the case of Polynesia, the Caribbean, and the Channel Islands, human transformation of island ecosystems began at initial colonization and often accelerated

through time as populations grew and human activities intensified. The maritime agriculturalists that occupied Polynesia and the Caribbean often had a similar pattern of occupation with early records documenting significant anthropogenic burning and landscape clearance, a new suite of intentionally and accidentally introduced plants and animals that were part of transported landscapes, followed by soil erosion and later highly Tanespimycin clinical trial managed anthropogenic landscapes. The pattern identified in these two island regions is similar to the records of islands in the North Atlantic occupied by Neolithic and Viking Age peoples (McGovern et al., 2007 and Perdikaris and McGovern, 2008) and Mediterranean islands (Patton, 1996; Zeder, 2009). Island archeology also reveals important differences in the scale and magnitude

of human environmental impacts. On the Channel Islands and some Caribbean islands, initial human occupations were by maritime hunter-gatherers. The environmental impacts of these early peoples selleckchem is often not as rapid, easy to discern, or as clear as those of pastoralists or agriculturalists. Without domesticated plants and animals (except dogs) or the need to clear land for horticulture, for example, early records of human occupation from California’s Channel Islands generally lack the initial burning, landscape clearing, and soil erosion typical of many Polynesian sequences. Anthropogenic burning is evident on the Channel Islands in the past, but these events are not easy to differentiate from natural fires (Anderson et al., 2010b). Still hunter-gatherers transformed their island ecosystems in major ways, including the translocation of animals, direct and indirect influences on the extinction of mammals and birds, fire and burning, and significant impacts on marine resources. On the Channel Islands, these include translocation of island deer mice, island foxes, and perhaps other organisms

(Rick, 2013), and strong influences on island marine ecosystems and organisms (Erlandson and Rick, 2010). The early record of some Caribbean islands also documents extinction of island sloths and other vertebrates, and translocation of plant resources by hunter-gatherer click here populations (Newsom and Wing, 2004:128; Steadman et al., 2005). These data suggest that there was no single, overarching human influence or impact on island ecosystems in the past—the patterns and processes on islands were complex and related to the subsistence strategies of people occupying the island (i.e., agriculturalists, hunter-gatherers), the population densities of those people, their sociocultural systems and technologies, differences in island physical characteristics (size, age, nutrients, etc.), and the collective decisions made by individual societies.

Around A D 1400, the Polynesian population in Hawai’i began to e

Around A.D. 1400, the Polynesian population in Hawai’i began to expand out of those zones best suited to the tropical tuber and root crops (especially taro), which had been introduced at initial settlement.

By this time period, the “salubrious core” regions with alluvial soils and permanent streams had already been converted to extensive pondfield irrigation systems. The new phase of expansion into more marginal landscapes—lacking the water resources for irrigation, but amenable to intensive dryland farming—may have been spurred by a late introduction of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) of South American origin. Certainly, the sweet potato along with dryland taro became TSA HDAC solubility dmso the main staple base for large populations that began to convert the leeward regions of the islands into vast field systems. The most intensively studied of

these systems is the Leeward Kohala Field System (LKFS) on Hawai’i Island, covering a continuous area of at least 60 km2 ( Vitousek et al., 2004). Expansion and intensification of the LKFS was closely linked with exponential growth in farming households ( Field et al., 2011), and with the emergence of an archaic state whose political economy was based on the extraction of surplus from this and other intensive dryland field systems on the island. By the time of European contact (A.D. 1778–79), the Hawaiian population probably numbered in excess of half a million people, check details and the lowland zones of all of the main islands had been transformed into thoroughly managed anthropogenic ecosystems. The four Polynesian cases summarized above—which we stress are representative of many other islands and archipelagoes throughout this vast region—share a number of features relevant to the issue of Oxaprozin dating the Holocene/Anthropocene transition. The timing of human arrival ranges from ca. 880–896 B.C in Tonga to as late as A.D. 1280 for New Zealand. But in each case, anthropogenic modifications of the environment begin

