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Brain Res Bull 2021 Apr 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Translational Psychiatry Laboratory, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNESC), Criciúma, SC, Brazil. Electronic address:

Sex differences are often observed in psychiatric patients, especially major depressive disorders (MDD), schizophrenia, and developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The prevalence rates between males and females seem variate according to the clinical condition. Although the findings are still incipient, it is suggested that these differences can involve neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and physiological sex differences. Read More

J Neurochem 2021 Apr 10. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas: Bioquímica, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2600-Anexo, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

Tissue accumulation and high urinary excretion of ethylmalonic acid (EMA) are found in ethylmalonic encephalopathy (EE), an inherited disorder associated with cerebral and cerebellar atrophy whose pathogenesis is poorly established. The in vitro and in vivo effects of EMA on bioenergetics and redox homeostasis were investigated in rat cerebellum. For the in vitro studies cerebellum preparations were exposed to EMA, whereas intracerebellar injection of EMA was used for the in vivo evaluation. Read More

Br J Anaesth 2021 Apr 6. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Department of Anaesthesiology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address:

Background: The US Food and Drug Administration warned that exposure of pregnant women to general anaesthetics may impair fetal brain development. This review systematically evaluates the evidence underlying this warning.

Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched from inception until April 3, 2020. Read More

BMC Neurol 2021 Apr 9;21(1):154. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Neurology (Stroke Unit). Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.

Background: The cortical microvascular cerebral blood flow response (CBF) to different changes in head-of-bed (HOB) position has been shown to be altered in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) by diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) technique. However, the relationship between these relative ΔCBF changes and associated systemic blood pressure changes has not been studied, even though blood pressure is a major driver of cerebral blood flow.

Methods: Transcranial DCS data from four studies measuring bilateral frontal microvascular cerebral blood flow in healthy controls (n = 15), patients with asymptomatic severe internal carotid artery stenosis (ICA, n = 27), and patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS, n = 72) were aggregated. Read More

Eur J Neurosci 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, United States.

Microglia are the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS) and are increasingly recognized as critical players in development, brain homeostasis, and disease pathogenesis. The lifespan, maintenance, proliferation, and turnover of microglia are important factors that regulate microglial behavior and affect their roles in the CNS. However, emerging evidence suggests that microglia are morphologically and phenotypically distinct in different brain areas, at different ages, and during disease. Read More

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova 2021 ;121(3):44-51

Kazan State Medical University, Kazan, Russia.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the intravenous form of dimephosphon at the first stage of rehabilitation in patients with ischemic stroke in the carotid system.

Material And Methods: The article presents the results of examination of 60 patients in the acute period of ischemic stroke in the carotid system (30 patients were treated with dimephosphon and 30 patients were in the comparison group). The dynamics of the clinical picture (according to the NIHSS), functional dependence in self-service (according to the modified Rankin scale), state of autonomic response using spectral analysis of heart rate variability, cerebrovascular reactivity using functional tests were assessed during the treatment. Read More

Front Neurol 2021 23;12:653167. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.

Transcranial Doppler is commonly used to calculate cerebral autoregulation, but measurements are typically restricted to a single cerebral artery. In exploring topographic heterogeneity, this study reports the first thorough comparison of autoregulation in all major cerebral vessels. In forty healthy adults, flow velocity was monitored in the anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries, and synchronized with arterial blood pressure. Read More

Trends Neurosci 2021 Apr 5. Epub 2021 Apr 5.

Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Electronic address:

Transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43), a multifunctional nucleic acid-binding protein, is a primary component of insoluble aggregates associated with several devastating nervous system disorders; mutations in TARDBP, its encoding gene, are a cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Here, we review established and emerging roles of TDP-43 and consider how its dysfunction impinges on RNA homeostasis in the nervous system, thereby contributing to neural degeneration. Notably, improper splicing of the axonal growth-associated factor STMN2 has recently been connected to TDP-43 dysfunction, providing a mechanistic link between TDP-43 proteinopathies and neuropathy. Read More

Acta Neuropathol Commun 2021 Apr 8;9(1):65. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33613, USA.

