Neuroscience
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Poststroke depression (PSD) is a common complication of stroke and has long been a serious threat to human health. PSD greatly affects neurological recovery, quality of life and mortality. Recent studies have shown that 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), an important epigenetic modification, is enriched in the brain and associated with many neurological diseases. ⋯ In particular,DhMRs were strongly enriched in genes with lymphoid enhancer factor 1 (LEF1) binding motifs. Finally, we demonstrated that decreases in TET2 expression in the brain caused PSD by decreasing Wnt/β-catenin/LEF1 pathway signaling to promote inflammatory factor IL-18 expression. In conclusion, our data highlight the potential for 5hmC modification as a therapeutic target for PSD.
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Maternal opioids abuse has some deleterious consequences on next generations. Besides, children's rearing conditions can affect the behavioral states and brain plasticity in their later life. In the present study, we investigated the effects of maternal morphine (MOR) treatment and post-weaning rearing conditions on memory, pain threshold, and the ventral striatum dopaminergic activity in male offspring. ⋯ At molecular level, maternal MOR injections and social isolation reduced DA levels and altered expressions of D1R, D2R, and DAT within the ventral striatum of these male offspring. However, post-weaning EE partially buffered these changes. Our finding signified the effects of maternal MOR exposure and social isolation on the behaviors and neurochemistry of brain in next generation, and it also provided evidence on reversibility of these alterations following EE.
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By the effort to identify candidate signaling molecules important for the formation of robust circadian rhythms in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the mammalian circadian center, here we characterize the role of α2δ proteins, synaptic molecules initially identified as an auxiliary subunit of the voltage dependent calcium channel, in circadian rhythm formation. In situ hybridization study demonstrated that type 3 α2δ gene (α2δ3) was strongly expressed in the SCN. ⋯ Cultured SCN slices from Per1-luc transgenic Cacna2d3-/- mice revealed reduced synchrony of Per1-luc gene expression rhythms among SCN neurons. These findings suggest that α2δ3 is essential for synchronized cellular oscillations in the SCN and thereby contributes to enhancing the sustainability of circadian rhythms in behavior.
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Emotion plays an important role in people's lives. However, the neural mechanism of affective perception is still unclear. In this study, steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) were used to explore information processing speed and interactions among cortical structures involved in affective perception. ⋯ Unpleasant emotions had the fastest information processing speed in the ventral stream compared with pleasant and neutral emotions, including the middle occipital gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus, with a right hemisphere bias. In addition, unpleasant emotions were stronger than pleasant emotions in long-term causal connections in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, and the direction was from the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere. These results provide unique insights into the cortical activities for affective perception and support the view that unpleasant emotions have priority in information perception in the middle temporal gyrus compared with pleasant and neutral emotions, with a right hemisphere bias.
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As a textbook manifestation of an aggressive attitude, hostility can pose a serious threat to both an individual's life and the security of society at large. Past evidence suggests that some anxiety-related traits may be more prone to giving rise to hostility. However, many aspects of hostility, such as, determining the susceptible temperament for hostility, the neural basis of hostility, and the underlying mechanisms through which having a susceptible temperament generates hostility in a healthy brain, remain unclear. ⋯ Finally, we used a mediation analysis to explore the tripartite relationship between vulnerability temperament, the fractional anisotropy (FA) value of the white matter, and hostility. Our results suggest that a harm avoidance temperament may be susceptible to hostility and that the cingulum may be a key white matter region responsible for hostility. Based on these results, we developed a temperament-brain-attitude pathway showing how harm avoidance temperament could affect the brain and ultimately lead to hostility.