soon after colonization, and are detectable in: (1) changes in pollen spectra and increased charcoal deposition in swamps and lakes; (2) the presence of Polynesian introduced taxa, especially the Pacific rat; (3) increased rates of erosion and sedimentation; and (4) extirpation or extinction of endemic and indigenous fauna, such as birds and land snails. If a criterion for recognition of the Anthropocene is that it should be detectable in the stratigraphic and paleontological (or zooarchaeological) records, then the lesson from Polynesia is that the arrival of humans and the onset of the Anthropocene are effectively coeval. Compared to other island groups, few archeological studies have investigated how humans affected Caribbean environments through time (Fitzpatrick and Keegan, 2007 and Fitzpatrick et al., 2008; but see Steadman et al., 1984 and Steadman et al., 2005).

The authors are therefore

The authors are therefore Decitabine retracting this article. MH accepts responsibility for the error. “
“The hot-hand fallacy and gamblers’ fallacy are assumed to be common among gamblers because it

is thought that they believe that outcomes for future bets are predictable from those of previous ones. The term a “hot hand” was initially used in basketball to describe a basketball player who had been very successful in scoring over a short period. It was believed that such a player had a “hot hand” and that other players should pass the ball to him to score more. This term is now used more generally to describe someone who is winning persistently and can be regarded as “in luck”. In gambling scenarios, a player with a genuine hot hand should keep betting and bet more. There have been extensive discussions about

the existence of the hot hand effect. Some researchers have failed to find any evidence of such an effect (Gilovich et al., 1985, Koehler and Conley, 2003, Larkey et al., 1989 and Wardrop, 1999). Others claim there is evidence of the hot hand effect in games that require considerable physical skill, such as golf, darts, and basketball (Arkes, 2010, Arkes, 2011, Gilden and Wilson, 1995 and Yaari and Eisenmann, 2011). People gambling on sports outcomes may continue to do so after winning because they Osimertinib chemical structure believe they have a hot hand. Such a belief may be a fallacy. It is, however, possible that their belief is reasonable. For example, on some occasions, they may realize that their betting strategy is producing profits and that it would be sensible to continue with it. Alternatively, a hot hand could arise from some change in their betting strategy. For example, after winning, they may modify their bets in some way to increase their chances of winning again.

People gambling on sports outcomes may continue to do so after losing because they believe in the gamblers’ fallacy. This is the erroneous belief that deviations from initial expectations are corrected even when outcomes are produced by independent random processes. Thus, people’s initial expectations that, in the long run, tosses of a fair coin will result in a 50:50 chance of heads and tails are associated with a belief that Cepharanthine deviations from that ratio will be corrected. Hence, if five tosses of a fair coin have produced a sequence of five heads, the chance of tails on the next toss will be judged to be larger than 50%. This is because the coin “ought to” have a 50:50 chance of heads and tails in the long run and, as a result, more tails are “needed” to correct the deviation from that ratio produced by the first five tosses. Betting strategies are often based on the previous betting results (Oskarsson, Van Boven, McClelland, & Hastie, 2009). The strategies based on a belief in a hot hand and gamblers’ fallacy may conflict.

For example, during field reconnaissance in 2003, deposition of s

For example, during field reconnaissance in 2003, deposition of sediment and large woody material in the tributary mouth bar upstream of Anderson Creek was observed; in 2004, a bioengineering project constructed

included vegetation planting, reducing bank angle, removing the bar, and utilizing the sediment to construct rock-willow baffles along modified stream banks. Extraction of gravel from bars has see more occurred periodically in Anderson Creek immediately downstream of the confluence with Robinson Creek. Detailed surveys reach extend 1.3 km from the confluence of Robinson Creek with Anderson Creek to the Fairgrounds Bridge, adjacent to downtown Boonville (Fig. 1). Residences and commercial structures are present on both sides of the channel, including two other bridges (Fig. 4). Eroding channel banks are widespread, riparian trees present on the terrace are remnants of the former riparian buy BMN 673 forest, and where present, tree roots are often exposed except where restoration planting within the channel has occurred. During field surveys in Robinson Creek during 2005 and 2008 we constructed a planimetric map (Fig. 4) by overlaying field data on a 2004 color photograph (Digital Globe, Inc; 1:6000). The top edge of the terrace bank

