Neuroscience
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The Role of S100B in Aerobic Training Efficacy in Older Adults with Mild Vascular Cognitive Impairment: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Aerobic training improves cognitive and brain outcomes across different populations and neurocognitive disorders of aging, including mild subcortical ischemic vascular cognitive impairment (SIVCI). However, little is known of the underlying mechanisms through which aerobic training exerts its beneficial effects on the brain. Recently, S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B) has been proposed as a possible mediator of aerobic training. ⋯ At trial completion, aerobic training decreased circulating levels of S100B compared with usual care plus education. Furthermore, reduced S100B levels were associated with improved global cognitive function in those who received the aerobic exercise intervention. Together these findings suggest that S100B is a promising target mediating the beneficial effects of moderate-intensity aerobic training on brain health in older adults with mild SIVCI.
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Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) frequently occur across multiple psychiatric diseases especially in schizophrenia (SCZ) patients. Functional imaging studies have revealed the hyperactivity of the auditory cortex and disrupted auditory-verbal network activity underlying AVH etiology. This review will firstly summarize major findings from both human AVH patients and animal models, with focuses on the auditory cortex and associated cortical/sub-cortical areas. ⋯ However, we can still extract useful information from animal SCZ models based on the disruption of auditory pathway during AVH episodes. Therefore, we will further interpolate the synaptic structures and molecular targets, whose dysregulation in SCZ models may be highly related with AVH episodes. As the last part, implications for future development of treatment strategies will be discussed.
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Prescription opioid abuse is a serious public health issue. Recently, we showed that female and male Sprague-Dawley rats acquire conditioned place preference (CPP) to the mu opioid receptor agonist oxycodone. Anatomical analysis of the hippocampus from these rats unveiled sex differences in the opioid system in a way that would support excitation and opiate associative learning processes especially in females. ⋯ Oxycodone CPP females have: a) increases in ARC (activity regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein)-immunoreactivity (ir) in CA3 pyramidal cells; b) decreases in Npy (neuropeptide Y) gene expression in the medial hippocampus but higher numbers of NPY-containing hilar interneurons compared to males; c) increases in Crhr2 (corticotropin releasing factor receptor 2) expression in CA2/3; d) increases in Akt1 (AKT serine/threonine kinase 1) expression in medial hippocampus; and e) decreases in phosphorylated MAPK (mitogen activated protein kinase)-ir in CA1 and dentate gyrus. Oxycodone CPP males have: a) increases in Bdnf (brain derived-neurotrophic factor) expression, which is known to be produced in granule cells, relative to females; b) elevated Mapk1 expression and pMAPK-ir in the dentate hilus which harbors newly generated granule cells; and c) increases in CRHR1-ir in CA3 pyramidal cell soma. These sex-specific changes in plasticity, stress and kinase markers in hippocampal circuitry parallel previously observed sex differences in the opioid system after oxycodone CPP.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of Actions between L-DOPA and Different Dopamine Agonists in Striatal DA-Depleted Microcircuits In Vitro: Pre-Clinical Insights.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative illness presenting motor and non-motor symptoms due to the loss of dopaminergic terminals in basal ganglia, most importantly, the striatum. L-DOPA relieves many motor signs. Unfortunately, in the long term, L-DOPA use causes motor disabilities by itself and does not act in comorbid conditions such as depression. ⋯ All DA-agonists tend to maintain ensemble alternation seen in control circuits after CtxS. However, quantitative analyses suggest differences in their actions: in general, DA-agonists only approximate L-DOPA actions. Nonetheless no treatment, including L-DOPA, completely restores microcircuit dynamics to control conditions.
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Memories are acquired and stored in two forms, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). For the consolidation of LTM, de novo protein synthesis is required, which are also known as plasticity related proteins. Long-term potentiation is a form of synaptic plasticity and it is considered as a cellular model of learning and memory. ⋯ Despite being studied for LTM formation for many years, no studies so far have investigated the role of PKM-ζ in Behavioral tagging model. Hence, by using these two different memories based tasks (i.e., Inhibitory avoidance and Novel object recognition tasks), we observed how PKM-ζ activated by exposing a novel arena after a weak training and led to the consolidation of memory. These findings thus show how the process of behavioral tagging activates Long-term potentiation -specific PKM-ζ for the formation of LTM.