Articles

Modelling physiological and pathological conditions to study pericyte biology in brain function and dysfunction

Brain pericytes ensheathe the endothelium and contribute to formation and maintenance of the blood–brain-barrier. Additionally, pericytes are involved in several aspects of the CNS immune response including sc...

Authors: Justin Rustenhoven, Leon C. Smyth, Deidre Jansson, Patrick Schweder, Miranda Aalderink, Emma L. Scotter, Edward W. Mee, Richard L. M. Faull, Thomas I.-H. Park and Mike Dragunow

Characterisation of Zika virus infection in primary human astrocytes

The recent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak has linked ZIKV with microcephaly and other central nervous system pathologies in humans. Astrocytes are among the first cells to respond to ZIKV infection in the brain an...

Authors: Michal Stefanik, Petra Formanova, Tomas Bily, Marie Vancova, Ludek Eyer, Martin Palus, Jiri Salat, Carla Torres Braconi, Paolo M. de A. Zanotto, Ernest A. Gould and Daniel Ruzek

Evaluation of reference genes for gene expression studies in mouse and N2a cell ischemic stroke models using quantitative real-time PCR

Real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a critical tool for evaluating the levels of mRNA transcribed from genes. Reliable RT-qPCR results largely depend on normaliz...

Authors: Yingbo Kang, Zhuomin Wu, De Cai and Binger Lu

Intraventricular infusion of clusterin ameliorated cognition and pathology in Tg6799 model of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) in brain parenchyma and cerebral blood vessels as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Clusterin, a chaperon protein associated with ...

Authors: Xue-Mei Qi, Cheng Wang, Xing-Kun Chu, Gen Li and Jian-Fang Ma

Emerging roles for microRNA in the regulation of Drosophila circadian clock

The circadian clock, which operates within an approximately 24-h period, is closely linked to the survival and fitness of almost all living organisms. The circadian clock is generated through a negative transc...

Authors: Yongbo Xue and Yong Zhang

N,N-disubstituted azines attenuate LPS-mediated neuroinflammation in microglia and neuronal apoptosis via inhibiting MAPK signaling pathways

Activated microglia interact with astrocytes and neuronal cells to induce neuroinflammation, which can contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. To identify the mos...

Authors: Lalita Subedi, Oh Wook Kwon, Chaeho Pak, Goeun Lee, Kangwoo Lee, Hakwon Kim and Sun Yeou Kim

The effects of vitamin D administration on brain inflammatory markers in high fat diet induced obese rats

Obesity induced brain inflammation is associated with cognitive disorders. We aimed to investigate the influence of vitamin D on hypothalamus and hippocampus inflammatory response in high-fat diet induced obes...

Authors: Mahdieh Abbasalizad Farhangi, Mehran Mesgari-Abbasi, Ghazaleh Nameni, Ghazaleh Hajiluian and Parviz Shahabi

Stereoscopic processing of crossed and uncrossed disparities in the human visual cortex

Binocular disparity provides a powerful cue for depth perception in a stereoscopic environment. Despite increasing knowledge of the cortical areas that process disparity from neuroimaging studies, the neural m...

Authors: Yuan Li, Chuncheng Zhang, Chunping Hou, Li Yao, Jiacai Zhang and Zhiying Long

A gradient of frequency-dependent synaptic properties along the longitudinal hippocampal axis

The hippocampus is a functionally heterogeneous brain structure and specializations of the intrinsic neuronal network may crucially support the functional segregation along the longitudinal axis of the hippoca...

Authors: Vassilios Papaleonidopoulos, George Trompoukis, Andriana Koutsoumpa and Costas Papatheodoropoulos

Downstream mediators of Ten-m3 signalling in the developing visual pathway

The formation of visuotopically-aligned projections in the brain is required for the generation of functional binocular circuits. The mechanisms which underlie this process are unknown. Ten-m3 is expressed in...

Authors: Kelly A. Glendining, Sam C. Liu, Marvin Nguyen, Nuwan Dharmaratne, Rajini Nagarajah, Miguel A. Iglesias, Atomu Sawatari and Catherine A. Leamey

Altered phosphorylation, electrophysiology, and behavior on attenuation of PDE4B action in hippocampus

PDE4 cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases regulate 3′, 5′ cAMP abundance in the CNS and thereby regulate PKA activity and phosphorylation of CREB, which has been implicated in learning and memory, depression a...

