Neuroscience
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Although temperament has been regarded as an innate aspect of human personality, its association with proteins involved in embryonic development is unclear. Reelin, encoded by RELN, plays an important role in brain development. Herein, we investigated the association between the RELN rs7341475 (G/A) single nucleotide polymorphism, detected as a female-specific risk factor for schizophrenia, brain structure, and temperament to elucidate the role of RELN in the development of human personality. ⋯ Furthermore, of the four temperaments, the novelty seeking was significantly and positively associated with rGMV in the right superior temporal gyrus, partially overlapping with areas where differences between the rs7341475 genotypes were detected. The above findings were detected only in females, but not in males. This is the first study to demonstrate the contribution of RELN rs7341475 to differences in brain structure in Japanese females, which may indicate vulnerability to schizophrenia and variations in human personality.
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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used to explore the causal relationship between specific brain regions and task switching. However, most studies have focused on the frontal cortex, and only few have examined other related cortices, e.g., the parietal cortex. So far, no prior study has systematically explored the tDCS-induced effect of the parietal cortex in different task switching types. ⋯ It was noted that compared with sham group, significantly higher switch cost reaction time of right anode tDCS (RA) group was found in predictable task but not unpredictable task. No interaction effect was observed between congruence and tDCS groups in predictable task. These findings suggested that a-tDCS over right parietal cortex could markedly decrease the predictable task-switching performance in both congruent and incongruent trials, and indicated that parietal cortex is more likely to be involved in the proactive cognitive processes, such as endogenous preparation.
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The current study aimed to investigate the role and underlying mechanism of Resolvin D1 (RvD1) alleviating spinal nerve ligation (SNL)-induced neuropathic pain (NP) and its interplay with regulatory cascades of Nod-like Receptor Protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Sprague-Dawley male rat models of SNL-stimulated NP were established, which were pre-treated with different doses of RvD1, WRW4 (ALX/FPR2 inhibitor) or U0126 (ERK inhibitor) for three successive days following the operation. Pain behavior was assessed by measuring changes in the mechanical sensitivity of the hind paws during an observation period of seven consecutive days. ⋯ While these changes were partially reversed by pre-administration of WRW4 and further strengthened by co-treated with U0126. Our results suggest that RvD1 dependent on ALX/FPR2 may have an analgesic and anti-inflammatory influence on SNL-induced NP driven by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome via ERK signaling pathway. These data also provide strong support for the recent modulation of neuro-inflammatory priming and highlight the potential for specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) as novel therapeutic avenues for NP.
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Circular RNAs (circRNAs), forming a covalently closed loop, are identified as a special subgroup of non-coding RNAs. Herein, we investigated the function and underlying mechanism of circXRCC5, generated from the XRCC5 gene, in glioma progression. Bioinformatics analysis was employed to determine the genomic information of circXRCC5 derived from XRCC5 pre-mRNA. ⋯ There was a reciprocal negative feedback between circXRCC5 and miR-490-3p in an Argonaute2-dependent manner. Moreover, circXRCC5 acted as a sponge of miR-490-3p to regulate the expression of downstream target gene XRCC5, thus activating the transcription of CLC3, which fostered the progression of glioma. Collectively, circXRCC5 promoted glioma progression via the miR-490-3p/XRCC5/CLC3 ceRNA network, providing a novel prognostic biomarker and a prospective target for glioma treatment.
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The intraparietal sulcus region, which is part of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), has been shown to play an important role in discriminating object shapes using the fingers. Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) and anodal transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) are noninvasive strategies widely used to modulate neural activity in cortical regions. Therefore, we investigated the effects of tRNS and anodal tPCS applied to left or right PPC on the tactile discrimination performance of the right index finger in 20 neurologically healthy subjects. ⋯ Conducting tRNS over the left PPC significantly reduced the GOT discrimination performance in the high-performance group. By contrast, anodal tPCS delivered to the PPC of the left and right hemispheres had no significant effect on the tactile GOT discrimination performance of the right hand. We show that transcranial electric stimulation over the PPC may improve tactile perception but the effect depends on stimulus modality, parameters, and on the stimulated hemisphere.