Abstract Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of an organism with a given genotype to respond to changing environmental conditions through the adaptation of the phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is a widespread means of adaptation, allowing organisms to optimize fitness levels in changing environments. A core prerequisite for adaptive predictive plasticity is the existence of reliable cues, i.e. accurate environmental information about future selection on the expressed plastic phenotype. Furthermore, organisms need the capacity to detect and interpret such cues, relying on specific sensory signalling and neuronal cascades. Subsequent neurohormonal changes lead to the transformation of phenotype A into phenotype B. Each of these activities is critical for survival. Consequently, anything that could impair an animal’s ability to perceive important chemical information could have significant ecological ramifications. Climate change and other human stressors can act on individual or all of the components of this signalling cascade. In consequence, organisms could lose their adaptive potential, or in the worst case, even become maladapted. Therefore, it is key to understand the sensory systems, the neurobiology and the physiological adaptations that mediate organisms’ interactions with their environment. It is, thus, pivotal to predict the ecosystem-wide effects of global human forcing. This review summarizes current insights on how climate change affects phenotypic plasticity, focussing on how associated stressors change the signalling agents, the sensory systems, receptor responses and neuronal signalling cascades, thereby, impairing phenotypic adaptations.
{"title":"Neurobiology of phenotypic plasticity in the light of climate change","authors":"Linda C. Weiss","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0029","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of an organism with a given genotype to respond to changing environmental conditions through the adaptation of the phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is a widespread means of adaptation, allowing organisms to optimize fitness levels in changing environments. A core prerequisite for adaptive predictive plasticity is the existence of reliable cues, i.e. accurate environmental information about future selection on the expressed plastic phenotype. Furthermore, organisms need the capacity to detect and interpret such cues, relying on specific sensory signalling and neuronal cascades. Subsequent neurohormonal changes lead to the transformation of phenotype A into phenotype B. Each of these activities is critical for survival. Consequently, anything that could impair an animal’s ability to perceive important chemical information could have significant ecological ramifications. Climate change and other human stressors can act on individual or all of the components of this signalling cascade. In consequence, organisms could lose their adaptive potential, or in the worst case, even become maladapted. Therefore, it is key to understand the sensory systems, the neurobiology and the physiological adaptations that mediate organisms’ interactions with their environment. It is, thus, pivotal to predict the ecosystem-wide effects of global human forcing. This review summarizes current insights on how climate change affects phenotypic plasticity, focussing on how associated stressors change the signalling agents, the sensory systems, receptor responses and neuronal signalling cascades, thereby, impairing phenotypic adaptations.","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"28 1","pages":"1 - 12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41511141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Albert Einstein once claimed that “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. We painfully experienced the practical relevance of this fact during the last pandemic years, when we suddenly had to change our time management, implement new ways of interactions and reevaluate the importance of previously barely relevant items, e.g. face masks, test kits, and disinfectants, to name just a few examples. Our successful survival in a permanently changing environment would not be possible without the ability to store and update new evidence, (re)evaluate the choices and take adaptive decisions. This amazing ability to easily change according to the situation defines the cognitive flexibility of our minds. It implies that low-level sensory and motor processes are internally coordinated to endow the brain with the capacity to develop and adapt internal goals and act accordingly. It is obvious that such processes involve a neural circuitry that extends over much of the brain, yet it is commonly held that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a critical hub (Miller and Cohen, 2001; Chini and Hanganu-Opatz, 2021). Despite the relevance of cognitive flexibility for day-to-day life, a mechanistic understanding of prefrontal coding of behavioral flexibility is still lacking, mainly due to the ethical concerns and technical limitations of human research, on the one hand, and the absence of a translational consensus regarding the prefrontal region, on the other hand (Carlen, 2017).