was defined from the photograph and approximated where obscured by vegetation. Longitudinal surveys, collected with an electronic distance meter (EDM) provided three profile data sets: thalweg profiles, bar surface profiles, and terrace edge profiles. We measured active channel width at the base of bank at irregular increments selected to document planimetric variation using a laser range finder and compass. Grain size measurements at eight locations followed the Wolman (1954) method. Bar and terrace heights were defined as the difference between the reach average thalweg elevations and the reach averaged tuclazepam bar surface and terrace elevations, respectively.

To illustrate changes in transport capacity at the scale of the study reach due to changes in gradient in the lower study reach, we first compared bed shear stress,τo, at time one (t1) when Robinson Creek was at the elevation of the terrace, and at time two (t2), or the present: equation(1) t1 τo1=γRS1t1 τo1=γRS1 equation(2) t2 τo2=γRS2t2 τo2=γRS2where the specific weight of water (9807 N/m3) γ = ρwg, where ρw is the density of water and g is the acceleration of gravity; R is the hydraulic radius; and S1 is the slope at t1 and S2 is the slope at t2. We then compared bed shear stress, τo, to the critical shear stress needed to initiate particle motion, τc, to derive excess shear stress using the Shields equation: equation(3) τc=τ∗(ρs−ρw)g D50τc=τ∗(ρs−ρw)g D50where Shields parameter for mobility, τ* = 0.035 ( Parker and Klingeman, 1982), ρs and ρw are the density of sediment and water, respectively, and D50 is the average median grain size.

Most recently studies have started to show agriculturally related

Most recently studies have started to show agriculturally related alluviation in sub-Saharan Africa particularly Mali ( Lespez et al., 2011 and Lespez et al., 2013) but these studies are in their infancy and complicated by the ubiquity of herding as an agricultural system. Similarly

click here very few studies have investigated Holocene alluvial chronologies in SE Asia and also pre-European Americas. However, many studies have shown that the expansion of clearance and arable farming in both Australia and North America is associated with an unambiguous stratigraphic marker of a Holocene alluvial soil covered by rapid overbank sedimentation ( Fanning, 1994, Rustomji and Pietsch, 2007 and Walter and Merritts, 2008). This change in the driving factors of sediment transport has practical implications through rates of reservoir sedimentation which have now decreased sediment output to the Ku-0059436 nmr oceans (Sylvitski et al., 2005) and sediment management issues. Humans now are both the dominant geomorphological force on the Earth and by default are therefore managing the Earth

surface sediment system (Hooke, 1994, Wilkinson, 2005 and Haff, 2010). The implications go as far as legislation such as the Water Framework Directive in Europe (Lespez et al., 2011). Indeed awareness of human as geomorphic agents goes back a long way. In the 16th century Elizabeth I of England passed an act seeking to control mining activities on Dartmoor in order to prevent her harbour at Plymouth from being silted up. Our role was more formally recognised by G P Marsh, one of the first geomorphologists to realise the potential of human activities in Gilbert’s (1877) classic study

of mining in the Henry Mountains, USA. If we accept that there is a mid or late Holocene hiatus in the geological record within fluvial systems that is near-global and associated with human activity, principally agricultural intensification, then this would be a prima-facie case for the identification of a geological boundary with an exemplary site being used as a Global Stratigraphic Section Glycogen branching enzyme and Point (GSSP). The problem is that this boundary of whatever assigned rank would be diachronous by up to approximately 4000 years spanning from the mid to late Holocene. In geological terms this is not a problem in that as defined on a combination of litho, bio and chronostratigraphic criteria the finest temporal resolution of any pre-Pleistocene boundaries is approximately 5000 years. However, the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary has a far higher precision either defined conventionally, or as it is now from the NGRIP δ18O record (Walker et al., 2009). It would also be difficult to define it with less precision than stage boundaries within the Holocene sensu Walker et al. (2012) and Brown et al. (2013). This leaves two principal alternatives.

