Neuroscience
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Postoperative pain remains one of the most common complaints after surgery, and appropriate treatments are limited. ⋯ Locally administered MgSO4 has potential for development as an adjunctive therapy for preventing central nociceptive sensitization.
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Dopamine (DA) neurons of the substantia nigra (SN) and ventral tegmental area generally respond to aversive stimuli or the absence of expected rewards with transient inhibition of firing rates, which can be recapitulated with activation of the lateral habenula (LHb) and eliminated by lesioning the intermediating rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg). However, a minority of DA neurons respond to aversive stimuli, such as foot shock, with a transient increase in firing rate, an outcome that rarely occurs with LHb stimulation. The degree to which individual neurons respond to these two stimulation modalities with the same response phenotype and the role of the RMTg is not known. ⋯ Furthermore, lesions unmasked an excitatory response during LHb stimulation. The response correspondence within the same neuron between the two activation sources was no different from chance in sham controls, suggesting that external inputs rather than intrinsic DA neuronal properties are more important to response outcome. These findings contribute to a literature that shows a complex neurocircuitry underlies the regulation of DA activity and, by extension, behaviors related to learning, anhedonia, and cognition.
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Depression is one of the most common forms of psychopathology, which is associated with gut microbiota dysfunction. Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) has been shown to regulate gut microbiota and ameliorate neuropathies, but whether it can be used to treat depression remains unclear. ⋯ Furthermore, KEGG pathway analysis revealed that gut microbiota involved in the process of depression may be related to glucose metabolism, energy absorption and transport, and AMPK signaling pathway. These results indicated that DHA may play a protective role in CUMS-induced depression by mediating gut-microbiome.
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RNA-binding motif protein 3 (RBM3), as a cold-inducible protein, exhibits neuroprotective function in brain disorders. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of RBM3 on acute brain injury (ABI) and its underlying mechanism. The cerebral injury (CI) rat model and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) cell model were established. ⋯ RBM3 interacted with GAS6 to activate the Nrf2 signaling pathway, thus playing neuroprotection on ABI. Besides, the results of RBM3 treatment were similar to those of mild hypothermia treatment. In summary, RBM3 exerted neuroprotection and ameliorated inflammatory levels and oxidative stress by stabilizing GAS6 mRNA through the Nrf2 signaling pathway, suggesting that RBM3 might be a potential therapeutic candidate for treating ABI.
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After spinal cord injury (SCI), the accumulation of myelin debris can serve as proinflammatory agents, hindering axon regrowth and exacerbating damage. While astrocytes have been implicated in the phagocytosis of myelin debris, the impact of this process on the phenotypic transformation of astrocytes and their characteristics following SCI in rats is not well understood. Here, we demonstrated that the conditioned medium of myelin debris can trigger apoptosis in rat primary astrocytes in vitro. ⋯ This study illustrates the distribution patterns of astrocyte subtypes and the potential interplay between astrocytes and myelin debris after SCI in rats. We emphasize that myelin debris can induce astrocyte apoptosis in vitro and promote the transformation of astrocytes into A1 astrocytes in vivo. These two classification methods are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary.