Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sara Trova, Serena Bovetti, Sara Bonzano, Silvia De Marchis, Paolo Peretto
Summary: Steroid hormones play important roles in vertebrates, especially in mammalian sexual development and brain neural circuits. Studies in recent decades have shown that sex steroids influence the organization of the brain structure during puberty, a critical period characterized by high sensitivity to external stimuli and significant remodeling of the organism's structure and function.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yasuhiko Kondo, Himeka Hayashi
Summary: This article discusses the mechanisms and regulation of sexual preference for opposite-sex chemosensory signals in small rodents, focusing on laboratory mice, rats, and hamsters. Hormonal and central regulation, as well as the influence of sexual experience on the brain reward system, are highlighted. Additionally, the role of neuropeptides such as oxytocin, vasopressin, and kisspeptin in regulating sexual preference is reviewed.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sarah K. J. Cross, Yellow H. Martin, Stephanie Salia, Iain Gamba, Christina A. Major, Suhail Hassan, Katelyn A. Parsons, Ashlyn Swift-Gallant
Summary: The study found that surgical ablation of the VNO in mice during the peripubertal period decreased sexual odor preferences and neural activity in response to opposite-sex odors, and drastically reduced territorial aggression in male mice. Conversely, adult VNO ablation resulted in subtle differences in sexual odor preferences compared with sham controls. Regardless of the VNO condition, mice displayed sex-typical copulatory behaviors. These findings suggest that puberty is a critical period during which the VNO contributes to the sexual differentiation of behavior and neural response to conspecific odors.
FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Sandra Navarro, Rail Guillot, Diego Crespo, Rudiger W. Schulz, Wei Ge, Josep Rotllant, Jose Miguel Cerda-Reverter, Ana Rocha
Summary: The study investigated the impact of the melanocortin system on puberty onset and adult reproductive performance in zebrafish using a transgenic line overexpressing asip1. The results showed that decreased activity of the melanocortin system delayed early growth in transgenic animals but did not change the timing of puberty. Transgenic fish also exhibited differences in egg production, hatching time, and body size at hatching compared to wild-type siblings, suggesting that the inhibition of the melanocortin system through asip overexpression is a useful strategy for promoting growth in fish without altering puberty timing.
Article
Neurosciences
Andres Hernandez-Clavijo, Nicole Sarno, Kevin Y. Gonzalez-Velandia, Rudolf Degen, David Fleck, Jason R. Rock, Marc Spehr, Anna Menini, Simone Pifferi
Summary: The mouse vomeronasal system controls several social behaviors by detecting pheromones and social cues. TMEM16A and TMEM16B chloride channels in vomeronasal neurons play a role in modulating firing patterns in response to mouse pheromones, with TMEM16A being active under basal conditions and both channels influencing activity upon exposure to pheromones.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Reuben Rideaux, Rebecca K. West, Dragan Rangelov, Jason B. Mattingley
Summary: A canonical feature of sensory systems is that they adapt to prolonged or repeated inputs, suggesting the brain encodes the temporal context in which stimuli are embedded. The study found that both fatigue and sharpening mechanisms contribute to the tilt aftereffect, but they operate at different points in the sensory processing cascade to produce qualitatively distinct outcomes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tae-Ju Lee, Kwang-Ro Yun, Su-Kyung Kim, Jong-Ho Kim, Junyoung Jin, Kee-Baek Sim, Da-Hoon Lee, Gyu Weon Hwang, Tae-Yeon Seong
Summary: Human behavior is complex and based on responses to consecutive external stimuli entering various sensory receptors. Sensory adaptation, an elementary form of the sensory nervous system, filters out irrelevant information for efficient information transfer from consecutive stimuli. As bioinspired neuromorphic electronic systems develop, the functionality of organs is emulated at a higher level than the cell.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Michael S. S. Reichert, Ivan de la Hera
Summary: By studying the preferences of both sexes in response to novel mating signals in grey treefrogs, evidence of sensory bias was found in both males and females: males exhibited more intense responses to complex stimuli, while females sometimes preferred complex stimuli.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mengying Yang, Honglei Wang, Changyan Chen, Shiping Zhang, Mengxiao Wang, Bhagyashree Senapati, Shuhua Li, Shuanglong Yi, Linfang Wang, Min Zhang, Shuai Yin, Yijing He, Lei Xue, Suewei Lin, Margaret S. Ho
Summary: The study uncovers how external glial-to-neuron communication coordinates with neuroblast proliferation capacity to regulate neurogenesis in the Drosophila mushroom body.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Daniel Cardoso, Rodolfo C. Cardoso, Guilherme de Paula Nogueira
Summary: This study demonstrates that GABA(A) antagonists have a stimulatory effect on LH secretion in pre-pubertal Nellore heifers, consistent with previous findings.
