Article
Neurosciences
Alexandra B. Nelson, Allison E. Girasole, Hsien-Yang Lee, Louis J. Ptacek, Anatol C. Kreitzer
Summary: Abnormal involuntary movements, or dyskinesias, are observed in various neurologic disorders, and may be caused by alterations in neural activity or connectivity. This study shows that dysfunction in the indirect pathway of the striatum contributes to the development of dyskinesia in a mouse model, suggesting that hypoactivity in the indirect pathway may be a key mechanism for involuntary movements in other disorders.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Sylvie Perez, Yihui Cui, Gaetan Vignoud, Elodie Perrin, Alexandre Mendes, Zhiwei Zheng, Jonathan Touboul, Laurent Venance
Summary: This study reveals the presence of symmetric and asymmetric anti-Hebbian spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) in the striatum, with opposite plasticity dominance and different roles in different stages and types of learning.
Article
Neurosciences
Mariangela Scarduzio, Ellen J. Hess, David G. Standaert, Karen L. Eskow Jaunarajs
Summary: This review provides an overview of synaptic dysfunctions and neurochemical alterations in hyperkinetic movement disorders, including changes in synaptic plasticity and neuromodulation.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Valeria Calabrese, Barbara Picconi, Nicolas Heck, Federica Campanelli, Giuseppina Natale, Gioia Marino, Miriam Sciaccaluga, Veronica Ghiglieri, Alessandro Tozzi, Estelle Anceaume, Emeline Cuoc, Jocelyne Caboche, Francois Conquet, Paolo Calabresi, Delphine Charvin
Summary: In this study, it was found that a selective mGlu4-PAM called foliglurax can restore striatal synaptic plasticity in an animal model of Parkinson's disease and dyskinesia. This is achieved by decreasing glutamate transmission and improving the synergy between glutamatergic and dopaminergic transmissions, leading to improvements in motor function.
Article
Neurosciences
Natalia Lopez-Gonzalez del Rey, Miguel Angel Garcia-Cabezas
Summary: This review article summarizes the developmental, cellular, structural, and connectional features of the primate striatum and relates them to patterns of neurodegeneration in humans and non-human primate models. By understanding the primate anatomy and its relation to human pathology, new insights into the molecular, cellular, and connectional factors underlying the degeneration of striatal neurons and circuits can be gained. The article provides an overview of the types of neurons, cyto-, myelo-, and chemoarchitecture, developmental origin, organization of corticostriatal projections, and the topography and time-course of neurodegenerative diseases in both humans and non-human primates.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paola Imbriani, Giuseppe Sciamanna, Ilham El Atiallah, Silvia Cerri, Ellen J. Hess, Antonio Pisani
Summary: Alcohol consumption affects motor behavior and control, but the therapeutic mechanism for movement disorders like myoclonus-dystonia remains unclear, with few systematic trials on GABA drugs mimicking alcohol effects. This survey aims to summarize the impact of EtOH on striatal function and provide a mechanistic explanation for alcohol-responsive movement disorders, suggesting potential drug repositioning based on different hypotheses.
Article
Neurosciences
Masaya Harada, Vincent Pascoli, Agnes Hiver, Jerome Flakowski, Christian Luescher
Summary: The study reveals that compulsive individuals exhibit stronger neuronal activity in the DS during the cue predicting reward availability, even at the risk of punishment. An increased AMPA/NMDA ratio was observed selectively at orbitofrontal cortex to DS synapses, and spiny projection neurons in the DS showed an activity peak at the moment of signaled reward availability.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Krishnakanth Kondabolu, Natalie M. Doig, Olaoluwa Ayeko, Bakhtawer Khan, Alexandra Torres, Daniela Calvigioni, Konstantinos Meletis, Tibor Koos, Peter J. Magil
Summary: The striatum and subthalamic nucleus (STN) are important nuclei in the basal ganglia. They have extensive interactions and there is evidence of direct connections from STN to striatum. To understand these connections better, the researchers performed tracing experiments and found that the connectivity from STN to parvalbumin-expressing interneurons in the striatum is significantly higher compared to other cell types. Electrophysiology experiments showed that these interneurons exhibited robust excitatory responses to subthalamostriatal inputs. Overall, the data suggest that glutamatergic STN neurons directly influence striatal activity dynamics through their innervation of GABAergic parvalbumin-expressing interneurons.
