Translational Neuroscience

BACKGROUND: The deposition of Aβ42 has been regarded as one of the important pathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, drug development for Aβ42 toxicity has been progressed slowly. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to introduce the effect and related mechanism of trehalose on an Aβarc (arctic mutant Aβ42 ) Drosophila AD model. METHODS: The human Aβarc was expressed in Drosophila to construct the AD model...

BACKGROUND: Death among resuscitated patients is mainly caused by brain injury after cardiac arrest/cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CA/CPR). The angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)/angiotensin (Ang)-(1-7)/Mas receptor (MasR) axis has beneficial effects on brain injury. Therefore, we examined the roles of the ACE2/Ang-(1-7)/MasR axis in brain injury after CA/CPR. METHOD: We used a total of 76 male New Zealand rabbits, among which 10 rabbits underwent sham operation and 66 rabbits received CA/CPR...

BACKGROUND: Forkhead box P3 ( FOXP3 ) plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders. In the present study, we genotyped three single-nucleotide polymorphisms, namely, rs2232365, rs3761548, and rs3761549, to determine the relationship between FOXP3 polymorphisms and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) susceptibility among the Northern Chinese Han population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms at loci of the FOXP3 gene (rs2232365, rs3761548, and rs3761549136) in 136 NMOSD patients and 224 healthy subjects using the multiplex SNaPshot technique...

BACKGROUND: Both the International Mission for Prognosis and Analysis of Clinical Trials (IMPACT) and the Corticosteroid randomization after significant head injury (CRASH) models are globally acknowledged prognostic algorithms for assessing traumatic brain injury (TBI) outcomes. The aim of this study is to externalize the validation process and juxtapose the prognostic accuracy of the CRASH and IMPACT models in moderate-to-severe TBI patients in the Chinese population. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study encompassing a cohort of 340 adult TBI patients (aged > 18 years), presenting with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores ranging from 3 to 12...

Our previous studies have shown that early exercise intervention after stroke increases neural activity and synaptic plasticity and promotes the recovery of nerve fiber bundle integrity in the brain. However, the effect of exercise on the repair of myelin in the brain and the related mechanism are still unclear. In this study, we randomly divided the rats into three groups. Before and after 28 days of intervention, body weight, nerve function, the infarct size, white matter fiber bundle integrity, and nerve myelin structure and function were observed by measuring body weight, analysis of modified neurological severity score, CatWalk gait analysis, MRI, luxol fast blue staining, immunofluorescence, and transmission electron microscopy...

BACKGROUND: Silibinin has been found to inhibit glioblastoma (GBM) progression. However, the underlying molecular mechanism by which Silibinin regulates GBM process remains unclear. METHODS: GBM cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and stemness are assessed by cell counting kit-8 assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry, transwell assay, and sphere formation assay. Western blot is used to measure the protein expression levels of apoptosis-related markers, solute carrier family 1 member 5 (SLC1A5), and Yin Yang-1 (YY1)...

OBJECTIVE: Heterozygous mutations within the voltage-gated sodium channel α subunit ( SCN1A ) are responsible for the majority of cases of Dravet syndrome (DS), a severe developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. Development of novel therapeutic approaches is mandatory in order to directly target the molecular consequences of the genetic defect. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether cis-acting long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) of SCN1A are expressed in brain specimens of children and adolescent with epilepsy as these molecules comprise possible targets for precision-based therapy approaches...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders diagnosed in childhood. Two common features of ADHD are impaired behavioural inhibition and sustained attention. The Go/No-Go experimental paradigm with concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning has previously revealed important neurobiological correlates of ADHD such as the supplementary motor area and the prefrontal cortex. The coordinate-based meta-analysis combined with quantitative techniques, such as activation likelihood estimate (ALE) generation, provides an unbiased and objective method of summarising these data to understand the brain network architecture and connectivity in ADHD children...

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a common neurological disorder characterized by ischemia and hypoxia in the perinatal period, which seriously affects the growth and development of newborns. To date, there is no specific drug for the treatment of HIE. Previous studies have shown that ferroptosis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of HIE. Carthamin yellow (CY) is believed to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, no studies have reported the role of CY in ferroptosis in HIE in vivo until now...

Brain vascular inflammation is characterized by endothelial activation and immune cell recruitment to the blood vessel wall, potentially causing a breach in the blood - brain barrier, brain parenchyma inflammation, and a decline of cognitive function. The clinical-stage small molecule, apabetalone, reduces circulating vascular endothelial inflammation markers and improves cognitive scores in elderly patients by targeting epigenetic regulators of gene transcription, bromodomain and extraterminal proteins. However, the effect of apabetalone on cytokine-activated brain vascular endothelial cells (BMVECs) is unknown...

