Neuroscience
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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-derived exosomes are demonstrated to exert neuroprotective effects in stroke. We aimed to explore the role and mechanism of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) KLF3 antisense RNA 1 (KLF3-AS1) in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes (BMSCs-Exos) in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Exosomes were isolated from the culture medium of BMSCs. ⋯ KLF3-AS1 was found to recruit ETS variant transcription factor 4 (ETV4), which upregulated Sirt1 expression. Knockdown of KLF3-AS1 neutralized the protective effects of BMSCs-Exos on MCAO-induced brain injury, which was then reversed by the treatment with Sirt1 inhibitor EX527. We concluded that KLF3-AS1 derived from BMSCs-Exos promoted autophagy to alleviate I/R injury via ETV4/Sirt1 axis.
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Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease with loss of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway resulting in basal ganglia (BG) dysfunction. This is largely why much of the preclinical and clinical research has focused on pathophysiological changes in these brain areas in PD. The cerebellum is another motor area of the brain. ⋯ D1R expression was higher in PD animals compared to sham animals in both hemispheres in the purkinje cell layer (PCL) and granule cell layer (GCL) of the cerebellar cortex. Interestingly, D2R expression was higher in PD animals than sham animals mostly in the posterior lobe of the PCL, but no discernible pattern of D2R expression was seen in the GCL between PD and sham animals. To our knowledge, we are the first to report these findings, which may lay the foundation for further interrogation of the role of the cerebellum in PD therapy and/or pathophysiology.
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Social buffering is a phenomenon where stress responses are ameliorated by an affiliative conspecific. Our previous findings suggest that the posterior complex of the anterior olfactory nucleus (AOP) is well positioned to participate in the neural mechanisms underlying social buffering. However, the lack of anatomical information prevents us from further estimating the role of the AOP. ⋯ The proportion of double-labeled cells among the tracer-labeled cells was 2.1% ± 1.2%. Taken together, these results suggest that the AOP is predominantly composed of glutamatergic neurons. In addition, the AOP sends mutually independent glutamatergic-predominant projections to the BLA and MeP.
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In rats, a mixture of hexanal and 4-methylpentanal is a main component of the alarm pheromone. When detected by the main olfactory system (MOS) and the vomeronasal system, respectively, they activate the anterior part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTa). Therefore, the information from the two olfactory systems is expected to be integrated before being transmitted to the BNSTa. ⋯ We suggest that the posterolateral part of the cortical amygdala is upstream of the integration site in the MOS because all stimuli increased Fos expression. The posterior part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and posteromedial part of the cortical amygdala were suggested as being located upstream in the vomeronasal system because 4-methylpentanal and the mixture increased Fos expression. These results provide information about the neural pathway underlying the alarm pheromone effects.