Article
Immunology
Ziyi Li, Olivia Ewi Vidjro, Gengni Guo, Yanfeng Du, Yao Zhou, Qian Xie, Jiaxin Li, Keqiang Gao, Li Zhou, Tengfei Ma
Summary: This study found that inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome can reduce alcohol intake and anxiety-like behavior by regulating glutamatergic transmission in corticostriatal circuits. These findings provide a potential anti-inflammatory target for treating alcohol use disorders.
JOURNAL OF NEUROINFLAMMATION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Noam D. Peer, Hagar G. Yamin, Dana Cohen
Summary: The basal ganglia are vital for animal survival, processing information from different brain areas and encoding it through direct and indirect pathways. In this study, we focused on how the globus pallidus encodes motor and cognitive input. Our findings show that GP neurons exhibit multidimensional responses to movement and contextual information.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Lisa Y. So, Julie E. Miller
Summary: The study reveals that zebra finches exhibit differences in neural activity patterns and protein levels in specific brain nuclei when singing in different social contexts. Singing to a female leads to decreased levels of HOMER1 and mTOR proteins compared to singing alone, indicating differential molecular involvement in synaptic plasticity pathways between behaviors in different social contexts.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Lilach Gorodetski, Yocheved Loewenstern, Anna Faynveitz, Izhar Bar-Gad, Kim T. Blackwell, Alon Korngreen
Summary: The study reveals that dopamine and endocannabinoids interact to modulate the long-term plasticity of the entopeduncular nucleus, affecting the balance of its output pathways. Furthermore, despite the lack of axon collaterals, information within the entopeduncular nucleus can be transferred between neighboring neurons via endocannabinoid diffusion.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Neurosciences
Carolina Montanez-Miranda, Sara N. Bramlett, John R. Hepler
Summary: RGS14 is a multifunctional scaffolding protein that is highly expressed in pyramidal neurons in the hippocampal area CA2. It plays important roles in regulating synaptic plasticity and postsynaptic signaling, and may be involved in behaviors such as spatial learning, object memory, and fear conditioning. RGS14 is also expressed in the limbic system and basal ganglia, and may have functions in regulating plasticity and behaviors related to emotion and motivation.
Article
Cell Biology
Gwenaelle Laverne, Jonathan Pesce, Ana Reynders, Etienne Combrisson, Eduardo Gascon, Christophe Melon, Lydia Kerkerian-Le Goff, Nicolas Maurice, Corinne Beurrier
Summary: Striatal cholinergic interneurons (CINs) play an important regulatory role in cortico-striatal transmission and striatal-dependent motor-skill learning, which is dependent on the integrity of dopaminergic inputs.
Article
Physiology
Mojtaba Madadi Asl, Atefeh Asadi, Jamil Enayati, Alireza Valizadeh
Summary: Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative brain disorder associated with dysfunction of the basal ganglia circuitry, leading to pathological strengthening of pallido-subthalamic synapses and abnormal synchronized neuronal activity. Inhibitory spike-timing-dependent plasticity at these synapses may contribute to the pathological changes observed in PD, shaping bistable activity-connectivity states in the GPe-STN network.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Valentina Damato, Claudia Papi, Gregorio Spagni, Amelia Evoli, Gabriella Silvestri, Gianvito Masi, Eleonora Sabatelli, Lucia Campetella, Andrew McKeon, Francesca Andreetta, Vittorio Riso, Gabriele Monte, Marco Luigetti, Guido Primiano, Paolo Calabresi, Raffaele Iorio
Summary: The study evaluated the long-term outcomes of patients with autoimmune cerebellar ataxia, distinguishing between paraneoplastic and non paraneoplastic cases. Neural autoantibodies were detected in a significant portion of patients, with all patients receiving immunotherapy. Patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar syndrome had higher SARA scores compared to idiopathic ACA patients, and those with good outcomes had lower SARA scores.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Lorenzo Moccia, Pierluigi Lanzotti, Maria Pepe, Laura Palumbo, Delfina Janiri, Giovanni Camardese, Anna Rita Bentivoglio, Marco Di Nicola, Paolo Calabresi, Gabriele Sani
Summary: Functional movement disorders (FMD) are abnormal involuntary movements not consistent with neurological diseases. They often co-occur with mood and anxiety disorders and have poor clinical outcomes. This case report presents the successful treatment of FMD symptoms in a patient with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) using esketamine.
