Neuroscience
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Motor map reorganization is believed to be one mechanism underlying rehabilitation-induced functional recovery. Although the ipsilesional secondary motor area has been known to reorganize motor maps and contribute to rehabilitation-induced functional recovery, it is unknown how the secondary motor area is reorganized by rehabilitative training. In the present study, using skilled forelimb reaching tasks, we investigated neural network remodeling in the rat rostral forelimb area (RFA) of the secondary motor area during 4weeks of rehabilitative training. ⋯ In neural tracer studies, although rehabilitative training did not alter neural projection to the RFA from other brain areas, rehabilitative training increased neural projection from the RFA to the lower spinal cord, which innervates the muscles in the forelimb. Double retrograde tracer studies revealed that rehabilitative training increased the neurons projecting from the RFA to both the upper cervical cord, which innervates the muscles in the neck, trunk, and part of the proximal forelimb, and the lower cervical cord. These results suggest that neurons projecting to the upper cervical cord provide new connections to the denervated forelimb area of the spinal cord, and these new connections may contribute to rehabilitation-induced task-specific recovery and motor map reorganization in the secondary motor area.
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Spinocerebellar ataxia type-3 (SCA-3) is a rare disease but it is the most frequent type within the autosomal dominant inherited ataxias. The disease lacks an effective treatment to alleviate major symptoms and to modify disease progression. Our recent findings that endocannabinoid receptors and enzymes are significantly altered in the post-mortem cerebellum of patients affected by autosomal-dominant hereditary ataxias suggest that targeting the endocannabinoid signaling system may be a promising therapeutic option. ⋯ We also measured the levels of endocannabinoid lipids and found reductions in anandamide and oleoylethanolamide in the brainstem. These changes correlated with an increase in the FAAH enzyme in the brainstem, which also occurred in some cerebellar areas, whereas other endocannabinoid-related enzymes were not altered. Collectively, our results in SCA-3 mutant mice confirm a possible dysregulation in the endocannabinoid system in the most important brain structures affected in this type of ataxia, suggesting that a pharmacological manipulation addressed to correct these changes could be a promising option in SCA-3.
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We previously showed that magnesium sulfate (MS) has systemic antinociceptive and local peripheral pronociceptive effects. The role of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) in the mechanism of action of MS has not been investigated in detail. The aim of this study was to explore the participation of TRP channels in the pronociceptive action of MS in rats after its intraplantar injection. ⋯ In pH-adjusted MS-induced hyperalgesia, the highest doses of TRPV1, TRPV4 and TRPA1 antagonists displayed effects that were, respectively, either similar, less pronounced or delayed in comparison to the effect induced by administration of the pH-unadjusted MS solution; the ASIC antagonist did not have any effect. These results suggest that the MS-induced local peripheral mechanical hyperalgesia is mediated via modulation of the activity of peripheral TRPV1, TRPV4, TRPA1 and ASICs. Specific local inhibition of TRP channels represents a novel approach to treating local injection-related pain.
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The fingertip somatotopy in BA1 and BA3b of monkeys exhibits characteristic differences with a more discrete separation of the body parts in BA3b and a continuous orientation column-like structure in BA1. We present evidence for similar differences in the human somatotopy using BOLD fMRI for the investigations. Though the variability between the individual maps was large, we found a group-wide somatotopic representation in BA3b and BA1. ⋯ The degree of fine-scale detail mapping was improved if valid surface distances instead of 3D Euclidean distances were applied. A further improvement was achieved by mapping the distances between all neighboring fingertips instead of only the outer fingertips. Taking into account all optimizations we found mirror symmetry of the somatotopy with respect to the interhemispheric gap.
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How gravity influences neural control of arm movements remains under debate. We tested three alternative interpretations suggested by previous research: (1) that muscular control includes two components, tonic which compensates for gravity and phasic which produces the movement; (2) that there is a tendency to exploit gravity to reduce muscle effort; and (3) that there is a tendency to use a trailing pattern of joint control during which either the shoulder or elbow is rotated actively and the other joint rotates predominantly passively, and to exploit gravity for control of the passively rotated joint. A free-stroke drawing task was performed that required production of center-out strokes within a circle while selecting stroke directions randomly. ⋯ To test the three interpretations, we used a kinetic analysis that determined the role of gravitational torque in the production of movement in the preferred directions. The results supported the third interpretation and provided evidence against the first and second interpretation. The trailing pattern has been associated with reduced neural effort for joint coordination, and therefore, we conclude that the major tendency with respect to gravity is to exploit it for simplification of joint coordination.