Nervous system stimulants

Organoids have emerged as robust tools for unravelling the mechanisms that underly tissue development. They also serve as important in vitro systems for studying fundamentals of stem cell behavior and for building advanced disease models. During early development, a crucial step in the formation of the central nervous system is patterning of the neural tube dorsal-ventral (DV) axis. Here we describe a simple and rapid culture protocol to produce human neuroepithelial (NE) cysts and DV-patterned organoids from single human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)...

Transcranial ultrasonic neuromodulation is a rapidly burgeoning field where low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS), with exquisite spatial resolution and deep tissue penetration, is used to non-invasively activate or suppress neural activity in specific brain regions. Over the past decade, there has been a rapid increase of tFUS neuromodulation studies in healthy humans and subjects with central nervous system (CNS) disease conditions, including a recent surge of clinical investigations in patients...

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammatory damage to the central nervous system. At present, the pathogenesis of the disease is unknown. There is a lack of few effective therapy medications available. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore the pathogenesis of this illness and develop potential therapeutic drugs. Dabrafenib is potential therapeutic medicine for nervous system disease. In this study, we preliminarily studied the possible mechanism of dabrafenib in the treatment of multiple sclerosis from the perspective of ferroptosis...

BACKGROUND: Nigrostriatal microstructural integrity has been suggested as a biomarker for levodopa response in Parkinson's disease (PD), which is a strong predictor for motor response to deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). This study aimed to explore the impact of microstructural integrity of the substantia nigra (SN), STN, and putamen on motor response to STN-DBS using diffusion microstructure imaging. METHODS: Data was collected from 23 PD patients (mean age 63 ± 7, 6 females) who underwent STN-DBS, had preoperative 3 T diffusion magnetic resonance imaging including multishell diffusion-weighted MRI with b-values of 1000 and 2000 s/mm2 and records of motor improvement available...

BACKGROUND: Colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) signaling is crucial for the maintenance and function of various myeloid subsets. CSF1R antagonism was previously shown to mitigate clinical severity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The associated mechanisms are still not well delineated. METHODS: To assess the effect of CSF1R signaling, we employed the CSF1R antagonist PLX5622 formulated in chow (PLX5622 diet, PD) and its control chow (control diet, CD)...

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases are two of the most frequent neurological diseases. The clinical features of AD are memory decline and cognitive dysfunction, while PD mainly manifests as motor dysfunction such as limb tremors, muscle rigidity abnormalities, and slow gait. Abnormalities in cholesterol, sphingolipid, and glycerophospholipid metabolism have been demonstrated to directly exacerbate the progression of AD by stimulating Aβ deposition and tau protein tangles. Indirectly, abnormal lipids can increase the burden on brain vasculature, induce insulin resistance, and affect the structure of neuronal cell membranes...

BACKGROUND: Peripheral electrical nerve stimulation (PENS) reportedly improves cardiac function after myocardial ischemia (MI) by rebalancing the cardiac autonomic nervous system. The dynamic and continuous influence of the PENS on autonomic and cardiac functioning based on cardiac self-repair is not well understood. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the correlations between autonomic nervous balance and functional cardiac repair after MI and to clarify the optimal acupoint selection and time course for PENS...

BACKGROUND: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is the focus and difficulty of poststroke rehabilitation intervention with an incidence of up to 61%, which may be related to the deterioration of cerebrovascular function. Computer-aided cognitive training (CACT) can improve cognitive function through scientific training targeting activated brain regions, becoming a popular training method in recent years. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, can regulate the cerebral vascular nerve function, and has an effect on the rehabilitation of cognitive dysfunction after stroke...

Serotonin syndrome is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by a toxic excess of serotonin leading to overstimulation of the nervous system. Because it is a diagnosis of exclusion, it can be underrecognized, making the true incidence unknown. The classic triad of serotonin syndrome includes neuromuscular excitation, autonomic instability and altered mental status. If left unrecognized and untreated, patients are at a high risk of mortality. The most common class of medication that carries an increased risk of serotonin syndrome, when used in combination, is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs); however, medications that increase serotonin production, increase serotonin release, inhibit serotonin metabolism and stimulate serotonin receptors can increase the possibility of serotonin syndrome...

Social pain, a multifaceted emotional response triggered by interpersonal rejection or criticism, profoundly impacts mental well-being and social interactions. While prior research has implicated the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) in mitigating social pain, the precise neural mechanisms and downstream effects on subsequent social attitudes remain elusive. This study employed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) integrated with fMRI recordings during a social pain task to elucidate these aspects...

