Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severely disabling disease. Hyperactivation of neuroinflammation is one of the main pathophysiological features of secondary SCI, with phospholipid metabolism playing an important role in regulating inflammation. Phospholipase D (PLD), a critical lipid-signaling molecule, is known to be involved in various physiological processes, including the regulation of inflammation. Despite this knowledge, the specific role of PLD in SCI remains unclear...

Peripheral nerve injuries lead to significant morbidity and adversely affect quality of life. The peripheral nervous system harbors the unique trait of autonomous regeneration; however, achieving successful regeneration remains uncertain. Research continues to augment and expedite successful peripheral nerve recovery, offering promising strategies for promoting peripheral nerve regeneration (PNR). These include leveraging extracellular vesicle (EV) communication and harnessing cellular activation through electrical and mechanical stimulation...

Degeneration of photoreceptors in the retina is a leading cause of blindness, but commonly leaves the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and/or bipolar cells extant. Consequently, these cells are an attractive target for the invasive electrical implants colloquially known as "bionic eyes." However, after more than two decades of concerted effort, interfaces based on conventional electrical stimulation approaches have delivered limited efficacy, primarily due to the current spread in retinal tissue, which precludes high-acuity vision...

INTRODUCTION: Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is one of severe neonatal brain injuries, resulting from inflammation and the immune response after perinatal hypoxia and ischemia. IgG N-glycosylation plays a crucial role in various inflammatory diseases through mediating the balance between anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory responses. This study aimed to explore the effect of IgG N-glycosylation on the development of HIE. METHODS: This case-control study included 53 HIE patients and 57 control neonates...

INTRODUCTION: Platelet-activating factor (PAF), PAF receptor (PAFR), and PAF- synthesis/degradation systems are involved in essential CNS processes such as neuroblast proliferation, differentiation, migration, and synaptic modulation. The retina is an important central nervous system (CNS) tissue for visual information processing. During retinal development, the balance between Retinal Progenitor Cell (RPC) proliferation and differentiation is crucial for proper cell determination and retinogenesis...

Stem cell-derived organoid technology is a powerful tool that revolutionizes the field of biomedical research and extends the scope of our understanding of human biology and diseases. Brain organoids especially open an opportunity for human brain research and modeling many human neurological diseases, which have lagged due to the inaccessibility of human brain samples and lack of similarity with other animal models. Brain organoids can be generated through various protocols and mimic whole brain or region-specific...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke stand as prominent causes of global disability and mortality. Treatment strategies for stroke and TBI are shifting from targeting neuroprotection toward cell-based neurorestorative strategy, aiming to augment endogenous brain remodeling, which holds considerable promise for the treatment of TBI and stroke. Compelling evidence underscores that the therapeutic effects of cell-based therapy are mediated by the active generation and release of exosomes from administered cells...

INTRODUCTION: Hair cells (HCs) of the cochlea are responsible for sound transduction and hearing perception in mammals. Genetic mutations in the transcription factor Pou4f3 cause non-syndromic autosomal dominant hearing loss in humans (DFNA15) which varies in the age of onset depending on the individual mutation. Mouse models with germline deletion or mutations in Pou4f3 have previously demonstrated its critical role in the maturation and survival of cochlear HCs during embryonic development...

Microglia are the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS) and as such play crucial roles in regulating brain homeostasis. Their presence in neurodegenerative diseases is known, with neurodegeneration-associated risk genes heavily expressed in microglia, highlighting their importance in contributing to disease pathogenesis. Transcriptomics studies have uncovered the heterogeneous landscape of microglia in health and disease, identifying important disease-associated signatures such as DAM, and insight into both the regional and temporal diversity of microglia phenotypes...

Efferent feedback to the mammalian cochlea includes cholinergic medial olivocochlear neurons (MOCs) that release ACh to hyperpolarize and shunt the voltage change that drives electromotility of outer hair cells (OHCs). Via brainstem connectivity, MOCs are activated by sound in a frequency- and intensity-dependent manner, thereby reducing the amplification of cochlear vibration provided by OHC electromotility. Among other roles, this efferent feedback protects the cochlea from acoustic trauma. Lesion studies, as well as a variety of genetic mouse models, support the hypothesis of efferent protection from acoustic trauma...

The blood brain barrier (BBB) plays a crucial role in maintaining brain homeostasis by selectively preventing the entry of substances from the peripheral blood into the central nervous system (CNS). Comprised of endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes, this highly regulated barrier encompasses the majority of the brain's vasculature. In addition to its protective function, the BBB also engages in significant crosstalk with perivascular macrophages (MΦ) and microglia, the resident MΦ of the brain...

INTRODUCTION: Neural interactions in the brain are affected by transmission delays which may critically alter signal propagation across different brain regions in both normal and pathological conditions. The effect of interaction delays on the dynamics of the generic neural networks has been extensively studied by theoretical and computational models. However, the role of transmission delays in the development of pathological oscillatory dynamics in the basal ganglia (BG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is overlooked...

Ischemic stroke is a major disease causing death and disability in the elderly and is one of the major diseases that seriously threaten human health and cause a great economic burden. In the early stage of ischemic stroke, neuronal structure is destroyed, resulting in death or damage, and the release of a variety of damage-associated pattern molecules induces an increase in neuroglial activation, peripheral immune response, and secretion of inflammatory mediators, which further exacerbates the damage to the blood-brain barrier, exacerbates cerebral edema, and microcirculatory impairment, triggering secondary brain injuries...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global health burden, and survivors suffer functional and psychiatric consequences that can persist long after injury. TBI induces a physiological stress response by activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, but the effects of injury on the stress response become more complex in the long term. Clinical and experimental evidence suggests long lasting dysfunction of the stress response after TBI. Additionally, pre- and post-injury stress both have negative impacts on outcome following TBI...

Injuries to axons within the central nervous system (CNS) pose a substantial clinical challenge due to their limited regenerative capacity. This study investigates the therapeutic potential of Cell-free fat extract (CEFFE) in CNS injury. CEFFE was injected intravitreally after the optic nerve was crushed. Two weeks post-injury, quantification of regenerated axons and survival rates of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were performed. Subsequently, comprehensive gene ontology (GO) an-notation elucidated the cellular origins and functional attributes of CEFFE components...

Up to approximately 70% of cancer survivors report persistent deficits in memory, attention, speed of information processing, multi-tasking, and mental health functioning, a series of symptoms known as "brain fog." The severity and duration of such effects can vary depending on age, cancer type, and treatment regimens. In particular, every year, hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide undergo radiotherapy (RT) for primary brain tumors and brain metastases originating from extracranial tumors. Besides its potential benefits in the control of tumor progression, recent studies indicate that RT reprograms the brain tumor microenvironment inducing increased activation of microglia and astrocytes and a consequent general condition of neuroinflammation that in case it becomes chronic could lead to a cognitive decline...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Globally, millions of individuals are impacted by neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington's disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although a great deal of energy and financial resources have been invested in disease-related research, breakthroughs in therapeutic approaches remain elusive. The breakdown of cells usually happens together with the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the mechanism that triggers neuronal loss is unknown...

Multiple lines of evidence implicate increased neuroinflammation mediated by glial cells to play a key role in neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia. Microglia, which are the primary innate immune cells of the brain, are crucial for the refinement of the synaptic circuitry during early brain development by synaptic pruning and the regulation of synaptic plasticity during adulthood. Schizophrenia risk factors as genetics or environmental influences may further be linked to increased activation of microglia, an increase of pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and activation of the inflammasome resulting in an overall elevated neuroinflammatory state in patients...