Translational Neuroscience最新文献

Prosociality is a behavior characterized by actions performed for the benefit or well-being of others. Recent studies have corroborated parallels in brain activation patterns between rodents and humans during prosocial behaviors. These findings have the potential to advance our understanding of social impairments observed in neurodevelopmental disorders, brain injuries, neurological conditions, and mental health disorders. However, a consensus regarding prosocial paradigms in rodents remains scattered. This conceptual framework aims to (1) reframe prosociality as a set of complex behaviors emerging in response to environmental determinants that cannot be reduced to a single set of data; (2) highlight important methodological considerations, mediating variables, and behavioral analyses that influence prosocial behaviors; and (3) present a decision tree as a dynamic element within this conceptual framework to offer guidance to researchers. The conceptual framework and decision tree are concise and straightforward, providing a robust foundation for the ongoing utilization of current models and the creation of novel paradigms. The integration of this conceptual framework into research practices will contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of rodent prosociality and foster greater confidence in the validity and reproducibility of study findings.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system characterized by neuroinflammation and progressive neurodegeneration. Growing evidence suggests that dietary interventions may influence MS progression and symptom management by modulating inflammation, oxidative stress, and gut microbiota composition. This narrative review examines the effects of the Mediterranean, plant-based, ketogenic, Wahls, Swank, intermittent fasting, and gluten-free diets, alongside key nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, polyphenols, and antioxidants. Among these, Mediterranean and plant-based diets have shown the most consistent benefits, including reductions in fatigue, improved quality of life, and modulation of inflammatory markers. The Wahls and Swank diets show promise but are primarily supported by studies from their respective research groups, raising concerns about long-term adherence and nutritional adequacy. The ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting have yielded mixed findings, with some studies suggesting benefits for fatigue and neuroprotection, while others highlight potential metabolic risks. The gluten-free diet and omega-3 supplementation lack robust evidence, with inconsistent findings across studies. Additionally, ultra-processed foods and diets high in saturated fats have been associated with increased inflammation and greater MS severity. Despite promising findings, limitations such as small sample sizes, short follow-up durations, and study design inconsistencies prevent definitive conclusions. Future research should prioritize large-scale, long-term randomized controlled trials to establish the efficacy, safety, and sustainability of dietary interventions in MS management. Mechanistic studies and standardized dietary protocols are also needed to better understand the role of diet in MS progression and symptom control.

Background: Several findings indicate that stress may influence epileptiform discharges manifesting in temporal-limbic areas, which may become a potential trigger of psychosis that may manifest without neurologically diagnosed epilepsy. Some findings suggest that measures assessing levels of inter-hemispheric information connection may reveal the spread of subclinical epileptiform neural activity associated with psychotic and seizure-like symptoms. Recent research also suggests that electrodermal activity (EDA), which is related to limbic activations, may allow indirect measurement of interhemispheric information transmission. These findings about the interhemispheric spread of information suggest a hypothesis that heightened spread of information between the brain hemispheres might indirectly indicate epileptiform discharges spreading between hemispheres.

Methods: We have analyzed and measured EDA and also cognitive and affective epileptic-like symptoms (CPSI, complex partial seizure-like symptoms), symptoms of chronic stress (Trauma Symptoms Checklist-40, TSC-40), and psychotic symptoms in 31 schizophrenia patients and compared these data with 31 healthy controls.

Results: The results indicate that in schizophrenia patients, the values of pointwise transinformation (PTI) calculated from right and left EDA time series are related to CPSI symptoms (Spearman correlation between CPSI and PTI is R = 0.48; p < 0.01) and symptoms of chronic stress (Spearman correlation between TSC-40 and PTI is R = 0.37, p < 0.05); both during mild stress conditions caused by conflicting (incongruent) Stroop task.

Conclusion: The analysis indicates potentially diagnostically useful results suggesting that heightened PTI values may reflect autonomic activations that hypothetically might be linked to higher interhemispheric transmission related to spreading of epileptiform discharges between hemispheres.