{"title":"Forschungsgruppe (FOR5159) Resolving the prefrontal circuits of cognitive flexibility","authors":"I. Hanganu-Opatz, I. Diester","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0023","url":null,"abstract":"Albert Einstein once claimed that “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. We painfully experienced the practical relevance of this fact during the last pandemic years, when we suddenly had to change our time management, implement new ways of interactions and reevaluate the importance of previously barely relevant items, e.g. face masks, test kits, and disinfectants, to name just a few examples. Our successful survival in a permanently changing environment would not be possible without the ability to store and update new evidence, (re)evaluate the choices and take adaptive decisions. This amazing ability to easily change according to the situation defines the cognitive flexibility of our minds. It implies that low-level sensory and motor processes are internally coordinated to endow the brain with the capacity to develop and adapt internal goals and act accordingly. It is obvious that such processes involve a neural circuitry that extends over much of the brain, yet it is commonly held that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a critical hub (Miller and Cohen, 2001; Chini and Hanganu-Opatz, 2021). Despite the relevance of cognitive flexibility for day-to-day life, a mechanistic understanding of prefrontal coding of behavioral flexibility is still lacking, mainly due to the ethical concerns and technical limitations of human research, on the one hand, and the absence of a translational consensus regarding the prefrontal region, on the other hand (Carlen, 2017).","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"28 1","pages":"55 - 57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43862517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Neuroscientific discoveries and the development of recording and stimulation tools are deeply connected. Over the past decades, the progress in seamlessly integrating such tools in the form of neuroelectronic devices has been tremendous. Here, we review recent advances and key aspects of this goal. Firstly, we illustrate improvements with respect to the coupling between cells/tissue and recording/stimulation electrodes. Thereafter, we cover attempts to mitigate the foreign body response by reducing the devices’ invasiveness. We follow up with a description of specialized electronic hardware aimed at the needs of bioelectronic applications. Lastly, we outline how additional modalities such as optical techniques or ultrasound could in the future be integrated into neuroelectronic implants. Zusammenfassung Neurowissenschaftliche Entdeckungen und die Entwicklung von Ableitungs- und Stimulationsmethoden sind stark verknüpft. Im Laufe der letzten Jahrzehnte hat sich ein immenser Fortschritt im Hinblick auf die nahtlose Integration solcher Methoden in Form von neuroelektronischen Schnittstellen ergeben. In diesem Artikel geben wir einen Überblick über aktuelle Entwicklungen in diesem Feld. Wir beleuchten zuerst Verbesserungen der Kopplung zwischen Zellen/Gewebe und Ableitungs- bzw. Stimulationselektroden. Danach betrachten wir Ansätze zur Vermeidung von Fremdkörperreaktionen durch eine reduzierte Invasivität der Schnittstellen. Anschließend beschreiben wir spezialisierte elektronische Hardware für bioelektronische Anwendungen. Zuletzt zeigen wir auf, wie neue Modalitäten z.B. durch optische Techniken oder Ultraschall zukünftig in neuroelektronische Implantate integriert werden könnten.
{"title":"Recent developments and future perspectives on neuroelectronic devices","authors":"P. Rinklin, B. Wolfrum","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0019","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Neuroscientific discoveries and the development of recording and stimulation tools are deeply connected. Over the past decades, the progress in seamlessly integrating such tools in the form of neuroelectronic devices has been tremendous. Here, we review recent advances and key aspects of this goal. Firstly, we illustrate improvements with respect to the coupling between cells/tissue and recording/stimulation electrodes. Thereafter, we cover attempts to mitigate the foreign body response by reducing the devices’ invasiveness. We follow up with a description of specialized electronic hardware aimed at the needs of bioelectronic applications. Lastly, we outline how additional modalities such as optical techniques or ultrasound could in the future be integrated into neuroelectronic implants. Zusammenfassung Neurowissenschaftliche Entdeckungen und die Entwicklung von Ableitungs- und Stimulationsmethoden sind stark verknüpft. Im Laufe der letzten Jahrzehnte hat sich ein immenser Fortschritt im Hinblick auf die nahtlose Integration solcher Methoden in Form von neuroelektronischen Schnittstellen ergeben. In diesem Artikel geben wir einen Überblick über aktuelle Entwicklungen in diesem Feld. Wir beleuchten zuerst Verbesserungen der Kopplung zwischen Zellen/Gewebe und Ableitungs- bzw. Stimulationselektroden. Danach betrachten wir Ansätze zur Vermeidung von Fremdkörperreaktionen durch eine reduzierte Invasivität der Schnittstellen. Anschließend beschreiben wir spezialisierte elektronische Hardware für bioelektronische Anwendungen. Zuletzt zeigen wir auf, wie neue Modalitäten z.B. durch optische Techniken oder Ultraschall zukünftig in neuroelektronische Implantate integriert werden könnten.","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"27 1","pages":"213 - 224"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46996288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Exposure to environmental pollutants like chemicals or air pollution is major health concern for the human population. Especially the nervous system is a sensitive target for environmental toxins with exposures leading to life stage-dependent neurotoxicity. Developmental and adult neurotoxicity are characterized by specific adverse outcomes ranging from neurodevelopmental disorders to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The risk assessment process for human health protection is currently undergoing a paradigm change toward new approach methods that allow mechanism-based toxicity assessment. As a flagship project, an in vitro battery of test methods for developmental neurotoxicity evaluation is currently supported by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A plethora of stem cell-based methods including brain spheres and organoids are currently further developed to achieve time- and cost-saving tools for linking MoA-based hazards to adverse health effects observed in humans.
