Neuroscience
-
The number of patients suffering from dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) is constantly rising worldwide. This has accordingly resulted in huge burdens on the health systems and involved families. Lack of profound understanding of neural networking in normal brain and their interruption in AD makes the treatment of this neurodegenerative multifaceted disease a challenging issue. ⋯ Application of the graph theoretical analysis in the brain imaging was reviewed, depicting the relations between brain structure and function, without diving into mathematical details. Moreover, differential rate equations were briefly articulated, emphasizing the potential use of these equations in simplifying complex processes in relevance to pathologies of AD. Comprehensive insights were given into the AD progression from neural networks perspective, which may lead us towards potential strategies for early diagnosis and effective treatment of AD.
-
Review
The Interaction Between Contactin and Amyloid Precursor Protein and Its Role in Alzheimer's Disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating disease and the most common cause of dementia. As the world population ages even modest advances in therapies and preventative strategies would be of benefit. ⋯ APP is an integral membrane protein which interacts with members of the Contactin family of proteins. Here we review recent progresses in the field and discuss the physiological importance of APP-Contactin interaction, as well as their roles and contributions in the pathophysiology of AD.
-
Excessive dietary fat intake is considered a great risk factor for metabolic disorders as well as cognitive dysfunction. However, the potential mechanisms underlying the effects of a high-fat diet (HFD) on the brain remain rather obscure. The purpose of this study was to address how early exposure to HFD induces biochemical changes in different brain regions and affects short- and long-term memory. ⋯ The effect of HFD on the brain was also assessed by electrophysiology, which detected a gradual decrease in long-term potentiation in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. The abnormal expression of proteins associated with synaptic function, e.g. synaptophysin, CaMKII, CaMKIV, calcineurin A, ERK and c-fos, was observed in the hippocampus in response to HFD. These results indicate that HFD elicits rapid biochemical and neurological abnormalities in the hippocampus that contribute to cognitive defects and are potentially connected to the HFD-induced suppression of brain activity.
-
Thermosensitive transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) channels are widely expressed in the brain and known to profoundly influence Ca2+-signaling, neurotransmitter release and behavior. While these channels are expressed in the cerebellum, neuronal firing and hyperactivity/reflexes seem associated with cerebellar temperature modulation. However, the distribution and functional significance of TRPV-equipped elements in the cerebellum has remained unexplored. ⋯ Compared to controls, rats injected with TRPV3 inhibitor significantly reduced the stride length (P < 0.001), locomotor activity (P < 0.001), and rotarod retention time (P < 0.001), but increased footprints length (P < 0.01) and escape latency (P < 0001). TRPV3-agonist treatment, however, had no effect on these behaviors. We suggest that TRPV3 in Purkinje neurons may serve as novel molecular component for Ca2+-signaling and motor coordination function of the cerebellum.
-
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter crucial for motor, motivational, and reward-related functions. Our aim was to determine the effect of a palatable maternal diet on the transcriptional regulation of dopaminergic-related genes during perinatal development of rat offspring. For that, female offspring from dams fed with a control (CON) or a cafeteria (CAF) diet were sacrificed on embryonic day 21 (E21) and postnatal day 10 (PND10). ⋯ In NAc, maternal CAF diet reduced DRD1, DRD2 and DAT expression in the offspring at PND10, although alternations in the methylation patterns were only detected in DAT promoter. These results show the importance of maternal nutrition and provide novel insights into the mechanisms through which maternal junk-food feeding can affect reward system during development and early postnatal life. Particularly important is the expression decline of DRD2 given its physiological implication in obesity and addiction.