Article
Clinical Neurology
Ming-Fung Wu, Thomas C. Thannickal, Songlin Li, Ronald McGregor, Yuan-Yang Lai, Jerome M. Siegel
Summary: Long-term use of sodium oxybate (SXB) can alleviate cataplexy and sleepiness in narcolepsy. However, unlike opioids, SXB increases the size of Hcrt neurons, decreases Hcrt levels in the hypothalamus, and reduces tyrosine hydroxylase levels in the locus coeruleus. Although there are some similar effects on narcoleptic symptoms, SXB does not produce anatomical changes similar to opioids.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Toshiharu Nagatsu, Akira Nakashima, Hirohisa Watanabe, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu
Summary: Parkinson's disease is an aging-related neurodegenerative disease characterized by movement disorders and deficiency of dopamine. Lewy bodies and abnormal accumulation of neuromelanin are the histopathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease, leading to cell death of dopamine neurons.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Martino Caramia, Roman A. Romanov, Spyridon Syderomenos, Zsofia Hevesi, Ming Zhao, Marharyta Krasniakova, Zhi- Qing David Xu, Tibor Harkany, Tomas G. M. Hoekfelt
Summary: The locus coeruleus (LC), a small nucleus in the pons, plays a crucial role in the functioning of the central nervous system, particularly in wakefulness. This study used single-cell RNA sequencing to identify different subtypes of neurons in the LC and characterized their neuropeptide and receptor profiles. The results showed that NE neurons expressed various neuropeptide transcripts, with galanin being a notable one. Surprisingly, Galr1, a galanin receptor, was highly expressed in GABA neurons surrounding the NE ensemble. Functional experiments revealed that GalR1 agonist can inhibit a significant proportion of NE neurons. These findings provide insights into the role of the galanin system in NE function and have implications for understanding the actions of other peptides and their receptors.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Long Ma, Jing-Yuan Tang, Jin-Yong Zhou, Ping Zhou, Chen Zhu, Xin Zhang, Yan Wang, Jing-Quan Ding, Hong-Qian Jia, Xiao-Jian Gu
Summary: This study investigated the supraspinal control of micturition reflex and found that lumbosacral projecting neurons in the Locus Coeruleus play a crucial role. Specific ablation of these neurons resulted in overflow incontinence and lower void efficiency, possibly due to detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia.
Article
Neurosciences
Kui Cui, Fan Yang, Turan Tufan, Muhammad U. Raza, Yanqiang Zhan, Yan Fan, Fei Zeng, Russell W. Brown, Jennifer B. Price, Thomas C. Jones, Gary W. Miller, Meng-Yang Zhu
Summary: This study demonstrates that over-expression of specific transcription factors in the LC region of the brain in a PD mouse model improves noradrenergic and dopaminergic activities, leading to enhanced spatial memory and locomotor behavior. These findings highlight the potential for gene therapies in treating PD and expand our understanding of the interaction between LC-norepinephrine and dopamine systems in PD progression.
Article
Neurosciences
Delia N. Chiu, Brett C. Carter
Summary: NMDA receptors (NMDARs) play a crucial role in glutamatergic synaptic signaling in the mammalian central nervous system. The unique biophysical properties of NMDARs, including their ligand- and voltage-dependence, allow them to function as synaptic coincidence detectors, controlling the influx of synaptic Ca2+. Experimental results show that NMDARs contribute to synaptic currents and Ca2+ influx even in the presence of extracellular Mg2+ and absence of AMPAR depolarization. This suggests that NMDARs have an important role in synaptic signaling.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Silas A. Buck, Briana R. De Miranda, Ryan W. Logan, Kenneth N. Fish, J. Timothy Greenamyre, Zachary Freyberg
Summary: The study found that DA neurons expressing VGLUT2 in the VTA/SNc exhibit higher resilience to rotenone-induced neurodegeneration, with an increase in VGLUT2 expression in response to rotenone. Dopaminergic terminals with VGLUT2 expression show greater protection throughout the striatum.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Amanda M. Levy, Paulino Gomez-Puertas, Zeynep Tumer
Summary: The protein PSD-95 plays a crucial role in synaptic strength and plasticity, and its variants have been found to cause neurodevelopmental disorders. These variants may indirectly affect the interaction partners of PSD-95, leading to overlapping clinical features. This review explores the association between PSD-95 and its transmembrane interaction partners, and discusses the impact of DLG4 missense variants on protein-protein interactions and the pathogenic mechanism.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Thomas Pfeffer, Christian Keitel, Daniel S. Kluger, Anne Keitel, Alena Russmann, Gregor Thut, Tobias H. Donner, Joachim Gross, Ole Jensen
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive explanation of the relationship between arousal and neuronal population activity in the human brain, revealing a higher specificity of arousal effects on different components of neural activity and across cortical regions. The study also identifies a cascade of effects relative to the timing of spontaneous pupil dilations, suggesting a temporal relationship between arousal and cortical activity.
