Acta Neuropsychiatrica最新文献

Objectives: Cognitive function plays a pivotal role in assessing an individual's quality of life. This research aimed to investigate how azelaic acid (AzA), a natural dicarboxylic acid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, affects aluminium chloride (AlCl₃)-induced behavioural changes and biochemical alterations in the hippocampus of rats.

Methods: Thirty-two male Wistar rats divided into four groups received distilled water, AzA 50 mg/kg, AlCl₃ 100 mg/kg and AzA plus AlCl₃, respectively, by oral gavage for 6 weeks. Behavioural changes were evaluated using open-field maze, elevated plus maze, novel object recognition (NOR), passive avoidance task, and Morris water maze (MWM) tests. Also, malondialdehyde (MDA), carbonyl protein, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity were examined.

Results: AzA significantly affected AlCl₃-provoked anxiety-like behaviours and learning and memory impairments. It also reduced the toxic effect of AlCl₃ on MDA, carbonyl protein, TNF-α, IL-1β, NF-κB and GSK-3β status; however, its beneficial effects on AlCl₃-induced changes of CHOP, BDNF and AChE activity were not significant.

Conclusion: These findings disclosed that AzA could improve behavioural and cognitive function and almost limit the oxidative stress and neuroinflammation caused by AlCl₃.

Objective: Psychotic disorders are characterised by abnormalities in the synchronisation of neuronal responses. A 40 Hz gamma band deficit during auditory steady-state response (ASSR) measured by electroencephalogram (EEG) is a robust observation in psychosis and is associated with symptoms and functional deficits. However, the majority of ASSR studies focus on specific electrode sites, while whole scalp analysis using all channels, and the association with clinical symptoms, are rare.

Methods: In this study, we use whole-scalp 40 Hz ASSR EEG measurements – power and phase-locking factor – to establish deficits in early-stage psychosis (ESP) subjects, classify ESP status using an ensemble of machine learning techniques, identify correlates with principal components obtained from clinical/demographic/functioning variables, and correlate functional outcome after a short-term follow-up.

Results: We identified significant spatially-distributed group level differences for power and phase locking. The performance of different machine learning techniques and interpretation of the extracted feature importance indicate that phase locking has a more predictive and parsimonious pattern than power. Phase locking is also associated with principal components composed of measures of cognitive processes. Short-term functional outcome is associated with baseline 40 Hz ASSR signals from the FCz and other channels in both phase locking and power.

Conclusion: This whole-scalp EEG study provides additional evidence to link deficits in 40 Hz ASSRs with cognition and functioning in ESP, and corroborates with prior studies of phase locking from a subset of EEG channels. Confirming 40 Hz ASSR deficits serves as a candidate phenotype to identify circuit dysfunctions and a biomarker for clinical outcomes in psychosis.

Objective: Combining different pharmaceuticals may be beneficial when treating disorders with complex neurobiology, including alcohol use disorder (AUD). The gut-brain peptides amylin and GLP-1 may be of potential interest as they individually reduce alcohol intake in rodents. While the combination of amylin receptor (AMYR) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists have been found to decrease feeding and body weight in obese male rats synergistically, their combined impact on alcohol intake is unknown.

Methods: Therefore, the effect of the combination of an AMYR (salmon calcitonin (sCT)) and a GLP-1R (dulaglutide) agonist on alcohol intake in rats of both sexes was explored in two separate alcohol-drinking experiments. The first alcohol-drinking experiment evaluated the potential of adding sCT to an ongoing dulaglutide treatment, whereas the second alcohol-drinking experiment examined the effect when adding sCT and dulaglutide simultaneously.

Results: When adding sCT to an ongoing dulaglutide treatment, a reduction in alcohol intake was observed in both male and female rats. However, when combining sCT and dulaglutide simultaneously, an initial reduction in alcohol intake was observed in rats of both sexes, whereas tolerance towards treatment was observed. In both alcohol-drinking experiments, this treatment combination consistently decreased food consumption and body weight in males and females. While the treatment combination did not affect inflammatory mediators, the gene expression of AMYR or GLP-1R, it changed fat tissue morphology.

Conclusions: Further investigation needs to be done on the combination of AMYR and GLP-1R agonists to assess their combined effects on alcohol intake.

The dorsal midbrain comprises dorsal columns of the periaqueductal grey matter and corpora quadrigemina. These structures are rich in beta-endorphinergic and leu-enkephalinergic neurons and receive GABAergic inputs from substantia nigra pars reticulata. Although the inferior colliculus (IC) is mainly involved in the acoustic pathways, the electrical and chemical stimulation of central and pericentral nuclei of the IC elicits a vigorous defensive behaviour. The defensive immobility and escape elicited by IC activation is commonly related to panic-like emotional states. To investigate the role of κ-opioid receptor of the IC in the antiaversive effects of endogenous opioid receptor blockade in a dangerous situation, male Wistar rats were pretreated in the IC with the κ-opioid receptor-selective antagonist nor-binaltorphimine at different concentrations and submitted to the non-enriched polygonal arena for a snake panic test in the presence of a rattlesnake and, after 24 h, prey were resubmitted to the experimental context. The snakes elicited in prey a set of antipredatory behaviours, such as the anxiety-like responses of defensive attention and risk assessment, and the panic-like reactions of defensive immobility and either escape or active avoidance during the elaboration of unconditioned and conditioned fear-related responses. Pretreatment of the IC with microinjections of nor-binaltorphimine at higher concentrations significantly decreased the frequency and duration of both anxiety- and panic-attack-like behaviours. These findings suggest that κ-opioid receptor blockade in the IC causes anxiolytic- and panicolytic-like responses in threatening conditions, and that kappa-opioid receptor-selective antagonists can be a putative coadjutant treatment for panic syndrome treatment.