Background: Within the last few decades, the domestic pig has emerged as an advantageous biomedical animal model due to a vast number of similarities in realms of development and neuroanatomical features. Even so, a major challenge remains in how to translate time between the pig and human. Previously, researchers have developed a Translating Mammalian Time model that estimates the timing of 95 neurodevelopmental events across 9 mammalian species. By identifying the timing of these various events, one can include an additional animal into the model and assign a unique species score to predict the post-conception day (PCD) that other events will occur.

Objective: Our objective was to conduct a comprehensive literature review of pig neurodevelopmental events to enable chronological comparison to other mammalian species, including humans.

Methods: A total of 30 neurodevelopmental events with corresponding PCDs were identified, that were then used to optimize the pig's species score using grid search and gradient descent approaches.

Results and conclusion: Across both methods, the same species score of 2.157 was derived with a residual sum of squares of 4260.46. This species score places the domestic pig between the cat (1.808) and the macaque (2.255), thereby reinforcing the translational power of the pig comparable to non-human primates.

Background: Unruptured intracranial aneurysms (IAs) are increasingly detected due to advancements in neuroimaging. Despite improvements in treatment, aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) is associated with high mortality and morbidity. Treatment decisions for IA are complex and individualized, considering aneurysm and patient-related risk factors. Genetic factors, particularly endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) polymorphisms, have been implicated in IA formation and rupture risk.

Methods: This study investigated the association between three eNOS polymorphisms (27-bp-VNTR, T786C, and G894T) and aSAH in a cohort of 275 patients with unruptured IA or aSAH. Patients were followed for at least 8 years with clinical and imaging assessments. Genotyping of selected polymorphisms was performed, and statistical analyses were conducted to identify interactions between genetic polymorphisms and established risk factors.

Results: A significant difference in the frequencies of genotypes and allele carriers of the T786C polymorphism was observed between patients with unruptured IA and those with aSAH, with an increased proportion of CC homozygotes in the aSAH group. The risk of rupture was higher in patients with the CC genotype. Multilobular aneurysms and those located in the posterior circulation had a higher incidence of rupture. Associations between arterial hypertension and certain genotypes were also found. However, no significant interaction was observed between the polymorphisms and established risk factors in relation to aneurysm rupture.

Conclusion: Our data showed a significant and independent correlation between eNOS genetic polymorphism T786C and aSAH.

Objective: Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the most prominent non-psychotropic cannabinoids with known therapeutic potentials. Based on its anti-seizure efficacy, the first cannabis derived pharmaceutical grade CBD-based medication was approved in the USA in 2018 for the treatment of seizures in patients 2 years and older. Despite the effectiveness in reducing seizures, there remain several major questions on the optimization of CBD therapy for epilepsy such as the optimal dosage, composition, and route of delivery, which are the main objective of this current study.

Methods: We evaluated the antiseizure effects of CBD through different compositions, routes of delivery, and dosages in a pre-clinical model. We used a kainic acid-induced epilepsy model in C57BL/6 mice, treated them with placebo and/or CBD through inhalation, oral, and injection (intraperitoneal) routes. We used CBD broad spectrum (inhaled and intraperitoneal) vs CBD isolate formulations. We employed the Racine scaling system to evaluate the severity of the seizures, flow cytometry for measuring immune biomarkers and neurotrophic factors, and histologic analysis to examine and compare the groups.

Results: Our findings showed that all forms of CBD reduced seizures severity. Among the combination of CBD tested, CBD broad spectrum via inhalation was the most effective in the treatment of epileptic seizures (p < 0.05) compared to other forms of CBD treatments.