ANIMAL REPRODUCTION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Samuel Hulse, Julien P. Renoult, Tamra C. Mendelson
Summary: The evolution of visual patterns in the theory of sexual selection is crucial, and advances in artificial neural networks have enabled better comparison of patterns. By comparing visual patterns in darter fish to images of their habitats, the study found that female darters' patterns are more similar to their habitats, suggesting a role of camouflage, while no direct evidence was found for males.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2022)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Jumpei Tomiyasu, Anna Korzekwa, Yusuke K. Kawai, Christian A. Robstad, Frank Rosell, Daisuke Kondoh
Summary: This study investigated the specificities of the beaver vomeronasal system by histologically and immunohistochemically analyzing the VNO and AOB of Eurasian beavers. The results showed that beavers can recognize volatile odorants and nonvolatile substances using the vomeronasal system. The findings highlight the importance of the vomeronasal system in beaver chemical communication.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2022)
Review
Cell Biology
Carla Mucignat-Caretta
Summary: In the rodent brain, the central processing of ecologically relevant chemical stimuli involves various areas at different levels, including the main and accessory olfactory bulbs, nuclei in the amygdala, hypothalamus, and brainstem. Recent data suggests that processing of intraspecific chemical signals is not unique to one system, with some molecules activating both the main and accessory olfactory systems. These areas work together to interpret chemosensory information and drive appropriate responses, affecting neural activity in other areas of the brain.
CELL AND TISSUE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Matthias Fritsche, Samuel G. Solomon, Floris P. de Lange
Summary: Visual processing is influenced by recent stimulus history, and the visual system optimizes encoding by exploiting the temporal statistics of the world. Neurons in the early visual cortex maintain long-term memory traces of individual stimuli, leading to long-term and stimulus-specific adaptation.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rocio Caro-Consuegra, Maria A. Nieves-Colon, Erin Rawls, Veronica Rubin-de-Celis, Beatriz Lizarraga, Tatiana Vidaurre, Karla Sandoval, Laura Fejerman, Anne C. Stone, Andres Moreno-Estrada, Elena Bosch
Summary: Peru has diverse ecosystems, and its populations in different ecoregions have potentially adapted to their unique environmental pressures. This study identified candidate genes related to cardiovascular function, Hypoxia-Inducible Factor pathway, skin pigmentation, glucose and glycogen metabolism in highland populations, and candidate genes related to the immune system in coastal and rainforest populations. These findings provide insights into human adaptation to the diverse environments of South America.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Brenda Toscano-Marquez, Livio Oboti, Erik Harvey-Girard, Leonard Maler, Ruediger Krahe
Summary: Acetylcholine acts as a neurotransmitter/neuromodulator in the central nervous system of weakly electric fish, showing specific distribution of cholinergic neurons. The study identifies new cholinergic connections in the brain and proposes novel hypotheses regarding their functional significance, including modulation of responses to electrosensory and visual stimuli. Additionally, the source of cholinergic fibers innervating the electrosensory lateral line lobe is likely the octavolateral efferent nucleus, suggesting a potential role in modulating electrosensory processing during locomotion.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Review
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Wenjing Xu, Natalie R. Harris, Kathleen M. Caron
Summary: The lymphatic system is receiving increasing attention for its role in diseases and drug delivery. Despite identified crucial lymphatic genes with therapeutic potential, effective targeted therapeutics for human lymphatic pathologies are lacking. Promising therapeutic targets for modulating lymphangiogenesis or lymphatic function are being explored for future clinical applications.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF MEDICINE, VOL 72, 2021
(2021)
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Natalie R. Harris, Natalie R. Nielsen, John B. Pawlak, Amir Aghajanian, Krsna Rangarajan, D. Stephen Serafin, Gregory Farber, Danielle M. Dy, Nathan P. Nelson-Maney, Wenjing Xu, Disha Ratra, Sophia H. Hurr, Li Qian, Joshua P. Scallan, Kathleen M. Caron
Summary: This study reveals the essential role of VE-cadherin in the development and maintenance of cardiac lymphatics and its impact on lymphangiogenic signaling pathways. Surprisingly, despite the regression of cardiac lymphatics, Cdh5(flox/flox);Prox1CreER(T2) mice exhibited preserved cardiac function at baseline and after myocardial infarction compared with control mice. Mechanistically, loss of VE-cadherin leads to aberrant cellular internalization of VEGFR3, impairing downstream processes such as cellular proliferation.
CIRCULATION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Brigitta Bonaldo, Antonino Casile, Martina Bettarelli, Stefano Gotti, GianCarlo Panzica, Marilena Marraudino
Summary: Chronic exposure to BPA during pregnancy in adult female mice can lead to alterations in estrous cycle, changes in social behavior, and disruptions in the endocrine system, including increased anxiety and preference for interaction with non-tester females.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HISTOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Dario Aspesi, Alice Farinetti, Marilena Marraudino, Godstime Stephen Kojo Morgan, Enrica Marzola, Giovanni Abbate-Daga, Stefano Gotti
Summary: Maternal separation combined with the activity-based anorexia rat model results in different effects in males and females, with females showing increased hyperactivity and reduced anxiety, while males exhibit decreased locomotor activity without a similar reduction in anxiety-like behaviors. The reward system, specifically involving dopamine and serotonin synthesis, is altered by the maternal separation, affecting behavioral outcomes in a sex-specific manner. The increase in dopamine and serotonin cells in females could partially explain the behavioral changes observed, while the lack of increased activation of the reward system in males may mitigate the effects of the anorexia protocol.
