Restorative neurology and neuroscience最新文献

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in lesions that destroy tissue and spinal tracts, leading to deficits in locomotor and autonomic function. We have previously shown that after SCI, surviving motoneurons innervating hindlimb muscles exhibit extensive dendritic atrophy, which can be attenuated by treadmill training or treatment with gonadal hormones post-injury. We have also shown that following SCI, both exercise and treatment with gonadal hormones improve urinary function. Animals exercised with forced running wheel training show improved urinary function as measured by bladder cystometry and sphincter electromyography, and treatment with gonadal hormones improves voiding patterns as measured by metabolic cage testing.

Objective: The objective of the current study was to examine the potential protective effects of exercise or hormone treatment on the structure and function of motoneurons innervating the external urethral sphincter (EUS) after contusive SCI.

Methods: Gonadally intact young adult male rats received either a sham or a thoracic contusion injury. Immediately after injury, one cohort of animals was implanted with subcutaneous Silastic capsules filled with estradiol (E) and dihydrotestosterone (D) or left blank; continuous hormone treatment occurred for 4 weeks post-injury. A separate cohort of SCI-animals received either 12 weeks of forced wheel running exercise or no exercise treatment starting two weeks after injury. At the end of treatment, urinary void volume was measured using metabolic cages and EUS motoneurons were labeled with cholera toxin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase, allowing for assessment of dendritic morphology in three dimensions.

Results: Locomotor performance was improved in exercised animals after SCI. Void volumes increased after SCI in all animals; void volume was unaffected by treatment with exercise, but was dramatically improved by treatment with E + D. Similar to what we have previously reported for hindlimb motoneurons after SCI, dendritic length of EUS motoneurons was significantly decreased after SCI compared to sham animals. Exercise did not reverse injury-induced atrophy, however E + D treatment significantly protected dendritic length.

Conclusions: These results suggest that some aspects of urinary dysfunction after SCI can be improved through treatment with gonadal hormones, potentially through their effects on EUS motoneurons. Moreover, a more comprehensive treatment regime that addresses multiple SCI-induced sequelae, i.e., locomotor and voiding deficits, would include both hormones and exercise.

Background: Sensory substitution and augmentation systems (SSASy) seek to either replace or enhance existing sensory skills by providing a new route to access information about the world. Tests of such systems have largely been limited to untimed, unisensory tasks.

Objective: To test the use of a SSASy for rapid, ballistic motor actions in a multisensory environment.

Methods: Participants played a stripped-down version of air hockey in virtual reality with motion controls (Oculus Touch). They were trained to use a simple SASSy (novel audio cue) for the puck's location. They were tested on ability to strike an oncoming puck with the SASSy, degraded vision, or both.

Results: Participants coordinated vision and the SSASy to strike the target with their hand more consistently than with the best single cue alone, t(13) = 9.16, p <.001, Cohen's d = 2.448.

Conclusions: People can adapt flexibly to using a SSASy in tasks that require tightly timed, precise, and rapid body movements. SSASys can augment and coordinate with existing sensorimotor skills rather than being limited to replacement use cases - in particular, there is potential scope for treating moderate vision loss. These findings point to the potential for augmenting human abilities, not only for static perceptual judgments, but in rapid and demanding perceptual-motor tasks.

There has been a significant increase in the incidence of multiple neurodegenerative and terminal diseases in the human population with life expectancy increasing in the current times. This highlights the urgent need for a more comprehensive understanding of how different aspects of lifestyle, in particular diet, may affect neural functioning and consequently cognitive performance as well as in enhancing overall health. Flavonoids, found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and derived beverages, provide a new avenue of research that shows a promising influence on different aspects of brain function. However, despite the promising evidence, most bioactive compounds lack strong clinical research efficacy. In the current scoping review, we highlight the effects of Flavonoids on cognition and neural plasticity across vertebrates and invertebrates with special emphasis on the studies conducted in the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, which has emerged to be a functionally dynamic model for studies on learning and memory. In conclusion, we suggest future research directions and discuss the social, cultural, and ethnic dependencies of bioactive compounds that influence how these compounds are used and accepted globally. Bridging the gap between preclinical and clinical studies about the effects of bioactive natural compounds on brain health will surely lead to lifestyle choices such as dietary Flavonoids being used complementarily rather than as replacements to classical drugs bringing about a healthier future.