The microtubule associated protein tau is an intrinsically disordered phosphoprotein that accumulates under pathological conditions leading to formation of neurofibrillary tangles, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The mechanisms that initiate the accumulation of phospho-tau aggregates and filamentous deposits are largely unknown. In the past, our work and others' have shown that molecular chaperones play a crucial role in maintaining protein homeostasis and that imbalance in their levels or activity can drive tau pathogenesis. Read More

Semin Arthritis Rheum 2021 Mar 27;51(2):486-494. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Rheumatology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; KU Leuven Department of Development and Regeneration, Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Centre, Laboratory of Tissue Homeostasis and Disease. Electronic address:

Introduction: Myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs) are thought to be mutually exclusive in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) based on studies with immunoprecipitation-based (IP) detection methods. Recently, detection of multiple MSAs in unique patients is increasingly reported, but the extent of this phenomenon remains unclear.

Methods: At our centre, we reviewed results from two line immunoassays and one dot immunoassay in 145 IIM patients and 240 controls for the presence of multiple MSAs. Read More

J Physiol Biochem 2021 Apr 8. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.

Previous clinical and experimental studies have shown that neurological decline and poor functional outcome after acute ischemic stroke in humans are associated with high ferritin levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within 24 h of ischemic stroke onset. The aim of the present study was to find out if and how high extracellular ferritin concentrations can increase the excitotoxicity effect in a neuronal cortical culture model of stroke. Extracellular ferritin (100 ng/ml) significantly increased the excitotoxic effect caused by excessive exogenous glutamate (50 μM and 100 μM) by leading to an increase in lipid peroxidation, a reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential, and a decrease in neuron viability. Read More

Curr Neuropharmacol 2021 Apr 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Psychiatry, Baycrest Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. Canada.

Sodium oxybate (SO) has been in use for many decades to treat narcolepsy with cataplexy. It functions as a weak GABAB agonist but also as an energy source for the brain as a result of its metabolism to succinate and as a powerful antioxidant because of its capacity to induce the formation of NADPH. Its actions at thalamic GABAB receptors can induce slow wave activity while its actions at GABAB receptors on monoaminergic neurons can induce or delay REM sleep. Read More

Nutr Neurosci 2021 Apr 8:1-9. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Lipid Biochemistry Division, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Objective: Here, we assessed the impact of vitamin A deficiency (both alone and in combination with fructose) on the retinol status, phospholipids fatty acid composition and pathways associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and energy homeostasis of the brain. For this purpose, weanling male Wistar rats were divided into four groups consisting of 8 rats each, except 16 for the second group and they received one of the following diets; control, vitamin A-deficient (VAD), high fructose (HFr) and HFr with VAD for 16 weeks, except half of the VAD diet-fed rats, were shifted to HFr diet, after 8 weeks period.

Results: The retinol content of the whole brain remained comparable across the groups, despite a significant reduction in the plasma at the end of VAD diet feeding. Read More

PLoS One 2021 7;16(4):e0243899. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.

Phasic dopamine release from mid-brain dopaminergic neurons is thought to signal errors of reward prediction (RPE). If reward maximisation is to maintain homeostasis, then the value of primary rewards should be coupled to the homeostatic errors they remediate. This leads to the prediction that RPE signals should be configured as a function of homeostatic state and thus diminish with the attenuation of homeostatic error. Read More

Fluids Barriers CNS 2021 Apr 6;18(1):17. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

The Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, 6431 Fannin St. MSB 7.147, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.

The vessels of the central nervous system (CNS) have unique barrier properties. The endothelial cells (ECs) which comprise the CNS vessels contribute to the barrier via strong tight junctions, specific transporters, and limited endocytosis which combine to protect the brain from toxins and maintains brain homeostasis. Blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage is a serious secondary injury in various CNS disorders like stroke, brain tumors, and neurodegenerative disorders. Read More

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021 Apr 3;555:190-195. Epub 2021 Apr 3.