This study aims to assess the correlation between NAA (N-acetyl-l-aspartate), CHO (choline), and CRE (creatine) levels in the hippocampus regions of individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and defensive styles of the ego.The study group was composed of twenty patients with OCD and twenty healthy controls. NAA, CHO, and CRE values in the hippocampal region using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) were measured. Participants' defense styles were ascertained by administering the Defense Style Questionnaire-40.The patient group's NAA levels were considerably lower than the control group's on both sides of the hippocampus. The levels of CHO and CRE did not significantly differ between the two groups. The following statistically significant correlations were discovered: in the comparison group, there were negative correlations between the scores of mature defense styles and the right and left CHO levels, as well as between the immature defense mechanism scores and the right NAA levels in both the patient and control groups. In the patient group, there were also negative correlations between the left NAA values and the scores of mature defense styles.OCD patients have lower levels of NAA in the hippocampus. To validate and extend the current findings, more research involving a greater sample size is required.

Objective: The objective of the current research is to study the serum levels of ischemia modified albumin (IMA), a new oxidative stress indicator, and various peptides (galanin, alarin, and meteorin-like protein) that may affect the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, determine their relationship with clinical features and each other, and compare them to those in healthy controls.

Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study consisting of 45 individuals with schizophrenia who are in remission and 45 healthy individuals. The differences and relationships between categorical variables and serum protein levels of the patient and control groups were statistically analysed. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was used for the diagnostic decision-making properties of serum protein levels to predict the presence of the disease.

Results: In comparison with the control group, the median levels of serum proteins galanin and alarin were statistically lower in the patient group, whereas METRNL and IMA levels were higher. Considering the predictive values of serum proteins in the diagnosis of the disease, it was observed that serum galanin, alarin, and IMA levels had a sensitivity and specificity higher than 80%, followed by METRNL with 73.3% sensitivity and 66.7% specificity.

Conclusion: Our findings reveal galanin, alarin, meteorin-like protein, and IMA are important molecules with high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing schizophrenia. Furthermore, we think that further studies are needed to use them as reliable parameters in terms of clinical course, classification, and prognosis in explaining the etiopathogenesis of the disease.

Objective: Resilience has been recently considered one of the possible mechanisms for the association between morningness-eveningness and depression. Meanwhile, anxiety is closely associated with mood disorder, but its association with morningness-eveningness is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the mediating effects of resilience and anxiety on morningness-eveningness and depression as the possible mechanisms.

Methods: This study included patient group and nonpatient group. Patient group consists of 743 patients with mood disorders [Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), 233; Bipolar Disorder I (BDI), 113; Bipolar Disorder II (BDII), 397] whereas nonpatient group consists of 818 individuals without mood disorder. The Composite Scale of Morningness, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to evaluate morningness-eveningness, resilience, anxiety, and depression, respectively.

Results: Our model provided a good fit for the data. The association between morningness-eveningness and depression symptoms was partially serially mediated by resilience and anxiety in both the patient and nonpatient groups. The patient group exhibited significantly stronger morningness-eveningness toward resilience and anxiety than the nonpatient group. In the indirect effect of morningness-eveningness on depression, group differences exist only through each mediation of resilience and anxiety, not through serial mediation.

Conclusion: Our results expand on the mechanism underlying the association between morningness-eveningness and depression. They highlight the importance of morningness-eveningness modification to increase resilience and the need to consider anxiety jointly in this process.

Objective: To ascertain whether psychotherapies combined with medication are more efficacious than those without medication and determine which combinations yield the best results.

Methods: We conducted a network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing behavioural activation (BA), psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy (DYN), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), individual face-to-face cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT (ftf)), group cognitive behavioural therapy (gCBT), and computerised or internet cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) with each other, or with treatment-as-usual (TAU) and wait list control (WLC) among adults formally diagnosed with depression. The psychotherapy arms were categorised as either psychotherapy alone or psychotherapy combined with medication (+ p). Treatment efficacy was assessed based on depression severity. We used a random-effects model to conduct a pairwise meta-analysis.

Results: A total of 100 RCTs with 9,873 participants were included. The most common treatment was CBT (ftf) alone. All treatment arms were compared with TAU. Most psychotherapies combined with medication were superior to psychotherapy alone. In the subgroup analyses according to the baseline severity of depression, most psychotherapies combined with medication were more effective than psychotherapy alone in moderate-to-severe depression, whereas in mild depression, such differences were not observed. Among psychotherapies with medication, gCBT + p was significantly more effective than TAU and other psychotherapies in both the main and subgroup analyses.

Conclusion: The efficacy of depression treatment varied depending on the severity of the depressive condition. Notably, gCBT + p was identified as the most effective approach for treating adult depression.

Applying transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 40 Hz to the frontal and parietal regions, either unilaterally (left or right) or bilaterally, can improve cognitive dysfunctions. This study aimed to explore the influence of tACS at gamma frequency over right fronto-parietal (FP) region on attention. The analysis is based on retrospective data from a clinical intervention. We administered test of variables of attention (TOVA; visual mode) to 44 participants with various neuropsychiatric diagnoses before and after 12 sessions of tACS treatment. Alternating currents at 2.0 mA were delivered to the electrode positions F4 and P4, following the 10-20 EEG convention, for 20 mins in each session. We observed significant improvement across 3 indices of the TOVA, including reduction of variability in reaction time (p = 0.0002), increase in d-Prime (separability of targets and non-targets; p = 0.0157), and decrease in commission error rate (p = 0.0116). The mean RT and omission error rate largely remained unchanged. Artificial injection of tACS at 40 Hz over right FP network may improve attention function, especially in the domains of consistency in performance, target/non-target discrimination, and inhibitory control.