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Marilena Marraudino, Brigitta Bonaldo, Benedetto Vitiello, Giovanna C. Bergui, GianCarlo Panzica
Summary: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has different characteristics in males and females, both in terms of psychological features and brain areas involved. Impulsivity, low self-control, anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and depression are some of the psychological features associated with IGD that show a sex dimorphism. More research, including animal models, is needed to better understand sex differences in IGD.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Endocrinology & Metabolism
D. Grassi, M. Marraudino, L. M. Garcia-Segura, G. C. Panzica
Summary: This article reviews the roles of estradiol and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in coordinating reproduction, body physiology, growth, and metabolism. The authors discuss the cyto- and chemo-architecture, connectivity, and function of PVN, as well as the sex-specific regulation exerted by estradiol on PVN neurons and the expression of neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, neuropeptides, and neurohormones in PVN. The study also highlights the importance of classical and non-classical estrogen receptors (ERs) in modulating body homeostasis through PVN.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Physiology
Natalie R. Harris, Laszlo Balint, Danielle M. Dy, Natalie R. Nielsen, Hernan G. Mendez, Amir Aghajanian, Kathleen M. Caron
Summary: This review investigates the complex relationship between cardiac lymphatics, myocardial edema, and cardiac disease. It covers the revised paradigm of microvascular forces and fluid movement, as well as the preclinical tools and animal models used to study myocardial edema and cardiac disease. Clinical studies and recent animal studies on the role of cardiac lymphatics in cardiovascular disease models are analyzed. The outstanding questions regarding the roles of cardiac lymphatics in health and disease are highlighted.
PHYSIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Giovanna Ponti, Elisabetta Bo, Brigitta Bonaldo, Alice Farinetti, Marilena Marraudino, Giancarlo Panzica, Stefano Gotti
Summary: Exposure to TBT during pregnancy and lactation alters feeding efficiency and fat distribution in adult male mice, and affects the neuropeptide Y system in the paraventricular nucleus.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marina Boido, Iacopo Gesmundo, Anna Caretto, Francesca Pedrolli, Roberta Schellino, Sheila Leone, Renzhi Cai, Wei Sha, Ezio Ghigo, Andrew V. Schally, Alessandro Vercelli, Riccarda Granata
Summary: The study shows that MR-409 has protective effects on SMN Delta 7 mice, indicating its potential as a promising drug for the treatment of SMA.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Brigitta Bonaldo, Antonino Casile, Francesca Montarolo, Martina Bettarelli, Francesca Napoli, Stefano Gotti, GianCarlo Panzica, Marilena Marraudino
Summary: Epidemiological studies suggest that multiple sclerosis (MS) is influenced by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Of particular concern are endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS), which have been implicated in the etiology of MS. In this study, the effects of perinatal exposure to BPA and BPS on a mouse model of MS were examined, revealing that exposure to these compounds was particularly detrimental in males, leading to an earlier disease onset, increased motoneuron loss, exacerbation of disease course, and increased inflammation markers in the spinal cord.
CELL AND TISSUE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Margherita Tassan Mazzocco, Valentina Murtaj, Daniel Martins, Roberta Schellino, Angela Coliva, Elisa Toninelli, Alessandro Vercelli, Federico Turkheimer, Sara Belloli, Rosa Maria Moresco
Summary: The study aimed to evaluate the effects of montelukast, a cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist, on neuroinflammation and regional metabolic functions induced by quinolinic acid (QA). The results showed that montelukast treatment reduced neuroinflammation and lesion volume induced by QA, and preserved regional brain metabolism and metabolic connectivity.
JOURNAL OF NEUROINFLAMMATION
(2023)
Article
Cell & Tissue Engineering
Roberta Schellino, Dario Besusso, Roberta Parolisi, Gabriela B. B. Gomez-Gonzalez, Sveva Dallere, Linda Scaramuzza, Marta Ribodino, Ilaria Campus, Paola Conforti, Malin Parmar, Marina Boido, Elena Cattaneo, Annalisa Buffo
Summary: This study investigated the therapeutic potential of hESC-derived striatal progenitor grafts for Huntington's disease. The results showed that the grafts survived and improved motor deficits in the HD model rats. Environmental enrichment also accelerated cell maturation and promoted integration with host cells.
STEM CELL RESEARCH & THERAPY
(2023)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Roberta Schellino, Marina Boido, Jan W. Vrijbloed, Ruggero G. Fariello, Alessandro Vercelli
Summary: Sarcopenia is the primary cause of impaired motor performance in the elderly. Inhibiting the myostatin system through ActR-Fc-nLG3 administration can enhance motor endurance and muscle strength in both young and old mice, potentially providing a treatment option for sarcopenia and other striatal muscle disorders.
Meeting Abstract
Clinical Neurology
Dario Besusso, Roberta Schellino, Roberta Parolisi, Gabriela Gomez-Gonzalez, Sveva Dallere, Linda Scaramuzza, Marta Ribodino, Ilaria Campus, Paola Conforti, Malin Parmar, Marina Boido, Elena Cattaneo, Annalisa Buffo
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY
(2022)