Key Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine, Ministry of Education, International Base of Collaboration for Science and Technology (JNU), The Ministry of Science and Technology & Guangdong Province, Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. Electronic address:

Primary cilia are microtubule-based organelles that are involved in sensing micro-environmental cues and regulating cellular homeostasis via triggering signaling cascades. Hypoxia is one of the most common environmental stresses that organ and tissue cells may often encounter during embryogenesis, cell differentiation, infection, inflammation, injury, cerebral and cardiac ischemia, or tumorigenesis. Although hypoxia has been reported to promote or inhibit primary ciliogenesis in different tissues or cultured cell lines, the role of hypoxia in ciliogenesis is controversial and still unclear. Read More

Pharmacol Ther 2021 Apr 3:107848. Epub 2021 Apr 3.

University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences, Laramie, WY 82071, USA; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington Seattle, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Cardiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address:

Stroke constitutes the second leading cause of death and a major cause of disability worldwide. Stroke is normally classified as either ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke (HS) although 87% of cases belong to ischemic nature. Approximately 700,000 individuals suffer an ischemic stroke (IS) in the US each year. Read More

Cell Stem Cell 2021 Apr 2. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Zebrafish Neurogenetics Unit, Institut Pasteur, UMR3738, CNRS, team supported by La Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, 75015 Paris, France. Electronic address:

Neural stem cell (NSC) populations persist in the adult vertebrate brain over a lifetime, and their homeostasis is controlled at the population level through unknown mechanisms. Here, we combine dynamic imaging of entire NSC populations in their in vivo niche over several weeks with pharmacological manipulations, mathematical modeling, and spatial statistics and demonstrate that NSCs use spatiotemporally resolved local feedback signals to coordinate their decision to divide in adult zebrafish brains. These involve Notch-mediated short-range inhibition from transient neural progenitors and a dispersion effect from the dividing NSCs themselves exerted with a delay of 9-12 days. Read More

Rev Endocr Metab Disord 2021 Apr 6. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Tronto 10/A, 60020, Ancona, Italy.

Leptin, produced and secreted by white adipose tissue in tight relationship with adipose mass, informs the brain about the status of the energy stores serving as the main peripheral signal for energy balance regulation through interaction with a multitude of highly interconnected neuronal populations. Most obese patients display resistance to the anorectic effect of the hormone. The present review unravels the multiple levels of complexity that trigger hypothalamic response to leptin with the objective of highlighting those critical hubs that, mainly in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, may undergo obesity-induced alterations and create an obstacle to leptin action. Read More

J Pharm Pharmacol 2021 Apr 3. Epub 2021 Apr 3.

Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy and Technology Management, SVKM'S NMIMS, Shirpur, Maharashtra, India.

Objectives: Human brain is composed of 25% of the cholesterol & any dysfunction in brain cholesterol homeostasis contributes to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson, Alzheimer's, Huntington's disease, etc. A growing literature indicates that alteration in neurotransmission & brain cholesterol metabolism takes place in the early stage of the disease. The current paper summarizes the role of cholesterol & its homeostasis in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease. Read More

Neural Regen Res 2021 Nov;16(11):2141-2148

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, 55131 Mainz, Germany.

Lipoproteins are multi-molecule assemblies with the primary function of transportation and processing of lipophilic substances within aqueous bodily fluids (blood, cerebrospinal fluid). Nevertheless, they also exert other physiological functions such as immune regulation. In particular, neurons are both sensitive to uncontrolled responses of the immune system and highly dependent on a controlled and sufficient supply of lipids. Read More

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2021 Apr 4:271678X211004131. Epub 2021 Apr 4.

Cerebral Haemodynamics in Ageing and Stroke Medicine (CHiASM) Research Group, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.

Instantaneous arterial pressure-flow (or velocity) relationships indicate the existence of a cerebral critical closing pressure (CrCP), with the slope of the relationship expressed by the resistance-area product (RAP). In 194 healthy subjects (20-82 years, 90 female), cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV, transcranial Doppler), arterial blood pressure (BP, Finapres) and end-tidal CO (EtCO, capnography) were measured continuously for five minutes during spontaneous fluctuations of BP at rest. The dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA) index (ARI) was extracted with transfer function analysis from the CBFV step response to the BP input and step responses were also obtained for the BP-CrCP and BP-RAP relationships. Read More

Open Life Sci 2020 13;15(1):580-587. Epub 2020 Aug 13.