INTERNATIONAL CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Andrea Maria Alexandre, Iacopo Valente, Alessandro Pedicelli, Angelo Maria Pezzullo, Francesca Colo, Luca Scarcia, Andrea Romi, Mariangela Piano, Antonio Macera, Joseph Domenico Gabrieli, Giacomo Cester, Antonio Armando Caragliano, Sergio Lucio Vinci, Maria Ruggiero, Christian Commodaro, Andrea Saletti, Guido Andrea Lazzarotti, Mirco Cosottini, Valerio Da Ros, Luigi Bellini, Emilio Lozupone, Adriana Paladini, Valerio Brunetti, Roberta Morosetti, Giovanni Frisullo, Paolo Calabresi, Giacomo Della Marca, Aldobrando Broccolini
Summary: This study evaluated the effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy in patients with acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion and baseline mild neurological symptoms. After propensity score matching, patients who received immediate mechanical thrombectomy had a higher chance of excellent outcome at 90 days compared to those who received best medical management/rescue mechanical thrombectomy, with a similar risk of death.
NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Nicola Tambasco, Pasquale Nigro, Andrea Chiappiniello, Federico Paolini Paoletti, Sara Scialpi, Simone Simoni, Pietro Chiarini, Lucilla Parnetti
Summary: Brain iron load is a significant factor in movement disorders, and its accumulation is related to basal ganglia degeneration. The current literature on the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Brain Iron Detection and Quantification (MRI-BIDQ) in neurodegenerative processes underlying movement disorders is reviewed.
BEHAVIOURAL NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Clinical Neurology
Lorenzo Gaetani, Lucilla Parnetti
Review
Clinical Neurology
Giulia Menculini, Andrea Mancini, Lorenzo Gaetani, Laura Bellingacci, Alfonso Tortorella, Lucilla Parnetti, Massimiliano Di Filippo
Summary: Psychiatric symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS) are diverse, ranging from clear-cut psychiatric disorders to isolated psychopathological manifestations. These clinical features often go misdiagnosed, receive suboptimal treatment, and are not adequately assessed in disease activity quantification. Pathogenesis of psychiatric symptoms in MS involves emotional reactions to the disability caused by the disease as well as structural damage in the central nervous system. Biological perspective reveals that MS-related psychiatric manifestations are associated with synaptic and neural network dysfunction due to diffuse brain damage from inflammation and neurodegeneration.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Clinical Neurology
Lucilla Parnetti, Giovanni Bellomo
Summary: Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is an aggressive form of synucleinopathy, characterized by misfolded a-syn accumulations mainly in glial cells. Making a clinical diagnosis of MSA is challenging, even for experienced clinicians. Therefore, there is a need for reliable biomarkers to detect the presence and distinguish different synucleinopathies, as disease-modifying treatments are available for some.