Conclusion: Our data suggest that route and CBD formulations affect its efficacy in the prevention of epileptic seizures. Inhaled broad spectrum CBD showed a potential superior effect compared to other delivery routes and CBD formulations in the prevention of epileptic seizures, which warrants further research.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) seriously affects the health of humans and quality of life, causing disabilities. Due to the ever-increasing traffic and cases of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, the incidence of SCI increases every year, thus causing a huge economic burden to society and patients. The lack of neurotrophic factors in the area affected by SCI and the presence of inhibitory factors for axonal regeneration are important reasons that make spinal cord regeneration and repair extremely difficult. Additionally, the correct projection of axons also plays an important role. As Netrin-1 is a signaling factor that guides axon growth, in this study, to determine whether Netrin-1 can promote axonal regeneration after binding to the receptor DCC following SCI, a Netrin-1/DCC co-expression recombinant lentiviral vector was constructed. This vector was used to assess the effect of Netrin-1 on the NgR1-RhoA-ROCK signaling pathway in an SCI model constructed in this study. Our results suggested that Netrin-1 exerts neuroprotective effects by inhibiting the NgR1-RhoA-ROCK signaling pathway after binding to its receptor DCC.

Parkinson's disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by degeneration of the dopaminergic (DA) neurons, is still lack of available treatments to completely block neurodegeneration. (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a predominant active polyphenol generated from green tea, exerts multiple neuroprotective roles in the nervous system. However, the function role of EGCG in PD and the underlying mechanism remains to be investigated. In the current study, we used the rotenone injection to build the PD rat model, followed by the EGCG treatment and determined by the behavior tests, measurements of malondialdehyde, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase levels, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We revealed that, in PD rats, EGCG upregulates protein kinase D1 (PKD1) and inhibits Parthanatos to ameliorate the impaired motor function, reduce the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase, suppress the oxidative stress, and suppress the inflammation in substantia nigra. These combined results suggest that EGCG can suppress oxidative stress and inflammation to prevent DA neuron degeneration to prevent rotenone-induced motor impairments, laying the foundation for EGCG to be a novel candidate for the treatment of PD.

Spontaneously hyperlipidaemic (Apoe^shl) mice were discovered in 1999 as mice lacking apolipoprotein E (ApoE) owing to a mutation in the Apoe gene. However, age-related behavioural changes in commercially available Apoe^shl mice have not yet been clarified. The behavioural abnormalities of ApoE-deficient mice, which are genetically modified mice artificially deficient in ApoE, have been investigated in detail, and it has been reported that they can serve as a model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To understand whether Apoe^shl mice can also serve as a murine model of AD, it is necessary to investigate age-related behavioural abnormalities in Apoe^shl mice. In this study, we conducted a series of behavioural experiments on 7- and 11-month-old Apoe^shl mice to investigate the behavioural abnormalities associated with ageing in Apoe^shl mice. In this study, 7-month-old Apoe^shl mice showed decreased body weight and grip strength compared to age-matched wild-type mice. In the open field test, 7-month-old Apoe^shl mice showed increased anxiety-like behaviour compared to wild-type mice, whereas 11-month-old Apoe^shl mice showed decreased anxiety-like behaviour. Moreover, Apoe^shl mice aged 7 and 11 months had increased serum cholesterol levels. These results indicate that the behaviour of Apoe^shl mice changes with age. However, 11-month-old Apoe^shl mice did not show a decline in cognitive function or memory ability similar to murine models of AD. Our findings indicate that Apoe^shl mice can be used to investigate the function of ApoE in the central nervous system.

Interest in the societal and psychological harm caused by widespread envy and social comparison is increasing. Envy is associated with anxiety and depression, though the mechanism by which envy affects neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, remains unclear. Clarifying the neurobiological basis of envy's effects on behaviour and emotion regulation in experimental mice is essential for developing disease-prevention and treatment strategies. As mice recognize other mice in neighbouring cages, this study investigated whether they recognize neighbouring cages housed in environmentally enriched cages and suffer psychological stress due to envy. After being raised in an envy-like environment for 3 weeks, we revealed changes in the behaviour of the mice through a series of behavioural experiments. Mice raised in an envious environment showed increased body weight and anxiety-like behaviour but decreased social behaviour and serum corticosterone levels compared to control mice. Thus, mice recognize their neighbouring cages and experience psychological stress due to envy. This study revealed a part of the scientific basis for why envy increased anxiety. Using this novel experimental breeding environment, it may be possible to create an experimental animal model of anxiety disorders.