Article
Cell Biology
Anagh Sinha Ravi, Menglong Zeng, Xudong Chen, Gerardo Sandoval, Javier Diaz-Alonso, Mingjie Zhang, Roger A. Nicoll
Summary: Recent research suggests that the TARP/PSD-95 complex is an essential interaction underlying AMPAR trafficking and LTP. The interaction between PSD-95 and AMPAR auxiliary subunits TARPs can capture AMPARs and enhance synaptic transmission and LTP.
Review
Neurosciences
Angela M. Mabb
Summary: Transcription-translation coupling leads to the production of key proteins for controlling essential neuronal processes, while posttranslational signaling pathways, such as ubiquitination, also play a crucial role in regulating these processes. Ubiquitin attaches to its targets and plays a role in multiple signaling pathways, primarily by removing substrates via the proteasome. This review focuses on 40 years of progress on ubiquitination in the nervous system at glutamatergic synapses, highlighting its importance in various neuronal processes.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Alba Tristan-Noguero, Irene Fernandez-Carasa, Carles Calatayud, Cristina Bermejo-Casadesus, Meritxell Pons-Espinal, Arianna Colini Baldeschi, Leticia Campa, Francesc Artigas, Analia Bortolozzi, Rosario Domingo-Jimenez, Salvador Ibanez, Merce Pineda, Rafael Artuch, Angel Raya, Angels Garcia-Cazorla, Antonella Consiglio
Summary: This study used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to generate dopaminergic neurons (DAn) from patients with tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency (THD) and compared them with control-DAn. THD iPSC-DAn showed lower levels of dopamine metabolites and reduced TH expression compared to controls. Additionally, THD iPSC-DAn displayed abnormal morphology and neuronal defects, which were rescued by L-Dopa treatment only in the milder form of THD (THD-A). Treatment at the stage of neuronal precursors could prevent the alterations in the severe form of THD (THD-B). This iPSC-based model recapitulates THD disease phenotypes and response to treatment.
EMBO MOLECULAR MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Supriya Ghosh, John H. R. Maunsell
Summary: The study isolated attentional intensity as a distinct cognitive signal that can be distinguished from spatial selectivity, reward expectations, and motor actions. Neuronal activity in V4 encodes a combination of sensory and cognitive signals on different time scales on single trials, emphasizing attentional intensity and behaviorally relevant sensory signals. These findings provide a detailed representation of perceptual and cognitive signals crucial for attentional performance in V4.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Kim Dore, Zachary Carrico, Stephanie Alfonso, Marc Marino, Karin Koymans, Helmut W. Kessels, Roberto Malinow
Summary: The study found that increased PSD-95 can protect synapses from the toxic effects of A beta, suggesting that low levels of PSD-95 may be a molecular sign of synapse vulnerability to A beta. Inhibition of PSD-95 depalmitoylation pharmacologically may offer a therapeutic avenue against Alzheimer's disease.
Review
Clinical Neurology
Toshiharu Nagatsu, Akira Nakashima, Hirohisa Watanabe, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu, Fabio A. Zucca, Luigi Zecca, Moussa Youdim, Maximilian Wulf, Peter Riederer, Johannes M. Dijkstra
Summary: The dark pigment neuromelanin (NM) is abundant in dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) and norepinephrine (NE) neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) in the human brain. During the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD), NM levels in these neurons decrease. The synthesis pathway involves conversion of tyrosine to L-DOPA, then to DA or NE, followed by autoxidation and conversion to eumelanic or pheomelanic NM.