Authors: Susan L. Campbell, Thomas van Groen, Inga Kadish, Lisa High Mitchell Smoot and Graeme B. Bolger

In silico repurposing of antipsychotic drugs for Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia and represents one of the highest unmet requirements in medicine today. There is shortage of novel molecules entering into market because of poor...

Authors: Shivani Kumar, Suman Chowdhury and Suresh Kumar

Activity-dependent formation of a vesicular inhibitory amino acid transporter gradient in the superior olivary complex of NMRI mice

In the mammalian superior olivary complex (SOC), synaptic inhibition contributes to the processing of binaural sound cues important for sound localization. Previous analyses demonstrated a tonotopic gradient f...

Authors: Lena Ebbers, Maren Weber and Hans Gerd Nothwang

Shift in the function of netrin-1 from axon outgrowth to axon branching in developing cerebral cortical neurons

Netrin-1, a multifunctional axon guidance cue, elicits axon outgrowth via one of its receptors deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) in several types of neurons, including cerebral cortical neurons of embryonic m...

Authors: Hideko Matsumoto and Masabumi Nagashima

From provocation to aggression: the neural network

In-vivo observations of neural processes during human aggressive behavior are difficult to obtain, limiting the number of studies in this area. To address this gap, the present study implemented a social react...

Authors: Jonathan Repple, Christina M. Pawliczek, Bianca Voss, Steven Siegel, Frank Schneider, Nils Kohn and Ute Habel

PeakCaller: an automated graphical interface for the quantification of intracellular calcium obtained by high-content screening

Intracellular calcium is an important ion involved in the regulation and modulation of many neuronal functions. From regulating cell cycle and proliferation to initiating signaling cascades and regulating pres...

Authors: Elena Artimovich, Russell K. Jackson, Michaela B. C. Kilander, Yu-Chih Lin and Michael W. Nestor

A convenient UHPLC-MS/MS method for routine monitoring of plasma and brain levels of nicotine and cotinine as a tool to validate newly developed preclinical smoking model in mouse

A sensitive, rapid and selective UHPLC–MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the quantification of Nicotine (NT) and Cotinine (CN) using Continine-d ₃ as internal standard (...

Authors: Mohammad A. Kaisar, Raja Reddy Kallem, Ravi K. Sajja, Ali Ehsan Sifat and Luca Cucullo

Unhealthy smokers: scopes for prophylactic intervention and clinical treatment

Globally, tobacco use causes approximately 6 million deaths per year, and predictions report that with current trends; more than 8 million deaths are expected annually by 2030. Cigarette smokings is currently ...

Authors: Shikha Prasad, Mohammad Abul Kaisar and Luca Cucullo

PPARγ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) protects neuroblastoma cells against amyloid-beta (Aβ) induced cell death and neuroinflammation via NF-κB pathway

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. Aβ is the main constituent of senile plaques and is largely involved in neuronal deat...

Authors: Yuqin Zhang, Changchun Chen, Yanliu Jiang, Shupei Wang, Xiaoyu Wu and Kai Wang

Why to cooperate is better than to compete: brain and personality components

Cooperation and competition were compared in the present study. Brain correlates (electroencephalography, EEG frequency band, delta, theta, alpha, and beta) and hemodynamic measure of functional near-infrared...

Authors: Michela Balconi, Davide Crivelli and Maria Elide Vanutelli

Cerebral microvascular dysfunction in metabolic syndrome is exacerbated by ischemia–reperfusion injury

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular diseases, including cerebral ischemia. Microvascular dysfunction is an important feature underlying the pathophysiology of cere...

Authors: Nathalie Obadia, Marcos Adriano Lessa, Anissa Daliry, Raquel Rangel Silvares, Fabiana Gomes, Eduardo Tibiriçá and Vanessa Estato

The loss-of-function disease-mutation G301R in the Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase α₂ isoform decreases lesion volume and improves functional outcome after acute spinal cord injury in mice

The Na⁺/K⁺-ATPases are transmembrane ion pumps important for maintenance of ion gradients across the plasma membrane that serve to support multiple cellular functions, such as membrane potentials, regulation of c...

