Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Nasreen Choudhury, Lihua Chen, Lena Al-Harthi, Xiu-Ti Hu
Summary: The functional activity of medial prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons in early-stage Alzheimer's disease mice was found to be significantly increased compared to age-matched control mice. This hyperactivity was induced by an abnormal increase in presynaptic glutamate release and postsynaptic NMDA receptor activity, leading to neuronal Ca2+ dyshomeostasis.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Asami Umino, Hisayuki Iwama, Masakazu Umino, Dai Shimazu, Yuji Kiuchi, Toru Nishikawa
Summary: d-Serine has been shown to play an important role in brain functions through its interaction with NMDAR. The selective destruction of neuronal cell bodies in the medial prefrontal cortex results in a significant decrease in tissue and extracellular d-serine concentrations, suggesting that the prefrontal cortical region contains substantial amounts of d-serine. The reduction in GABA levels in the prefrontal cortex supports the perikarya-selective nature of the lesion.
NEUROCHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Brittney Yegla, Asha Rani, Ashok Kumar
Summary: Age-associated decrease in NMDAR-mediated synaptic function contributes to cognitive impairments. Enhancing NMDAR function via increased SR expression in middle age rats improves learning and synaptic transmission. Prefrontal SR upregulation can improve visual discrimination and increase NMDAR activity.
Article
Psychiatry
Sidney Yap, Jessica Luki, Christopher C. Hanstock, Peter Seres, Tami Shandro, Sarah E. C. Hanstock, Alynna Lirette, Huaying (Helen) Zhao, Katherine J. Aitchison, Jean-Michel Le Melledo
Summary: The study found that perimenopause is associated with decreases in MPFC Glu levels, which may contribute to the increased risk of experiencing depression during this period. Further research should focus on assessing MPFC Glu levels in perimenopausal women suffering from MD.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ekaterina A. Rudnitskaya, Tatiana A. Kozlova, Alena O. Burnyasheva, Natalia A. Stefanova, Nataliya G. Kolosova
Summary: Studies suggest that immaturity during early brain development, especially inadequate glial support, may be a primary factor leading to neurodegenerative processes and the manifestation of AD pathology later in life.
Article
Biology
Bogdan Feliks Kania, Danuta Wronska, Izabela Szpregiel, Urszula Bracha
Summary: The study examined the impact of glutamic acid on excitatory neurotransmitter release, finding differential effects on catecholamines released from the prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus. When under stress, the hypothalamus plays a key role in regulating stress responses.
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Melissa C. Knouse, Anna G. McGrath, Andre U. Deutschmann, Matthew T. Rich, Lia J. Zallar, Anjali M. Rajadhyaksha, Lisa A. Briand
Summary: This article investigates the sex differences in glutamatergic transmission within the medial prefrontal cortex, finding higher levels of glutamatergic transmission in females. This provides important evidence for the development of sex-specific pharmacotherapies for psychiatric diseases.
BIOLOGY OF SEX DIFFERENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Geoffrey W. Diehl, A. David Redish
Summary: Decision-making requires different aspects of information and involves multiple cognitive processes. The rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is believed to play a central role in these abilities. Previous studies on mPFC function have yielded controversial results, but this study with rats performing an economic decision task revealed four distinct functional domains within mPFC, closely related to anatomical subregions. Dorsal mPFC regions were more involved in processing active decisions, while ventral regions were more engaged in motivational factors.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Giorgia Targa, Francesca Mottarlini, Beatrice Rizzi, Damiana Leo, Lucia Caffino, Fabio Fumagalli
Summary: Dopamine overactivity reduces the translation and localization of cortical AMPA receptors through altered vesicular sorting. The decreased expression of anchoring proteins and structural markers indicates synaptic instability. Hyperdopaminergia significantly alters the homeostatic plasticity of AMPA receptors, leading to a destabilized and depotentiated AMPA-mediated glutamatergic neurotransmission in the prefrontal cortex.
Article
Neurosciences
Paula Kaanders, Hamed Nili, Jill X. O'Reilly, Laurence Hunt
Summary: In this study using fMRI, researchers investigate the neural basis of information sampling in economic choice. The activity of the medial frontal cortex (MFC) was found to predict further information sampling, while a distributed network of regions across the prefrontal cortex encoded key features of the sampled information.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Fuyuko Takata-Tsuji, Naura Chounlamountri, Le-Duy Do, Camille Philippot, Julia Novion Ducassou, Yohann Coute, Sarrah Ben Achour, Jerome Honnorat, Christophe Place, Olivier Pascual
Summary: Vesicular release plays a crucial role in neurotransmission, with neurons releasing neurotransmitters rapidly and synchronously, while astrocytes modulate neurotransmission through the slower release of various transmitters. Microglia regulate astrocytic gliotransmission by influencing SNARE proteins, impacting the kinetics and overall release of gliotransmitters by astrocytes. This interaction between microglia and astrocytes may have implications for central nervous system diseases involving microglial activation.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Mahya Moradi Sirchi, Sahel Motaghi, Narges Sadat Hosseininasab, Mehdi Abbasnejad, Saeed Esmaili-Mahani, Gholamreza Sepehri
Summary: This study investigated the impact of aging on the gene expression of GAD67 (Gad1) in the ventral hippocampus (v Hip) and medial prefrontal cortex (m PC) of fear-potentiated rats. The results showed that fear-potentiated rats had significantly higher Gad1 expression compared to control and innate fear rats. Age may also play a role in modulating Gad1 expression.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Congwu Du, Yueming Hua, Kevin Clare, Kicheon Park, Craig P. Allen, Nora D. Volkow, Xiu-Ti Hu, Yingtian Pan
Summary: Individuals with substance use disorder are at a higher risk of contracting HIV and progressing to AIDS. Neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration are characteristic of HIV-1-associated neurocognitive disorders. Studies have found that cocaine potentiates the neurotoxic effects of HIV-associated proteins. The NMDA antagonist drug memantine shows potential in attenuating the neurotoxicity caused by cocaine and HIV.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Zachary A. Rodd, Eric A. Engleman, William A. Truitt, Andrew R. Burke, Andrei Molosh, Richard L. Bell, Sheketha R. Hauser
Summary: The chemogenetic procedure DREADD selectively affects protein receptors. Administering clozapine N-oxide (CNO) significantly increases levels of glutamate and dopamine in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, caution should be taken as CNO is not an inert compound, and the effects of clozapine and N-desmethylclozapine (N-Des) in CNO-DREADD studies need to be controlled.
Article
Cell Biology
Ellen P. Woon, Laura M. Butkovich, Arianna A. Peluso, Aziz Elbasheir, Kian Taylor, Shannon L. Gourley
Summary: We have discovered a connection between the ventral hippocampus and the medial orbitofrontal cortex that plays an important role in the updating of value memories, and this connection is mediated by the neuroplasticity-associated neurotrophin receptor TrkB.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hui-Ting Huang, Shun-Fen Tzeng
Summary: Our study demonstrates the role of interleukin-33 (IL-33) in a demyelinating mouse model induced by cuprizone (CPZ), showing that IL-33 can alleviate the reduction of APC+ OLs and the decline of IL-33 levels in the corpus callosum, and promote the expression of myelin basic protein (MBP).
NEUROCHEMISTRY INTERNATIONAL
(2024)