Neuroscience bulletin
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Neuroscience bulletin · Oct 2009
ReviewHigher cortical modulation of pain perception in the human brain: Psychological determinant.
Pain perception and its genesis in the human brain have been reviewed recently. In the current article, the reports on pain modulation in the human brain were reviewed from higher cortical regulation, i.e. top-down effect, particularly studied in psychological determinants. Pain modulation can be examined by gene therapy, physical modulation, pharmacological modulation, psychological modulation, and pathophysiological modulation. ⋯ To sum, higher brain functions become the leading edge research in all sciences. How to solve the information bit of thinking and feeling in the brain can be the greatest challenge of human intelligence. Application of higher cortical modulation of human pain and suffering can lead to the progress of social humanity and civilization.
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Neuroscience bulletin · Oct 2009
Differential effects of long and short train theta burst stimulation on LTP induction in rat anterior cingulate cortex slices: multi-electrode array recordings.
There is substantial evidence supporting the notion that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is an important limbic structure involved in multiple brain functions such as sensory perception, motor conflict monitoring, memory, emotion and cognition. It has been shown that long term potentiation (LTP) is an important synaptic model of neural plasticity in the ACC, however, little is known about the spatiotemporal properties of ACC at network level. The present study was designed to see the LTP induction effects across different layers of the ACC by using different conditioning stimuli (CS) protocols. ⋯ The present findings indicate that stimulation protocols may, at least in part, account for a large portion of variations among previous LTP studies, and hence highlight the importance of selecting the best LTP induction protocol when designing such experiments. Moreover, the present results demonstrate the prominent superiority of multi-electrode array recording in revealing the network properties of synaptic activities in the ACC, especially in comparing the spatiotemporal characteristics between different layers of this structure.
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Neuroscience bulletin · Aug 2008
Lipopolysaccharide preconditioning induces protection against lipopolysaccharide-induced neurotoxicity in organotypic midbrain slice culture.
To identify the protective effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preconditioning against LPS-induced inflammatory damage in dopaminergic neurons of midbrain slice culture and the possible mechanisms. ⋯ Low-dose LPS preconditioning could protect dopaminergic neurons against inflammatory damage in rat midbrain slice culture, and inhibition of microglial activation and reduction of the proinflammatory factor TNF-alpha production may contribute to this protective effect. Further understanding the underlying mechanism of LPS preconditioning may open a new window for treatment of Parkinson's disease.
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Neuroscience bulletin · Jun 2008
Autophagy is activated and might protect neurons from degeneration after traumatic brain injury.
To investigate changes of autophagy after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its possible role. ⋯ Autophagy is activated and might protect neurons from degeneration at early stage post-TBI and play a continuous role afterwards in eliminating aberrant cell components.
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Neuroscience bulletin · Apr 2008
Desferoxamine preconditioning protects against cerebral ischemia in rats by inducing expressions of hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha and erythropoietin.
To investigate whether desferoxamine (DFO) preconditioning can induce tolerance against cerebral ischemia and its effect on the expression of hypoxia inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and erythropoietin (EPO) in vivo and in vitro. ⋯ DFO induced tolerance against focal cerebral ischemia in rats, and exerted protective effect on OGD cultured cortical neurons. DFO significant induced the expression of HIF-1alpha and EPO both in vivo and in vitro. DFO preconditioning can protect against cerebral ischemia, which may be associated with the synthesis of HIF-1alpha and EPO.