Brain structure & function
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Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent and temporary brain dysfunction due to discharges of interconnected groups of neurons. The brain of epilepsy patients has a dynamic bifurcation that switches between epileptic and normal states. The dysfunctional state involves large-scale brain networks. ⋯ The analysis of dynamic changes of anti-correlation between the thalamus and the DMN is consistent with an inhibitory effect of seizures on the default mode of brain function, which gradually fades out after seizure onset. Also, we observed complex transitions of functional network topology, implicating adaptive reconfiguration of functional brain networks. In conclusion, our work revealed novel insights into modifications in large-scale functional connectome during AS, which may contribute to a better understanding the network mechanisms of state bifurcations in epileptogenesis.
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Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder to which adolescent females are particularly vulnerable. Like AN, activity-based anorexia (ABA), a rodent model of AN, results in elevation of stress hormones and has genetic links to anxiety disorders. The hippocampus plays a key role in the regulation of anxiety and responds with structural changes to hormones and stress, suggesting that it may play a role in AN. ⋯ In the ventral hippocampus, which preferentially mediates anxiety, ABA evoked more branching in SR than CON. In both dorsal and ventral regions, the main effect of exercise was localized to the SR while the main effect of food restriction occurred in the stratum lacunosum-moleculare. Taken together with data on spine density, these results indicate that ABA elicits pathway-specific changes in the hippocampus that may underlie the increased anxiety and reduced behavioral flexibility observed in ABA.