Neuroscience
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Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a highly heterogeneous, severe neuropsychiatric disorder of unknown etiopathology. Increasing data indicate an overlap between schizophrenia and pathological processes related to immunological dysregulation as well as inflammation, such as high levels of pro-inflammatory substances in patients' blood and cerebrospinal fluid and autoantibodies against synaptic and nerve cell membrane proteins. Autoantibodies against SFT2D2 have been reported in patients with SCZ. ⋯ Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions showed that the expression of pro-inflammatory genes was upregulated in the primary somatosensory cortex and hippocampus of the anti-SFT2D2-IgG-infused mice. Additionally, the mice exhibited defective sensorimotor gating, memory deficits, motor impairment, and anxiety-related behaviors without signs of depression. These findings indicate that anti-SFT2D2 autoantibodies can induce encephalitis, cause a series of behavioral changes associated with schizophrenia, and offer a model for testing novel therapies to improve treatment strategies for a subgroup of patients with SCZ.
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Gray matter changes are thought to be closely related to cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. The study aimed to explore cortical and subcortical structural alterations in MCI and their association with cognitive assessment. 24 MCI patients and 22 normal controls (NCs) were included. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), vertex-based shape analysis and surface-based morphometry (SBM) analysis were applied to explore subcortical nuclei volume, shape and cortical morphology. ⋯ SVM analysis demonstrated superior performance of sulci depth and GI derived from SBM in MCI identification. When combined with cortical and subcortical metrics, SVM achieved a peak accuracy of 89 % in distinguishing MCI from NC. The study reveals significant gray matter structural changes in MCI, suggesting their potential role in underlying functional differences and neural mechanisms behind memory impairment in MCI.