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic effect and mechanism of robot-assisted upper limb training (RT) combined with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) for stroke patients are unclear. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in brain activation after combination therapy and RT alone using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). METHODS: Patients were randomly assigned to two groups (iTBS + RT Group, n = 18, and RT Group, n = 18)...

Polyneuropathy is a disease of the peripheral nervous system that usually results in distally emphasized, often symmetrical sensory and motor stimulation and deficits. These are often extremely painful. They can be divided into hereditary and acquired causes; inflammatory and infectious causes should be further differentiated among the acquired causes. A careful diagnostic workup is essential. Clinical signs and distribution patterns of symptoms can often already provide clues to the underlying aetiology...

OBJECTIVES: Quantitative sensory testing (QST) has been used for decades to study sensory abnormalities in multiple conditions in which the somatosensory system is compromised, including pain. It is commonly used in pharmacologic studies on chronic pain but less so in conjunction with neuromodulation. This review aims to assess the utility of QST in spinal cord stimulation (SCS) protocols. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this narrative review, we searched PubMed for records of studies in which sensory testing has been performed as part of a clinical study on SCS from 1975 onward until October 2023...

OBJECTIVES: Current techniques in brain stimulation are still largely based on a phrenologic approach that a single brain target can treat a brain disorder. Nevertheless, meta-analyses of brain implants indicate an overall success rate of 50% improvement in 50% of patients, irrespective of the brain-related disorder. Thus, there is still a large margin for improvement. The goal of this manuscript is to 1) develop a general theoretical framework of brain functioning that is amenable to surgical neuromodulation, and 2) describe the engineering requirements of the next generation of implantable brain stimulators that follow from this theoretic model...

Social communication draws on several cognitive functions such as perception, emotion recognition and attention. The association of audio-visual information is essential to the processing of species-specific communication signals. In this study, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging in order to identify the subcortical areas involved in the cross-modal association of visual and auditory information based on their common social meaning. We identified three subcortical regions involved in audio-visual processing of species-specific communicative signals: the dorsolateral amygdala, the claustrum and the pulvinar...

The 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has long been used non-medically, and it is currently under investigation for its potential therapeutic benefits. Both uses may be related to its ability to enhance empathy, sociability, emotional processing and its anxiolytic effects. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these effects, and their specificity to MDMA compared to other stimulants, are not yet fully understood. Here, using electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated the effects of MDMA and a prototypic stimulant, methamphetamine (MA), on early visual processing of socio-emotional stimuli in an oddball emotional faces paradigm...

Surgical brain injury (SBI), induced by neurosurgical procedures or instruments, has not attracted adequate attention. The pathophysiological process of SBI remains sparse compared to that of other central nervous system diseases thus far. Therefore, novel and effective therapies for SBI are urgently needed. In this study, we found that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were present in the circulation and brain tissues of rats after SBI, which promoted neuroinflammation, cerebral edema, neuronal cell death, and aggravated neurological dysfunction...

This systematic review investigated how prefrontal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) immediately influences neuronal excitability based on oxygenation changes measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). A thorough understanding of TMS-induced excitability changes may enable clinicians to proactively adjust TMS parameters and optimize treatment plans. Five databases were searched for human studies evaluating brain excitability using concurrent TMS/fMRI or TMS/fNIRS...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological disorder, leading to loss of motor or somatosensory function, which is the most challenging worldwide medical problem. Re-establishment of intact neural circuits is the basis of spinal cord regeneration. Considering the crucial role of electrical signals in the nervous system, electroactive bioscaffolds have been widely developed for SCI repair. They can produce conductive pathways and a pro-regenerative microenvironment at the lesion site similar to that of the natural spinal cord, leading to neuronal regeneration and axonal growth, and functionally reactivating the damaged neural circuits...

INTRODUCTION: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a well-established surgical therapy for patients with Parkinsons' Disease (PD). Traditionally, DBS surgery for PD is performed under local anesthesia, whereby the patient is awake to facilitate intraoperative neurophysiological confirmation of the intended target using microelectrode recordings. General anesthesia allows for improved patient comfort without sacrificing anatomic precision and clinical outcomes. METHODS: We performed a systemic review and meta-analysis on patients undergoing DBS for PD...