Neuroscience
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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as a major regulator in neurological diseases, and understanding their molecular mechanism in modulating cerebral ischemic injury may provide potential therapeutic targets for ischemic stroke. However, as one of 19 differentially expressed miRNAs in mouse brain with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), the role of miR-134 in ischemic injury is not well understood. In this study, the miR-134 expression level was manipulated both in oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-treated N2A neuroblastoma cells in vitro and mouse brain with MCAO-induced ischemic stroke in vivo, and its possible targets of heat shock protein A5 (HSPA5) and HSPA12B were determined by bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase assay. ⋯ It could attenuate brain infarction size and neural cell damage, and improve neurological outcomes in mice with ischemic stroke, whereas upregulation of miR-134 had the opposite effect. In addition, HSPA12B was validated to be a target of miR-134 and its short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) could block miR-134 inhibitor-induced neuroprotection in OGD-treated N2A cells. In conclusion, downregulation of miR-134 could induce neuroprotection against ischemic injury in vitro and in vivo by negatively upregulating HSPA12B protein expression.
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The ability to discriminate between closely related contexts is a specific form of hippocampal-dependent learning that may be impaired in certain neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Down Syndrome. However, signaling pathways regulating this form of learning are poorly understood. Previous studies have shown that the calcium-dependent exchange factor Ras-GRF1, an activator of Rac, Ras and R-Ras GTPases, is important for this form of learning and memory. ⋯ Like the loss of GRF1, knockdown of R-Ras in the CA1 also impairs the induction of HFS-LTP and p38 Map kinase. Nevertheless, experiments indicate that this involvement of R-Ras in HFS-LTP that is required for contextual discrimination is independent of Ras-GRF1. Thus, R-Ras is a novel regulator of a form of hippocampal-dependent LTP as well as learning and memory that is affected in certain forms of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Studying how the healthy human brain develops is important to understand early pathological mechanisms and to assess the influence of fetal or perinatal events on later life. Brain development relies on complex and intermingled mechanisms especially during gestation and first post-natal months, with intense interactions between genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. ⋯ Two main processes of early white matter development are reviewed: (1) establishment of connections between brain regions within functional networks, leading to adult-like organization during the last trimester of gestation, (2) maturation (myelination) of these connections during infancy to provide efficient transfers of information. Current knowledge from post-mortem descriptions and in vivo MRI studies is summed up, focusing on T1- and T2-weighted imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and quantitative mapping of T1/T2 relaxation times, myelin water fraction and magnetization transfer ratio.
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The CNS white matter makes up about half of the human brain, and with advances in human imaging it is increasingly becoming clear that changes in the white matter play a major role in shaping human behavior and learning. However, the mechanisms underlying these white matter changes remain poorly understood. ⋯ Collaboration between fields is essential to understand the function of the white matter, but due to differences in methods and field-specific 'language', communication is often hindered. In this review, we try to address this hindrance by introducing the methods and providing a basic background to myelin biology and human imaging as a prelude to the other reviews within this special issue.
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Alterations in cerebrovascular structure and function may underlie the most common age-associated cognitive, psychiatric, and neurological conditions presented by older adults. Although much remains to understand, existing research suggests several age-associated detrimental conditions may be mediated through sometimes subtle small vessel-induced damage to the cerebral white matter. Here we review a selected portion of the vast work that demonstrates links between changes in vascular and neural health as a function of advancing age, and how even changes in low-to-moderate risk individuals, potentially beginning early in the adult age-span, may have an important impact on functional status in late life.