Authors: Ditte Gry Ellman, Toke Jost Isaksen, Minna Christiansen Lund, Safinaz Dursun, Martin Wirenfeldt, Louise Helskov Jørgensen, Karin Lykke-Hartmann and Kate Lykke Lambertsen

Day2day: investigating daily variability of magnetic resonance imaging measures over half a year

Most studies of brain structure and function, and their relationships to cognitive ability, have relied on inter-individual variability in magnetic resonance (MR) images. Intra-individual variability is often ign...

Authors: Elisa Filevich, Nina Lisofsky, Maxi Becker, Oisin Butler, Martyna Lochstet, Johan Martensson, Elisabeth Wenger, Ulman Lindenberger and Simone Kühn

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3

Authors: Adam J. H. Newton, Alexandra H. Seidenstein, Robert A. McDougal, Alberto Pérez-Cervera, Gemma Huguet, Tere M-Seara, Caroline Haimerl, David Angulo-Garcia, Alessandro Torcini, Rosa Cossart, Arnaud Malvache, Kaoutar Skiker, Mounir Maouene, Gianmarco Ragognetti, Letizia Lorusso, Andrea Viggiano…

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 2

Authors: Leonid L. Rubchinsky, Sungwoo Ahn, Wouter Klijn, Ben Cumming, Stuart Yates, Vasileios Karakasis, Alexander Peyser, Marmaduke Woodman, Sandra Diaz-Pier, James Deraeve, Eliana Vassena, William Alexander, David Beeman, Pawel Kudela, Dana Boatman-Reich, William S. Anderson…

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 1

Authors: Sue Denham, Panayiota Poirazi, Erik De Schutter, Karl Friston, Ho Ka Chan, Thomas Nowotny, Dongqi Han, Sungho Hong, Sophie Rosay, Tanja Wernle, Alessandro Treves, Sarah Goethals, Romain Brette, Tomas Van Pottelbergh, Rodolphe Sepulchre, Alex D. Bird…

Musashi-1 is the candidate of the regulator of hair cell progenitors during inner ear regeneration

Hair cell loss in the cochlea is caused by ototoxic drugs, aging, and environmental stresses and could potentially lead to devastating pathophysiological effects. In adult mammals, hair cell loss is irreversib...

Authors: Takahiro Wakasaki, Hiroaki Niiro, Siamak Jabbarzadeh-Tabrizi, Mitsuru Ohashi, Takashi Kimitsuki, Takashi Nakagawa, Shizuo Komune and Koichi Akashi

Myelination is delayed during postnatal brain development in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

In Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the loss of the dystrophin component of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) compromises plasma membrane integrity in skeletal muscle, resulting in extensive muscle d...

Authors: Azeez Aranmolate, Nathaniel Tse and Holly Colognato

Specific ion channels contribute to key elements of pathology during secondary degeneration following neurotrauma

Following partial injury to the central nervous system, cells beyond the initial injury site undergo secondary degeneration, exacerbating loss of neurons, compact myelin and function. Changes in Ca²⁺ flux are ass...

Authors: Ryan L. O’Hare Doig, Wissam Chiha, Marcus K. Giacci, Nathanael J. Yates, Carole A. Bartlett, Nicole M. Smith, Stuart I. Hodgetts, Alan R. Harvey and Melinda Fitzgerald

A CLCA regulatory protein present in the chemosensory cilia of olfactory sensory neurons induces a Ca²⁺-activated Cl⁻ current when transfected into HEK293

CLCA is a family of metalloproteases that regulate Ca²⁺-activated Cl⁻ fluxes in epithelial tissues. In HEK293 cells, CLCA1 promotes membrane expression of an endogenous Anoctamin 1 (ANO1, also termed TMEM16A)-dep...

Authors: Casilda V. Mura, Ricardo Delgado, María Graciela Delgado, Diego Restrepo and Juan Bacigalupo

Sesamin protects SH-SY5Y cells against mechanical stretch injury and promoting cell survival

Sesamin is a well-known antioxidant extracted from sesame seeds that exhibits various curative effects. The present study investigated whether sesamin would protect neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells against mechanic...