2 mRNA coimmunoprecipitated

with FMRP from the adult mous

2 mRNA coimmunoprecipitated

with FMRP from the adult mouse brain lysate (Figure 3A), similar to the coimmunoprecipitation of FMRP with PSD-95 mRNA, another target of FMRP. Finally, we monitored concerted movements of FMRP and Kv4.2-3′UTR by live imaging of neurons expressing MS2-GFP-NLS and MS2BS(6X)-Kv4.2-S.3′UTR together with fluorescently tagged FMRP following NMDAR activation, which enhanced the movement of these granules (Figure 3C). Taken together, these findings indicate that FMRP is associated with MEK phosphorylation Kv4.2 mRNA in neuronal dendrites. We then tested for binding of FMRP to the 3′UTR of Kv4.2 mRNA, because in silico analysis of this region has revealed the presence of U-rich stretches (Figure S2), a sequence motif for RNA binding to FMRP (Chen et al., 2003). By using streptavidin-beads to pull down proteins from brain lysates bound to biotinylated Kv4.2-3′UTR, we found FMRP binding of Kv4.2-S.3′UTR (Figure 3D) at a level comparable to that of Arc-3′UTR or PSD-95-3′UTR (Figures S4B and S5A). This binding is specific to FMRP because Kv4.2-3′UTR

showed no association with the RNA-binding protein Staufen or non-RNA binding proteins MK-2206 manufacturer such as mTOR, dynamin 1, and actin (Figure S5A). Furthermore, the binding is direct as evident from the interaction between bacterially expressed and purified FMRP and Kv4.2-S.3′UTR, at a level comparable to the interaction between FMRP and PSD-95-3′UTR (Figure 3E; Figure S5B). This binding is specific because FMRP binds Kv4.2-3′UTR but not GFP mRNA or Kv4.2-A.S.3′UTR (Figures 3D and 3E). Next, we examined the three domains enough of FMRP individually. Only the C-terminal domain of FMRP was specifically pulled-down with Kv4.2-3′UTR (Figure 3F). This domain contains an RGG box known to have an affinity for mRNAs. We then tested five RNA fragments that together encompass the entire 3′UTR of the mouse Kv4.2 mRNA, and found only

fragment 2 and fragment 5 that contain U-rich sequences associated with the purified FMRP C-terminal domain (Figure 3G). Notably, fragment 2 includes an evolutionarily conserved U-rich sequence (Figure S2). Taken together, these studies show that the direct interaction between FMRP and Kv4.2-3′UTR is likely evolutionarily conserved. We found the Kv4.2 mRNA level in the hippocampus of fmr1 KO mice was similar to that in wild-type (WT) mice ( Figure 4A). We confirmed the gene targeting using primers that amplify exon 5 (or exon 1) of the fmr1 (or Kv4.2) gene that is interrupted by the neomycin resistance selection marker gene in the fmr1 (or Kv4.2) KO mice ( Figure 4A); using other primers we found that these KO mice have some remnant, genetically altered, transcripts. Using the MS2 system to track the subcellular localization of MS2BS(6X)-Kv4.2-S.3′UTR in hippocampal neurons with or without FMRP, we found similar dendritic targeting ( Figure 4B), indicating that FMRP is not required for dendritic targeting of Kv4.2-3′UTR.

Therefore, our results suggest that a complete representation of

Therefore, our results suggest that a complete representation of sounds emerges only at a global scale, potentially encompassing whole auditory fields. This is in line with the observation that arrays of local field potential recordings in the human brain are sufficient to retrieve much of the information about

sounds despite their lack of spatial precision and their inability to account for single-neuron activity (Pasley et al., 2012). Thus, our results corroborate the idea that the function of the auditory cortex is dominated by broad scale dynamics in which groups of hundreds of neurons rather than single neurons form the functional units. Our results also demonstrate that these functional Olaparib cell line units are capable of producing discrete network Protease Inhibitor Library states. The discrete nature of local response modes is highlighted by the fact that when two modes are observed at the same location they cannot simultaneously coexist, and transitions between these between the two response modes are highly nonlinear (Figure 5).

