Neuroscience letters
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 2020
Neonatal exposure to sevoflurane expands the window of vulnerability to adverse effects of subsequent exposure to sevoflurane and alters hippocampal morphology via decitabine-sensitive mechanisms.
Deficiencies in neurocognitive function have been found in late childhood or adolescence in patients who had prolonged and/or repeated early-life general anesthesia. Animal studies suggest that anesthetic-induced impairment in the neuron-specific K+-2Cl- (Kcc2) Cl- exporter expression, which regulates developmental maturation of GABA type A receptor (GABAAR) signaling from excitatory to inhibitory, may play a mediating role. We tested whether the DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor decitabine ameliorates the anesthetic's adverse effects. ⋯ Neonatal exposure to sevoflurane sensitizes rats to adverse effects of repeated exposure to the anesthetic. The anesthetic-caused changes in the decitabine-sensitive mechanisms may play a mediating role in the developmental effects of early-life anesthesia.
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 2020
Netrin-1 contributes to peripheral nerve injury induced neuropathic pain via regulating phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase IIa in the spinal cord dorsal horn in mice.
The burden of neuropathic pain is growing worldwide. Recent studies recapitulate the requirement for AMPA receptor in excitatory synaptic plasticity underlying pain-related syndromes. Netrin-1 and its receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) are fundamental for AMPA receptor dependent synaptic transmission. Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase IIa (Pi4KIIa) mediates post-synaptic insertion of AMPA receptor in neuropathic disorders. This study investigates whether netrin-1 and Pi4KIIa regulate peripheral nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain. ⋯ Our current results demonstrate the contribution of spinal netrin-1 and DCC in modulating the expression of Pi4KIIa in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain in mice.
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Neuroscience letters · Jul 2020
Sensorimotor performance is improved by targeted memory reactivation during a daytime nap in healthy older adults.
Sensorimotor consolidation occurs during sleep. However, the benefit of sleep-based consolidation decreases with age due to decreased sleep quality and quantity. This study aimed to enhance sensorimotor performance through repetitive delivery of task-based auditory cues during sleep, known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR). ⋯ However, there was no generalization of throwing accuracy to variants of the task or to a novel dart throwing task. Findings support the use of TMR during sleep to enhance task-specific sensorimotor performance in healthy older adults despite age-related decreases in sleep quality and quantity. Future research is needed to evaluate the effects of TMR on rehabilitation protocols.
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Neuroscience letters · Jun 2020
Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and gray matter volume alterations in patients with bipolar depression.
We used fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and gray matter volume (GMV) jointly to explore the mechanism of brain function and structure in unmedicated patients with bipolar disorder (BD). ⋯ The superior frontal gyrus was the site of the most robust and reliable abnormality, with an overlap of abnormal structural and functional MRI features that play an important role in pathology in BD.
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Neuroscience letters · Jun 2020
Duloxetine ameliorates the impairment of diffuse noxious inhibitory control in rat models of peripheral neuropathic pain and knee osteoarthritis pain.
Diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) is a phenomenon to reflect descending pain modulation in animals. Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is the human counterpart of DNIC and is reduced in patients with several chronic pain conditions. Duloxetine is a serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor that ameliorates CPM impairment in patients with diabetic neuropathy. ⋯ Duloxetine, but not pregabalin and celecoxib, significantly increased the PWT in MIA-injected rats. These results suggested that duloxetine can directly ameliorate DNIC impairment in rat models of chronic pain. Duloxetine may be useful for modulating chronic pain by restoring function to the endogenous, descending, inhibitory pathway.