{"title":"Environmental exposures impact the nervous system in a life stage-specific manner","authors":"J. Tigges, T. Schikowski, E. Fritsche","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0021","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Exposure to environmental pollutants like chemicals or air pollution is major health concern for the human population. Especially the nervous system is a sensitive target for environmental toxins with exposures leading to life stage-dependent neurotoxicity. Developmental and adult neurotoxicity are characterized by specific adverse outcomes ranging from neurodevelopmental disorders to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The risk assessment process for human health protection is currently undergoing a paradigm change toward new approach methods that allow mechanism-based toxicity assessment. As a flagship project, an in vitro battery of test methods for developmental neurotoxicity evaluation is currently supported by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A plethora of stem cell-based methods including brain spheres and organoids are currently further developed to achieve time- and cost-saving tools for linking MoA-based hazards to adverse health effects observed in humans.","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"27 1","pages":"201 - 212"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48538943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The nervous system with its complex organizational features and functions is well-known for its impressive ability to process information and drive countless biological processes. It has come to the surprise of many that the nervous system can also be intimately involved in an unwelcome area of human life: the initiation and progression of cancer. For brain tumors, the parallels to neurodevelopment and nervous system function can be found on multiple levels. First, cancer cells of incurable gliomas interconnect with long cellular extensions to a large communicating multicellular network. Second, indirect and direct neuronal input can generate, activate, and control brain tumor growth. Third, it is becoming increasingly clear that those features not only drive brain tumor progression but also the notorious resistance of these tumors against standard antitumor therapies. Remarkably, these recent insights have already generated novel ideas for better antitumor therapies.
{"title":"Neuroscience meets cancer: networks and neuronal input to brain tumors","authors":"V. Venkataramani, M. Karreman, F. Winkler","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0020","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The nervous system with its complex organizational features and functions is well-known for its impressive ability to process information and drive countless biological processes. It has come to the surprise of many that the nervous system can also be intimately involved in an unwelcome area of human life: the initiation and progression of cancer. For brain tumors, the parallels to neurodevelopment and nervous system function can be found on multiple levels. First, cancer cells of incurable gliomas interconnect with long cellular extensions to a large communicating multicellular network. Second, indirect and direct neuronal input can generate, activate, and control brain tumor growth. Third, it is becoming increasingly clear that those features not only drive brain tumor progression but also the notorious resistance of these tumors against standard antitumor therapies. Remarkably, these recent insights have already generated novel ideas for better antitumor therapies.","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"27 1","pages":"225 - 231"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48793277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The neural mechanisms that balance waking and sleep to ensure adequate sleep quality in mammals are highly complex, often eluding functional insight. In the last two decades, researchers made impressive progress in studying the less complex brain of the invertebrate model organism Drosophila melanogaster, which has led to a deeper understanding of the neural principles of sleep regulation. Here, we will review these findings to illustrate that neural networks require sleep to undergo synaptic reorganization that allows for the incorporation of experiences made during the waking hours. Sleep need, therefore, can arise as a consequence of sensory processing, often signalized by neural networks as they synchronize their electrical patterns to generate slow-wave activity. The slow-wave activity provides the neurophysiological basis to establish a sensory gate that suppresses sensory processing to provide a resting phase which promotes synaptic rescaling and clearance of metabolites from the brain. Moreover, we demonstrate how neural networks for homeostatic and circadian sleep regulation interact to consolidate sleep into a specific daily period. We particularly highlight that the basic functions and physiological principles of sleep are highly conserved throughout the phylogenetic spectrum, allowing us to identify the functional components and neural interactions that construct the neural architecture of sleep regulation.
{"title":"The neural architecture of sleep regulation – insights from Drosophila","authors":"Raquel Suárez-Grimalt, Davide Raccuglia","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0018","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The neural mechanisms that balance waking and sleep to ensure adequate sleep quality in mammals are highly complex, often eluding functional insight. In the last two decades, researchers made impressive progress in studying the less complex brain of the invertebrate model organism Drosophila melanogaster, which has led to a deeper understanding of the neural principles of sleep regulation. Here, we will review these findings to illustrate that neural networks require sleep to undergo synaptic reorganization that allows for the incorporation of experiences made during the waking hours. Sleep need, therefore, can arise as a consequence of sensory processing, often signalized by neural networks as they synchronize their electrical patterns to generate slow-wave activity. The slow-wave activity provides the neurophysiological basis to establish a sensory gate that suppresses sensory processing to provide a resting phase which promotes synaptic rescaling and clearance of metabolites from the brain. Moreover, we demonstrate how neural networks for homeostatic and circadian sleep regulation interact to consolidate sleep into a specific daily period. We particularly highlight that the basic functions and physiological principles of sleep are highly conserved throughout the phylogenetic spectrum, allowing us to identify the functional components and neural interactions that construct the neural architecture of sleep regulation.","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"27 1","pages":"189 - 199"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46980692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"DFG-Research Unit (FOR) 2974 “Affective and cognitive mechanisms of specific Internet-use disorders (ACSID)”","authors":"M. Brand, R. Stark, T. Klucken","doi":"10.1515/nf-2021-0024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2021-0024","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":56108,"journal":{"name":"Neuroforum","volume":"27 1","pages":"233 - 236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43736354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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