Authors: Zhiming Xu, Yingliang Liu, Dianxu Yang, Fang Yuan, Jun Ding, Hao Chen and Hengli Tian

Neuroplasticity pathways and protein-interaction networks are modulated by vortioxetine in rodents

The identification of biomarkers that predict susceptibility to major depressive disorder and treatment response to antidepressants is a major challenge. Vortioxetine is a novel multimodal antidepressant that ...

Authors: Jessica A. Waller, Sara Holm Nygaard, Yan Li, Kristian Gaarn du Jardin, Joseph A. Tamm, Aicha Abdourahman, Betina Elfving, Alan L. Pehrson, Connie Sánchez and Rasmus Wernersson

Immunocytochemistry and fluorescence imaging efficiently identify individual neurons with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene disruption in primary cortical cultures

CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful method to investigate the role of genes by introducing a mutation selectively and efficiently to specific genome positions in cell and animal lines. However, in primary neuron...

Authors: Hiroto Tsunematsu, Akiko Uyeda, Nobuhiko Yamamoto and Noriyuki Sugo

Difference in the functional connectivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex between smokers with nicotine dependence and individuals with internet gaming disorder

It has been reported that internet gaming disorder (IGD) and smokers with nicotine dependence (SND) share clinical characteristics, such as over-engagement despite negative consequences and cravings. This stud...

Authors: Xin Ge, Yawen Sun, Xu Han, Yao Wang, Weina Ding, Mengqiu Cao, Yasong Du, Jianrong Xu and Yan Zhou

Regeneration of long-distance peripheral nerve defects after delayed reconstruction in healthy and diabetic rats is supported by immunomodulatory chitosan nerve guides

Delayed reconstruction of transection or laceration injuries of peripheral nerves is inflicted by a reduced regeneration capacity. Diabetic conditions, more frequently encountered in clinical practice, are kno...

Authors: Lena Stenberg, Maria Stößel, Giulia Ronchi, Stefano Geuna, Yaobin Yin, Susanne Mommert, Lisa Mårtensson, Jennifer Metzen, Claudia Grothe, Lars B. Dahlin and Kirsten Haastert-Talini

Hippocampus and amygdala radiomic biomarkers for the study of autism spectrum disorder

Emerging evidence suggests the presence of neuroanatomical abnormalities in subjects with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Identifying anatomical correlates could thus prove useful for the automated diagnosis o...

Authors: Ahmad Chaddad, Christian Desrosiers, Lama Hassan and Camel Tanougast

Iron oxide nanoparticles may damage to the neural tissue through iron accumulation, oxidative stress, and protein aggregation

In the recent decade, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have been proposed for several applications in the central nervous system (CNS), including targeting amyloid beta (Aβ) in the arteries, inhibiting the mic...

Authors: Zahra Yarjanli, Kamran Ghaedi, Abolghasem Esmaeili, Soheila Rahgozar and Ali Zarrabi

The order of complexity of visuomotor learning

Learning algorithms come in three orders of complexity: zeroth-order (perturbation), first-order (gradient descent), and second-order (e.g., quasi-Newton). But which of these are used in the brain? We trained ...

Authors: John Kim, Fariya Mostafa and Douglas Blair Tweed

Investigating the impact of electrical stimulation temporal distribution on cortical network responses

The brain is continuously targeted by a wealth of stimuli with complex spatio-temporal patterns and has presumably evolved in order to cope with those inputs in an optimal way. Previous studies investigating t...

Authors: Francesca Scarsi, Jacopo Tessadori, Michela Chiappalone and Valentina Pasquale

White matter damage and systemic inflammation in Parkinson’s disease

Systemic inflammation and white matter (WM) alterations have been noted as effects of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study sought to evaluate WM integrity in PD patients using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) an...

Authors: Pi-Ling Chiang, Hsiu-Ling Chen, Cheng-Hsien Lu, Pei-Chin Chen, Meng-Hsiang Chen, I.-Hsiao Yang, Nai-Wen Tsai and Wei-Che Lin

Lateral cortical Cdca7 expression levels are regulated by Pax6 and influence the production of intermediate progenitors

We studied whether regulation of Cdca7 (Cell division cycle associated 7) expression by transcription factor Pax6 contributes to Pax6’s cellular actions during corticogenesis. The function of Cdca7 in mediating P...