David M. Holtzman and his team at the University of Washington School of Medicine have made breakthroughs in their research on neurodegenerative diseases. They discovered that the infiltration of T cells into the brain, instigated by activated microglia, is a critical factor in the progression of tauopathy. The groundbreaking findings were published in Nature on March 8, 2023. This research delineates a pivotal immune hub linked to tauopathy and neurodegeneration; a complex interplay involving activated microglia and T cell responses...

C. and O. Vogt had set up a research program with the aim of establishing a detailed cartography of the medullary fiber distribution of the human brain. As part of this program, around 200 cortical fields were differentiated based on their myeloarchitectural characteristics and mapped with regard to their exact location in the isocortex. The typical features were graphically documented and classified by a sophisticated linguistic coding. Their results have only recently received adequate attention and applications...

Dorsal root injury usually leads to irreversible sensory function loss and lacks effective treatments. (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is reported to exert neuroprotective roles in the nervous systems. However, the function of EGCG in treating dorsal root injury remains unclear. Hence, we built the dorsal root crush injury (DRCI) rat model to be treated with EGCG, followed by the western blot, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and sensory behavior tests. We observed that EGCG can upregulate the Lysine acetyltransferase 6A (KAT6A) level and inhibit the pyroptosis, indicated by downregulated gasdermin-D, caspase-1, and interleukin 18 protein levels, and alleviate the neuropathic pain, indicated by the decreased paw withdraw threshold in Plantar test and decreased paw withdraw latency in von Frey test, and downregulated calcitonin gene-related peptide, nerve growth factor, and c-Fos protein levels...

Neuroinflammation, a complex process involving the activation of microglia, astrocytes, and other immune cells in the brain, plays a role in neurodegeneration and psychiatric disorders. Current therapeutic strategies for neuroinflammation are limited, necessitating the development of improved approaches. Nanopharmacology offers unprecedented opportunities to access and treat neuroinflammatory disorders at the brain level. Nanoscaffolds can target specific cells or tissues and protect drugs from degradation or elimination, making them ideal candidates for treating neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Headache attributed to craniotomy is an underestimated and under-treated condition. Previous studies confirmed the efficacy of preemptive analgesia with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. The aim of the present work was to test the hypothesis of whether a single preoperatively administered dose of dexketoprofen (DEX) has the potency to decrease postcraniotomy headache (PCH) as compared to placebo (PL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a single-centre, randomized, PL-controlled trial comparing the effect of a single oral dose of 25 mg DEX to PL on the intensity of PCH...

BACKGROUND: Endovascular therapy (EVT) was the standard treatment for acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion. Prognosis after EVT is always a major concern. Here, we aimed to explore a predictive model for patients after EVT. METHOD: A total of 156 patients were retrospectively enrolled. The primary outcome was functional dependence (defined as a 90-day modified Rankin Scale score ≤ 2). Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and univariate logistic regression were used to select predictive factors...

BACKGROUND: Due to high rates of incidence and disability, postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) currently receives a lot of clinical attention. Disturbance of fatty acid oxidation is a potential pathophysiological manifestation underlying POCD. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) is a significant transcription factor of fatty acid oxidation that facilitates the transfer of fatty acids into the mitochondria for oxidation. The potential role of PPARα intervention in POCD warrants consideration...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious disabling injury, and the main factors causing SCI in patients include car accidents, falls from heights, as well as heavy blows and falls. These factors can all cause spinal cord compression or even complete rupture. After SCI, problems with the movement, balance, and walking ability of the lower limbs are most common, and SCI can cause abnormalities in patient's movement, sensation, and other aspects. Therefore, in the treatment of SCI, it is necessary to strengthen the rehabilitation training (RT) of patients based on data science to improve their motor ability and play a positive role in the recovery of their walking ability...

OBJECTIVES: Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) activity is specifically active in neurogenesis, and Cdk5 and neocortical neurons migration related biomarker are expressed in Cos-7 cells. However, the function of Cdk5 on the transformation of immortalized Cos-7 cells into neuronal-like cells is not clear. METHODS: Cdk5 kinase activity was measured by [γ-32 P] ATP and p81 phosphocellulose pads based method. The expression of neuron liker markers was evaluated by immunofluorescence, real-time PCR, Western blot, and Elisa...

OBJECTIVES: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by recurrent episodes of severe anxiety after exposure to traumatic events. It is believed that these episodes are triggered at least in part by environmental stimuli associated with the precipitating trauma through classical conditioning, termed conditioned fear. However, traditional methods of conditioned fear memory extinction are frequently ineffective for PTSD treatment due to the contribution of non-associative sensitization caused by trauma...