This observation is further corroborated by the comparison of response patterns elicited by mixed sound stimuli and by their individual components which reveals that subnetworks corresponding to two modes interact in a competitive fashion (see Figures 5H and S5; Kurt et al., 2008). This dynamics could result of large scale excitatory and in particular inhibitory interactions generating collective, attractor-like dynamics (Hopfield, 1982) and may be an optimal strategy to encode information under noisy conditions (Tkacik et al., 2010). Based on theoretical considerations, discrete network states have been proposed to underlie the formation of categories and objects in brain circuits (Hopfield, 1982). However, it is only recently that experimental evidence Ergoloid for such dynamics has been obtained (Niessing and Friedrich, 2010; Wills et al.,

2005). Our observation that, in naive mice, various novel sounds trigger the same local response pattern indicates that local AC ensembles spontaneously form categories of stimuli independent of prior training to specific sounds. We show that discrete representations measured by calcium imaging quantitatively reflect spontaneous categorization of sounds measured in a behavioral task. Therefore, the discrete network dynamics in AC are compatible with behaviorally measured perceptual categorization. Predictions of the categorization behavior are based on a linear classifier (SVM). This classifier is mathematically equivalent to a binary neuron that would be linearly summing up inputs from the recorded auditory cortex neurons (Shawe-Taylor and Cristianini, 2000), similar to the perceptron model (Rosenblatt, 1958). Interestingly, such a simple architecture allowed us to predict the behavioral response even when mice alternated between two choices with close to 50% probability (Figure 7D).

In lateral LMC neurons, ephrin-As are expressed at low levels and

In lateral LMC neurons, ephrin-As are expressed at low levels and interact in trans with EphA4 receptors expressed in the limb mesenchyme leading to the attraction of lateral LMC into the dorsal limb nerve. In medial LMC neurons,

ephrin-As are expressed at much higher levels and attenuate coexpressed EphAs in cis, enabling medial LMC axons to grow into the ventral limb where ephrin-As are present. Mirroring these interactions, lateral LMC neurons express high levels of ephrin-Bs that attenuate endogenous EphB receptors in cis, enabling lateral LMC axons to grow into the dorsal limb where ephrin-Bs abound, while medial LMC axons express low levels of ephrin-Bs Afatinib that mediate attractive responses PD-1/PD-L1 activation to EphB receptors expressed in the ventral limb ( Kania and Jessell, 2003). Thus, in addition to restriction at the protein expression level, we propose that Eph receptor function is also regulated by ephrins in cis such that even though some Ephs are apparently expressed in all LMC neurons, they exert their function only in neurons with low levels of same-class ephrin. For example, our findings explain a recent observation where, although EphB2 and EphB3 are expressed in apparently all LMC neurons, EphB2−/−/EphB3−/− knockout mice display a phenotype

only in medial LMC neurons ( Luria et al., 2008), presumably because EphB function is normally blocked in lateral LMC neurons by high ephrin-B expression levels. Similarly, the ventral limb projection phenotype of lateral LMC neurons overexpressing ephrin-A is stronger than EphA4 loss of function ( Luria et al., 2008) probably because of increased global cis-attenuation of all EphAs that are normally present in lateral LMC neurons. Axon sorting through axon-axon interactions has been proposed as a key event in Olopatadine the establishment of neural maps (Brown et al., 2000, Feinstein and Mombaerts, 2004 and Imai et al., 2009), implying that Eph-ephrin interactions might direct

the selection of limb trajectory by modulating the fasciculation of LMC axons. For example, Ephs and ephrins function in the context of sensory and motor axon sorting in the periphery, which in turn influences the trajectory choices made by these axons (Gallarda et al., 2008). Our observation of differential expression of Ephs and ephrins in LMC divisions implied a possible involvement of fasciculation in modulating LMC axon limb trajectory choice. However, our in vitro results show that both ephrin:Eph forward signaling and ephrin-mediated cis-attenuation of Eph function are retained in low-density cultures with negligible axon-axon interactions; thus, the phenotype of LMC axon misrouting in ephrin loss of function is probably not secondary to changes in fasciculation properties of LMC axons.