Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Natalia Popa, Dipankar Bachar, Angela C. Roberts, Andrea M. Santangelo, Eduardo Gascon
Summary: This study investigates the molecular alterations induced by genetic variants related to depression and anxiety in marmoset monkeys, and their correlation with complex behavioral responses. The findings provide new insights into the gene-behavior relationships underlying human psychopathology.
Article
Neurosciences
Chao Ding, Vishalini Emmenegger, Kim Schaffrath, Dirk Feldmeyer
Summary: In this study, a cluster analysis revealed four distinct clusters of L6 interneurons in rat mPFC, showing different morphological and physiological characteristics, suggesting differential roles in mPFC-associated functions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Renata Kabiljo, Alfredo Iacoangeli, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Ivana Rosenzweig
Summary: ALS is a devastating neurodegenerative disease with unclear association with the cerebellar role, recent findings suggest certain gene variants are significantly linked to ALS risk. Gene-based and tissue enrichment analysis show a specific relationship between cerebellar tissue and ALS, calling for a re-evaluation of cerebellar involvement in ALS pathology.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yu-Ping Tsai, Shih-Han Hung, Tsung-Ren Huang, William C. Sullivan, Shih-An Tang, Chun-Yen Chang
Summary: Through functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, the study found significant differences in brain activity between graphic design thinking processes and specific design activities, with more activity in the left prefrontal cortex in designs involving more graphic design thinking. These findings contribute to understanding the design process and suggest potential ways to promote graphic design thinking in landscape architecture.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Andrea C. Rossetti, Maria Serena Paladini, Cesar Augusto Bruning, Vittoria Spero, Maria Grazia Cattaneo, Giorgio Racagni, Mariusz Papp, Marco A. Riva, Raffaella Molteni
Summary: Neuroinflammation has been shown to play an important role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) and the mechanism of action of antidepressants. This study investigated the involvement of IL-6 signaling in the therapeutic effects of the antidepressant drug agomelatine in rats exposed to chronic stress. The results revealed that agomelatine was able to restore the negative modulation of IL-6 signaling and improve the anhedonic-like behavior induced by chronic stress.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Tiam Hosseinian, Fatemeh Yavari, Min-Fang Kuo, Michael A. Nitsche, Asif Jamil
Summary: The study developed a new technique to induce and stabilize theta oscillations in the human brain, and found that this technique enhances cognitive processing through testing working memory. The results demonstrate technological advancement in brain stimulation methods and validate the causal link between theta activity and cognitive behavior.
Article
Neurosciences
S. F. A. Axelsson, N. K. Horst, Naotaka Horiguchi, A. C. Roberts, T. W. Robbins
Summary: Studies have shown the significant role of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) in higher order cognitive functions, with inactivation causing disruption in sequencing accuracy. Dopamine and serotonergic blockade had contrasting effects on performance, with dopamine producing error perseveration and serotonin significantly impairing accuracy.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Zhenhong He, Sijin Li, Licheng Mo, Zixin Zheng, Yiwei Li, Hong Li, Dandan Zhang
Summary: By combining fMRI recordings with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), this study provides evidence that downregulating negative emotion involves the prefrontal control system suppressing the subcortical affective system, with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) serving as a crucial hub within the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC)-subcortical network, suggesting an indirect pathway model of the emotion regulation circuit.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Clement M. Garin, Marie Garin, Leonardo Silenzi, Rye Jaffe, Christos Constantinidis
Summary: The size of the prefrontal cortex in humans is not disproportionately enlarged compared to other catarrhini species. However, humans have the most relatively enlarged frontal and parietal lobes in an infraorder exhibiting a disproportionate expansion of these areas.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Christian M. Wood, Laith Alexander, Johan Alsio, Andrea M. Santangelo, Lauren McIver, Gemma J. Cockcroft, Angela C. Roberts
Summary: Poor outcomes are common in anxiety and depression, thus understanding the neural circuits underlying symptoms and treatment responses is important. By using a chemogenetics strategy involving designer receptors and drugs, the scACC-25 neural circuits related to anhedonia and anxiety in marmosets were identified. Targeting these circuits with the fast-acting antidepressant ketamine may lead to new treatment strategies.
SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
(2023)
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
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joe L. Webb, Simon M. Moe, Andrew K. Bolstad, Elizabeth M. McNeill
Summary: This study identifies 50 highly conserved aging-associated genetic changes in the brain that can be further studied in model organisms and presents a novel approach to uncovering genetic changes conserved across species from multi-study public databases.
Article
Neurosciences
Jun Zhao, Licheng Mo, Rong Bi, Zhenhong He, Yuming Chen, Feng Xu, Hui Xie, Dandan Zhang
Summary: The study found that both the DLPFC and VLPFC play a role in facilitating the downregulation of affective responses caused by social exclusion, demonstrating their causal role in voluntary emotional regulation. Additionally, these two cortical regions show relative functional specificity for distraction (DLPFC) and reappraisal (VLPFC) strategies.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Chengxiao Ma, Wen Zhang, Wengcong Wang, Jiabing Shen, Kefu Cai, Mei Liu, Maohong Cao
Summary: Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease. Cell transplantation can mitigate damage to dopaminergic neurons by enhancing self-autophagy, potentially offering a promising therapeutic option for improving neuron survival and function.
