Brain-X最新文献

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been shown to impact the central nervous system, leading to various neurological complications. Arterial spin labeling (ASL), a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging technique, enables the measurement of cerebral blood flow and perfusion abnormalities. This systematic review aims to synthesize ASL findings in patients with COVID-19 and assess the potential role of ASL in diagnosing and managing neurological complications. A comprehensive search was conducted on PubMed and Scopus for studies related to ASL in individuals with COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 syndrome published between December 2019 and August 2024. Extracted data encompassed study characteristics, ASL protocols, cognitive assessments, and principal findings. The most consistent observation across studies was hypoperfusion detected in various brain regions, particularly within the frontal lobes, which may correlate with cognitive impairment and olfactory dysfunction. Additionally, some investigations reported hyperperfusion localized to the leptomeninges. These results may reflect underlying mechanisms such as hypoxic–ischemic injury, inflammation, vascular dysfunction, and neuronal damage attributable to COVID-19. In conclusion, ASL has emerged as a valuable tool for evaluating brain perfusion among patients affected by or recovering from COVID-19 since it offers critical insights into cerebral hemodynamics and metabolism. Further research is warranted to validate these ASL findings and elucidate whether post-COVID-19 syndrome contributes to persistent brain perfusion issues.

Hearing sound and responding to external and internal mechanical stimuli requires specific proteins as mechanotransducers that convert mechanical forces into biological signals. However, our understanding of the mechanotransduction process in the inner ear is still incomplete. Mechanically activated ion channels, PIEZO1 and PIEZO2, are widely distributed throughout the body and play essential roles. Recent studies have discovered that Piezo channels are expressed in inner ear hair cells, suggesting their potential involvement in auditory perception. This review summarizes the existing discoveries about the Piezo channels, including their structure, mechanogating mechanisms, and general physiological roles, explicitly focusing on Piezo channels in the auditory systems. Piezo channels play roles in ultrasound perception, generation of anomalous current, hair cell development, and potentially in the normal mechanoelectrical transduction process of hair cells. Collectively, this review aims to provide a new perspective on the Piezo channel and its potential roles in auditory perception.

The safeguarding of animal welfare holds a deep-rooted history within public institutions and legislative structures, with the objective of enhancing the comfort and overall wellbeing of animals throughout the entire experimental process. It is paramount to harmonize the enhancement of animal welfare with medical research practices, as this is pivotal in mitigating factors that impede modeling precision and prioritizing their welfare. This commitment has nurtured innovation in advanced experimental methodologies and welfare evaluation techniques. The classic 3Rs principle-replacement, reduction, and refinement-serves as a fundamental cornerstone for advancing the welfare of model animals. The establishment of appropriate metrics for animal welfare, rooted in the 3Rs principle, will propel progress in related fields. This review delves into the evolution of animal ethics and the 3R principles, alongside strategies to elevate the welfare of various model animals utilized in neuroscience, encompassing non-human primates, rodents, zebrafish, and other species. The aim of this review is to clarify the notion of welfare in this context and to evaluate the merits and constraints of utilizing model animals in neuroscience research. This, in essence, may contribute to bolstering animal protection and standardizing their use in research endeavors. Additionally, the pursuit of novel modeling methodologies is imperative to provide superior alternatives for neuroscience research.

Noninherited diseases and age-associated vision loss are often associated with retinal degeneration. The retina is a postmitotic neural tissue lacking endogenous regeneration capacity. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of retinal degeneration in diseases is pivotal. Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) determine protein function during physiological and pathological processes, including signal transduction, protein localization, and protein activation. Advanced detection technologies have revealed over 400 different PTMs including acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination and SUMOylation. Here, we discuss PTMs in retinal degeneration diseases to aid in our understanding of their molecular basis and suggest potential future clinical treatment.

A schematic diagram of a proposed neural circuit for high temperature-induced feeding inhibition. Acute high temperature exposure activates excitatory neurons in the parabrachial nucleus brain area, promotes the release of vascular endothelial growth factor A from tanycytes, and acts on agouti-related protein neurons in the ARC brain area to inhibit feeding behavior.

The incidence of affective disorders, of which major depression disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are two main types, has increased rapidly in recent years. They significantly impact patients, their families, and society. However, while affective disorders have become a major issue worldwide, their pathogenesis remains unclear. In the last 6 years, research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and genetic data has gained prominence in understanding their pathophysiology and etiology. This systematic review collected the studies of MDD and BD research published between January 1, 2018, and February 1, 2024, focusing on studies using MRI and genetic data and indexed in the Web of Science and PubMed database. It aims to investigate the similarities and differences in their imaging phenotypes and underlying molecular bases. After exclusions, a total of 80 articles were included in this review. Research on MDD and BD reveals the critical role of epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, in brain structure and function changes. The genes and pathways implicated in MDD are directly associated with depressive symptoms. In contrast, those implicated in BD are associated with mood regulation and cognitive functions. In addition, functional imaging studies have revealed that abnormalities in MDD are frequently concentrated in regions involved in emotion regulation and stress response. In contrast, those in BD are frequently concentrated in the neural circuits related to reward processing and emotional stability. Further multimodal and multiscale studies are needed to advance the field of mood disorder research.

As living standards improve, mental and physical health have been gaining increasing attention. Presently, depression is one of the most severe mental health issues. Depression affects the quality of life of affected individuals because it lasts for a very long time and is generally difficult to cure. Currently, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are the two main approaches for treating depression. However, some principles and characteristics of pharmacotherapy remain unclear, and its side effects are significant and noticeable. In addition, ordinary psychotherapy requires the assistance of a qualified psychotherapist, which is usually hard to find and expensive. Both methods are burdensome to the patients, making it difficult for them to benefit. As an easy-to-obtain therapy, music therapy has been recommended by physicians as an auxiliary therapy for various diseases to regulate patients' emotions and help the primary treatment methods to obtain better therapeutic effects. This review investigates and summarizes recent articles on the pathogenesis of depression and the effects of music therapy on depression. Its results show that music therapy is effective and available. However, a systematic treatment plan has not yet been formulated due to the lack of samples and short follow-up times. Future studies should include more samples and follow-up patients after the treatment period to address the continuous effect and principle of music therapy.