Neuroscience
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Gray matter changes are thought to be closely related to cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. The study aimed to explore cortical and subcortical structural alterations in MCI and their association with cognitive assessment. 24 MCI patients and 22 normal controls (NCs) were included. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), vertex-based shape analysis and surface-based morphometry (SBM) analysis were applied to explore subcortical nuclei volume, shape and cortical morphology. ⋯ SVM analysis demonstrated superior performance of sulci depth and GI derived from SBM in MCI identification. When combined with cortical and subcortical metrics, SVM achieved a peak accuracy of 89 % in distinguishing MCI from NC. The study reveals significant gray matter structural changes in MCI, suggesting their potential role in underlying functional differences and neural mechanisms behind memory impairment in MCI.
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Comparative Study
Urinary dysfunction after spinal cord injury: Comparing outcomes after thoracic spinal transection and contusion in the rat.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) above the lumbosacral spinal cord induces loss of voluntary control over micturition. Spinal cord transection (SCT) was the gold standard method to reproduce SCI in rodents, but its translational value is arguable and other experimental SCI methods need to be better investigated, including spinal cord contusion (SCC). At present, it is not fully investigated if urinary impairments arising after transection and contusion are comparable. ⋯ In LUT organs, the expression of GAP43, CGRP cholinergic (vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT)) and noradrenergic (tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)) markers was reduced after SCI in the LUT and lumbosacral cord, but only the lumbosacral expression of VAChT was dependent on the injury model. Overall, our findings demonstrate that changes in LUT innervation and function after contusion and transection are similar but result from distinct neuroplastic processes at the lumbosacral spinal cord. This may impact the development of new therapeutic options for urinary impairment arising after spinal cord insult.
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Puberty is a sensitive developmental period during which stressors can cause lasting brain and behavioural deficits. While the acute effects of pubertal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and antimicrobial (AMNS) treatments are known, their enduring impacts on neurodegeneration-related mechanisms and behaviours remain unclear. This study examined these effects in male and female mice. ⋯ Additionally, males treated with either LPS or AMNS had lower glial-derived neurotrophic factor receptor alpha-1 (GFRA1) expression in the primary motor cortex (M1) than females. Mice treated with LPS alone had decreased GFRA1 expression in the DG and decreased S1R expression in the secondary motor cortex (M2). These findings suggest that pubertal AMNS and LPS treatments may lead to enduring changes in biomarkers and behaviours related to neurodegeneration.
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Subarachnoid hemorrhage due to rupture of intracranial aneurysms has a poor outcome, making this disease being the social problem. Inflammation evoked by the increase in intracranial pressure and the clot in the subarachnoid space after the onset of SAH exacerbates neuronal death and vasospasm, resulting in the poor outcome and severe aftereffects. Here, FROUNT mediates CCR2 and CCR5 signaling as an intracellular molecule binding to these chemoattractant receptors which facilitate the migration of inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, in situ to trigger inflammation there. ⋯ In this condition, disulfiram ameliorated the death of animals after the onset of subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats. In addition, disulfiram suppressed both the two major events after subarachnoid hemorrhage, the neuronal death in hippocampus and vasospasm. The pharmacological inhibition of CCR2 and CCR5 signaling by disulfiram could thus be the therapeutic strategy to improve the outcome of subarachnoid hemorrhage.
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This study aims to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) treatment on depression, and the potential molecular mechanism of EA in depression-like behaviors rats. ⋯ This study suggested that EA has potential antidepressant effects by regulating gut microbiota composition and abundance, subsequently affecting lipid metabolism.