College of Veterinary Medicine, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China.

Objective: Melanocortin-4 receptors (MC4Rs) are key regulators of energy homeostasis and adipose deposition in the central nervous system. Considering that MC4R expression regions and function-related research mainly focus on the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), little is known about their distribution throughout the mouse brain, although its messenger RNA distribution has been analyzed in the rat. Therefore, MC4R protein localization in mouse neurons was the focus of this study. Read More

Curr Sleep Med Rep 2020 Dec 13;6(4):267-279. Epub 2020 Nov 13.

Washington State University Spokane, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Science Building 213, 412 E. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Purpose Of Review: To present an up-to-date review and synthesis of findings about perinatal sleep development and function. I discuss landmark events in sleep ontogenesis, evidence that sleep promotes brain development and plasticity, and experimental considerations in this topic.

Recent Findings: Mammalian sleep undergoes dramatic changes in expression and regulation during perinatal development. Read More

Front Physiol 2021 17;12:642850. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, Atlanta VAMC, Decatur, GA, United States.

Cerebrovascular control and its integration with other physiological systems play a key role in the effective maintenance of homeostasis in brain functioning. Maintenance, restoration, and promotion of such a balance are one of the paramount goals of brain rehabilitation and intervention programs. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), an index of cerebrovascular reserve, plays an important role in chemo-regulation of cerebral blood flow. Read More

Front Physiol 2021 18;12:628107. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, California University of Science and Medicine, San Bernardino, CA, United States.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a multisystem endocrine disorder affecting the brain. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) pretreated with Melatonin have been shown to increase the potency of MSCs. This work aimed to compare Melatonin, stem cells, and stem cells pretreated with Melatonin on the cognitive functions and markers of synaptic plasticity in an animal model of type I diabetes mellitus (TIDM). Read More

Front Neurosci 2021 17;15:636764. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas, CIB, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.

In the newborn rabbit, the light entrainable circadian system is immature and once a day nursing provides the primary timing cue for entrainment. In advance of the mother's arrival, pups display food anticipatory activity (FAA), and metabolic and physiological parameters are synchronized to this daily event. Central structures in the brain are also entrained as indicated by expression of Fos and Per1 proteins, GFAP, a glial marker, and cytochrome oxidase activity. Read More

Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 2021 Feb 15;11600. Epub 2021 Feb 15.

University Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.

Purpose: Complex hemodynamics assessments, as those related to carotid stenosis, are not always easily straightforward due to multifaceted challenges presented by the collateral flow in the Circle of Willis (CoW) and brain flow autoregulation. Advanced computational and benchtop methods to investigate hemodynamics aspects related to such complex flows are often used, however both have limitations and could lead to results which may diverge. In this study we investigated these aspects by performing correlated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and benchtop experiments in patient specific 3D printed phantoms. Read More

Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021 Apr 1. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Health, Medical and Neuropsychology Unit, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Food anticipatory hormonal responses (cephalic responses) are proactive physiological processes, that allow animals to prepare for food ingestion by modulating their hormonal levels in response to food cues. This process is important for digesting food, metabolizing nutrients and maintaining glucose levels within homeostasis. In this systematic review, we summarize the evidence from animal and human research on cephalic responses. Read More

Aging (Albany NY) 2021 Apr 2;13. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of Rehabilitation Science, Graduate School of Inje University, Gimhae 50834, Korea.

The relationship between oxidative stress (OS) and cellular senescence (CS) is an important research topic because of the rapidly aging global population. Melatonin (MT) is associated with aging and plays a pivotal role in redox homeostasis, but its role in maintaining physiological stability in the brain (especially in OS-induced senescence) remains elusive. Here, we systematically reviewed the differential role of MT on OS-induced senescence in the SAMP8 mouse model. Read More