Review
Clinical Neurology
Paolo Calabresi, Giulia Di Lazzaro, Gioia Marino, Federica Campanelli, Veronica Ghiglieri
Summary: The critical role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease has been discovered, but current treatments still face challenges. Developing cellular and animal models helps understand the physiological and pathological functions of alpha-synuclein, as well as the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Massimo Filippi, Giordano Cecchetti, Annachiara Cagnin, Camillo Marra, Flavio Nobili, Lucilla Parnetti, Federica Agosta
Summary: Currently, no disease-modifying therapies are available for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Europe. However, evidence from clinical trials suggests that anti-beta amyloid (Aβ) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) may be authorized for marketing in the near future. A group of prominent AD clinical experts in Italy met to discuss patient selection and management strategies, recognizing the need for significant changes in dementia care to implement disease-modifying therapies. They emphasized the importance of a biological diagnosis using amyloid- and tau-related biomarkers, as well as specialized diagnostic work-up and exclusion criteria assessment by neurology specialists. The experts also proposed a reorganization of dementia and cognitive decline centers into three levels with defined tasks and requirements.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Lorenzo Barba, Samir Abu-Rumeileh, Steffen Halbgebauer, Giovanni Bellomo, Federico Paolini Paoletti, Lorenzo Gaetani, Patrick Oeckl, Petra Steinacker, Federico Massa, Lucilla Parnetti, Markus Otto
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between CSF biomarkers and the presence of AD copathology in LBD patients and determine their usefulness in differentiating LBD patients with different AT(N) profiles. The results showed that CSF levels of synaptic and neuroaxonal damage biomarkers were significantly increased in AD patients compared to LBD patients and controls. Among LBD patients, those with A+T+ profiles had higher levels of biomarkers for synaptic and neuroaxonal degeneration compared to those with A-T- profiles.
Review
Cell Biology
Paolo Calabresi, Alessandro Mechelli, Giuseppina Natale, Laura Volpicelli-Daley, Giulia Di Lazzaro, Veronica Ghiglieri
Summary: Although the discovery of the role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease is 25 years old, it still represents a significant milestone in PD research. Abnormal forms of alpha-syn trigger neuronal death and synaptic dysfunction in PD and other synucleinopathies through various mechanisms. Understanding these early mechanisms is crucial for identifying biomarkers and developing disease-modifying therapies targeting alpha-syn.
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
(2023)
Editorial Material
Clinical Neurology
Lucilla Parnetti, Giovanni Bellomo
Summary: The biological definition of Parkinson's disease is still uncertain. Recent advances in fluid biomarkers have been made, but there are limitations in accurately capturing the multiple biological features of the disease.
Editorial Material
Clinical Neurology
Lucilla Parnetti, Giovanni Bellomo, Yaroslau Compta
PARKINSONISM & RELATED DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Silvia Paciotti, Anna Lidia Wojdala, Giovanni Bellomo, Andrea Toja, Elena Chipi, Sander R. R. Piersma, Thang V. V. Pham, Lorenzo Gaetani, Connie R. R. Jimenez, Lucilla Parnetti, Davide Chiasserini
Summary: This study aimed to validate the potential value of four metabolism-related proteins (PKM, ALDO, UCHL1 and FABP3) as new cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their involvement in AD pathogenesis. The results showed that CSF levels of UCHL1 and FABP3, as well as PKM activity, were significantly increased in AD patients, even at the preclinical stage. UCHL1 and FABP3 showed good performance in discriminating early AD patients from controls, while PKM provided the best performance in distinguishing between frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
ALZHEIMERS RESEARCH & THERAPY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Elena Chipi, Daniela Fruttini, Nicola Salvadori, Chiara Montanucci, Elisa Siena, Giulia Menculini, Claudia Mazzeschi, Lucilla Parnetti
Summary: This study assessed the impact of age, education, and gender on RBANS subtests, indexes, and total scores in a larger sample of older adults. The obtained normative data showed good concordance with the original norms and suggested that RBANS is not significantly affected by education. The development of a free-to-use Excel spreadsheet to calculate percentiles for individual scores could make RBANS a more precise measure for detecting subtle cognitive deficits in prevention studies.
ARCHIVES OF CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
(2023)