Authors: Yu-Ting Huang, John O. Mason and David J. Price

SIRT1 ameliorates oxidative stress induced neural cell death and is down-regulated in Parkinson’s disease

Sirtuins (SIRTs) are NAD⁺ dependent lysine deacetylases which are conserved from bacteria to humans and have been associated with longevity and lifespan extension. SIRT1, the best studied mammalian SIRT is invol...

Authors: Preeti Singh, Peter S. Hanson and Christopher M. Morris

Using Kalirin conditional knockout mice to distinguish its role in dopamine receptor mediated behaviors

Mice lacking Kalirin-7 (Kal7^KO), a Rho GDP/GTP exchange factor, self-administer cocaine at a higher rate than wildtype mice, and show an exaggerated locomotor response to experimenter-administered cocaine. Kal7, ...

Authors: Taylor P. LaRese, Yan Yan, Betty A. Eipper and Richard E. Mains

Antagonistic action on NMDA/GluN2B mediated currents of two peptides that were conantokin-G structure-based designed

The GluN2B subunit of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAr) modulates many physiological processes including learning, memory, and pain. Excessive increase in NMDAr/GluN2B activity has been associated with va...

Authors: Edwin A. Reyes-Guzman, Nohora Vega-Castro, Edgar A. Reyes-Montaño and Esperanza Recio-Pinto

Normobaric hypoxia overnight impairs cognitive reaction time

Impaired reaction time in patients suffering from hypoxia during sleep, caused by sleep breathing disorders, is a well-described phenomenon. High altitude sleep is known to induce periodic breathing with centr...

Authors: Stephan Pramsohler, Stefan Wimmer, Martin Kopp, Hannes Gatterer, Martin Faulhaber, Martin Burtscher and Nikolaus Cristoph Netzer

Astaxanthin protects astrocytes against trauma-induced apoptosis through inhibition of NKCC1 expression via the NF-κB signaling pathway

Astaxanthin (ATX) is a carotenoid pigment with pleiotropic pharmacological properties that is seen as a possible drug for treating cerebral ischemic injury and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Na⁺–K⁺–2Cl⁻ co-transporter-...

Authors: Mingkun Zhang, Zhenwen Cui, Hua Cui, Yong Wang and Chunlong Zhong

Retraction Note to: Chronic NMDA administration to rats increases brain pro-apoptotic factors while decreasing anti-Apoptotic factors and causes cell death

Authors: Hyung-Wook Kim, Yunyoung C Chang, Mei Chen, Stanley I Rapoport and Jagadeesh S Rao

Retraction Note to: Dose-dependent changes in neuroinflammatory and arachidonic acid cascade markers with synaptic marker loss in rat lipopolysaccharide infusion model of neuroinflammation

Authors: Matthew Kellom, Mireille Basselin, Vasken L Keleshian, Mei Chen, Stanley I Rapoport and Jagadeesh S Rao

Effects of escitalopram and paroxetine on mTORC1 signaling in the rat hippocampus under chronic restraint stress

Recent studies have suggested that the activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling may be related to antidepressant action. Therefore, the present study evaluated whether antidepressant drugs ...

Authors: Mi Kyoung Seo, Cheol Min Choi, Roger S. McIntyre, Hye Yeon Cho, Chan Hong Lee, Rodrigo B. Mansur, Yena Lee, Jae-Hon Lee, Young Hoon Kim, Sung Woo Park and Jung Goo Lee

Linoleic acid: Is this the key that unlocks the quantum brain? Insights linking broken symmetries in molecular biology, mood disorders and personalistic emergentism

In this paper we present a mechanistic model that integrates subneuronal structures, namely ion channels, membrane fatty acids, lipid rafts, G proteins and the cytoskeleton in a dynamic system that is finely t...

Authors: Massimo Cocchi, Chiara Minuto, Lucio Tonello, Fabio Gabrielli, Gustav Bernroider, Jack A. Tuszynski, Francesco Cappello and Mark Rasenick