JOURNAL OF NEURAL TRANSMISSION
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Yafit Levin, Rahel Bachem, Dorit Brafman, Menachem Ben-Ezra
Summary: Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have been overlooked, and this study found an association between negative symptoms and the risk of dissociative disorder, independently of depression and anxiety symptoms. It is important to consider both negative symptoms and dissociative symptoms in clinical practice to better understand their interaction.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Review
Psychiatry
Roland Mergl, Sarah M. Quaatz, Vanessa Lemke, Antje-Kathrin Allgaier
Summary: Women who have had miscarriages or stillbirths have an increased risk for depressive symptoms and disorders, with a wide range of prevalence rates. However, depressive symptoms tend to diminish over time.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Hai-Yang Wang, Lin Zhang, Bei-Yan Guan, Shi-Yao Wang, Cui-Hong Zhang, Ming-Fei Ni, Yan-Wei Miao, Bing-Wei Zhang
Summary: This study investigates the association between cognitive reappraisal and panic disorder (PD), and finds that PD patients have weakened functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdala, which is associated with the severity of PD symptoms. Additionally, cognitive reappraisal is negatively correlated with PD severity, and the PFC-amygdala functional connectivity plays a mediating role in this association.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Yanqiang Tao, Xinyuan Zou, Qihui Tang, Wenxin Hou, Shujian Wang, Zijuan Ma, Gang Liu, Xiangping Liu
Summary: Depression and anxiety are prevalent mental disorders among adolescents. The study utilized network analysis to examine the symptom dimension of depression and anxiety in different age groups of adolescents. The results indicated that different age groups have different key symptoms and bridging symptoms, highlighting the importance of targeting specific symptoms at different stages of adolescence in treatment to alleviate the comorbidity of anxiety and depression.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Philip J. Batterham, Aliza Werner-Seidler, Bridianne O'Dea, Alison L. Calear, Kate Maston, Andrew Mackinnon, Helen Christensen
Summary: Screening for psychological distress in adolescents is important, and the Distress Questionnaire-5 (DQ5) is a reliable measure for this purpose. The study found that DQ5 had good fit to a unidimensional construct, strong criterion and predictive validity, and sensitivity to change. The brevity and ease of interpretation of DQ5 make it suitable for screening in schools.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Xiaoli Liu, Qianqian Chen, Fang Cheng, Wenhao Zhuang, Wenwu Zhang, Yiping Tang, Dongsheng Zhou
Summary: This study found working memory defects in adolescents with major depressive disorder compared to healthy controls based on mean oxy-hemoglobin changes, which can be useful for distinguishing adolescents with MDD from healthy controls.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Anders Nordahl-Hansen, Hugo Cogo-Moreira, Sareh Panjeh, Daniel S. Quintana
Summary: This article aims to determine empirically-derived effect size thresholds associated with psychotherapy for depressive disorders by calculating the effect size distribution. The findings indicate that the observed effect size thresholds are larger than the suggested guidelines, which has implications for interpreting study effects and planning future research.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Guangli Zhao, Liyong Yu, Peixin Chen, Keli Zhu, Lu Yang, Wenting Lin, Yucai Luo, Zeyang Dou, Hao Xu, Pan Zhang, Tianmin Zhu, Siyi Yu
Summary: This study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying emotional attention bias in patients with CID using ERP and rs-FC approaches. The results revealed abnormalities in attention processing and connectivity in the emotion-cognition networks of CID patients. This study provides a neural basis for understanding attention bias in CID.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Seungyeon Lee, Sora Mun, Jiyeong Lee, Hee-Gyoo Kang
Summary: Major depressive disorder is a prevalent condition worldwide, but the proportion of patients receiving treatment has not increased. Biomarkers related to drug-treatment responses can be used to monitor the effectiveness of medication. Serum protein levels were compared among patients with depression who received medication, those who did not, and a control group. Eight biomarkers were identified, which can be used to monitor the effectiveness of drug treatment.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Alfredo L. Sklar, Fang -Cheng Yeh, Mark Curtis, Dylan Seebold, Brian A. Coffman, Dean F. Salisbury
Summary: This study investigated semantic verbal fluency (SVF) impairments in first-episode psychosis patients within the schizophrenia spectrum. The findings revealed disruptions in both functional and structural connectivity in these patients, as well as an association between enhanced connectivity in the right hemisphere and worse SVF performance and longer disease duration.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Psychiatry
Maksymilian Rejek, Blazej Misiak
Summary: This study investigates the association of the exposome score (ES) with psychosis risk in a non-clinical population. The results show that the ES is associated with the extended psychosis phenotype, suggesting its potential to identify individuals who may benefit from further psychosis risk assessment.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2024)