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Vishwa Goudar, Barbara Peysakhovich, David J. Freedman, Elizabeth A. Buffalo, Xiao-Jing Wang
Summary: Learning-to-learn refers to the progressive acceleration of solving a series of problems with shared structure. This study demonstrates that in recurrent neural networks, learning-to-learn emerges through the reuse and refinement of a neural state subspace underlying schema formation. It is a core process of knowledge acquisition, attracting attention in both neuroscience and artificial intelligence. The study trained a recurrent neural network model on arbitrary sensorimotor mappings dependent on the prefrontal cortex, showing an exponential time course of accelerated learning. The emergence and reuse of a schema within a low-dimensional population activity subspace facilitate learning by restricting connection weight changes.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Lauren M. Reynolds, Leora Yetnikoff, Matthew Pokinko, Michael Wodzinski, Julia G. Epelbaum, Laura C. Lambert, Marie-Pierre Cossette, Andreas Arvanitogiannis, Cecilia Flores
Article
Clinical Neurology
Daniel E. Vosberg, Vincent Beaule, Angelica Torres-Berrio, Danielle Cooke, Amanda Chalupa, Natalia Jaworska, Sylvia M. L. Cox, Kevin Larcher, Yu Zhang, Dominique Allard, France Durand, Alain Dagher, Chawki Benkelfat, Myriam Srour, Donatella Tampieri, Roberta La Piana, Ridha Joober, Franco Lepore, Guy Rouleau, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Michael D. Fox, Cecilia Flores, Marco Leyton, Hugo Theoret
ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY
(2019)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Angelica Torres-Berrio, Dominique Nouel, Santiago Cuesta, Eric M. Parise, Jose Maria Restrepo-Lozano, Pier Larochelle, Eric J. Nestler, Cecilia Flores
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Santiago Cuesta, Jose Maria Restrepo-Lozano, Christina Popescu, Susan He, Lauren M. Reynolds, Sonia Israel, Giovanni Hernandez, Rana Rais, Barbara S. Slusher, Cecilia Flores
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Daniel E. Vosberg, Marco Leyton, Cecilia Flores
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2020)
Review
Neurosciences
Angelica Torres-Berrio, Giovanni Hernandez, Eric J. Nestler, Cecilia Flores
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Marco Pignatelli, Hugo A. Tejeda, David J. Barker, Leonardo Bontempi, Jocelyn Wu, Alejandra Lopez, Sissi Palma Ribeiro, Federica Lucantonio, Eric M. Parise, Angelica Torres-Berrio, Yocasta Alvarez-Bagnarol, Rosa A. M. Marino, Zhao-Lin Cai, Mingshan Xue, Marisela Morales, Carol A. Tamminga, Eric J. Nestler, Antonello Bonci
Summary: This study demonstrates that stress-induced anhedonia and passive coping are associated with increased synaptic strength in certain brain regions and may be mediated by neuroadaptations. Preventing stress-induced negative affective states can be achieved by weakening certain synapses, restoring specific neuron functions, or disrupting the interaction between synaptic and intrinsic adaptations in neurons.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Orna Issler, Yentl Y. van der Zee, Aarthi Ramakrishnan, Junshi Wang, Chunfeng Tan, Yong-Hwee E. Loh, Immanuel Purushothaman, Deena M. Walker, Zachary S. Lorsch, Peter J. Hamilton, Catherine J. Pena, Erin Flaherty, Brigham J. Hartley, Angelica Torres-Berrio, Eric M. Parise, Hope Kronman, Julia E. Duffy, Molly S. Estill, Erin S. Calipari, Benoit Labonte, Rachael L. Neve, Carol A. Tamminga, Kristen J. Brennand, Yan Dong, Li Shen, Eric J. Nestler
Article
Cell Biology
Santiago Cuesta, Dominique Nouel, Lauren M. Reynolds, Alice Morgunova, Angelica Torres-Berrio, Amanda White, Giovanni Hernandez, Helen M. Cooper, Cecilia Flores
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Argel Aguilar-Valles, Danilo De Gregorio, Edna Matta-Camacho, Mohammad J. Eslamizade, Abdessattar Khlaifia, Agnieszka Skaleka, Martha Lopez-Canul, Angelica Torres-Berrio, Sara Bermudez, Gareth M. Rurak, Stephanie Simard, Natalina Salmaso, Gabriella Gobbi, Jean-Claude Lacaille, Nahum Sonenberg
Article
Neurosciences
Angelica Torres-Berrio, Alice Morgunova, Michel Giroux, Santiago Cuesta, Eric J. Nestler, Cecilia Flores
Summary: miR-218 expression in adolescence may serve as both a marker of risk and a target for early interventions in stress vulnerabilities, as it regulates Dcc expression and correlates with social defeat stress vulnerability in adulthood in male mice.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Hope Kronman, Angelica Torres-Berrio, Simone Sidoli, Orna Issler, Arthur Godino, Aarthi Ramakrishnan, Philipp Mews, Casey K. Lardner, Eric M. Parise, Deena M. Walker, Yentl Y. van der Zee, Caleb J. Browne, Brittany F. Boyce, Rachael Neve, Benjamin A. Garcia, Li Shen, Catherine J. Pena, Eric J. Nestler
Summary: Early life stress increases susceptibility to chronic stress in adulthood, with alterations in histone modifications in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) being crucial for these effects. Specifically, dimethylation of lysine 79 of histone H3 (H3K79me2) and the enzymes controlling this modification play a key role in the expression of stress susceptibility induced by early life stress. Systemic delivery of a small molecule inhibitor of DOT1L can reverse the behavioral deficits induced by early life stress, highlighting the clinical relevance of this epigenetic mechanism.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)