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
Michael Hrabak, Connor Moon, Carlos A. Bolanos-Guzman, Heinz Steiner
Summary: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine have been found to potentiate the addiction liability of methylphenidate, a dopamine reuptake blocker. However, a novel SSRI called vilazodone does not enhance methylphenidate-induced addiction-related gene regulation, indicating its diminished addiction facilitating properties. The 5-HT1A receptor may serve as a potential therapeutic target for addiction treatment.
MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Agustin Zapata, Carl R. Lupica
Summary: Animal and human studies suggest that cannabis can increase cocaine seeking and is associated with impulse control deficits, possibly through involvement of the CB1 receptors. The CB1 receptors in the Lateral Habenula (LHb) play a role in impulsivity deficits, highlighting a potential therapeutic target for substance use disorders.
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Fan Nils Yang, Tina Tong Liu, Ze Wang
Summary: This study analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study to understand the relationship between sleep duration and impulsivity. The findings show that shorter sleep duration is associated with increased positive and negative urgency. Additionally, it was found that short sleep duration is linked to reduced corticostriatal connectivity. These findings have important implications for timely interventions to address impulsive problems in early adolescents.
JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Yan Wang, Lvyu Yang, Hansheng Zhou, Kunlin Zhang, Mei Zhao
Summary: In this study, it was found that L-methionine can reverse the expression of genes and miRNAs affected by cocaine. Furthermore, L-methionine was shown to counteract the effects of cocaine by modulating the calcium channel gene network and pathways associated with drug addiction. These findings provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of L-methionine in response to cocaine abuse.
FRONTIERS IN GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rachel Aruldas, Laura Buczek Orenstein, Sade Spencer
Summary: Repeated cocaine exposure induces changes in AMPK and pAMPK in different brain regions and cellular compartments, with some differences between acute withdrawal and ongoing cocaine treatment. Pretreatment with metformin, an indirect AMPK activator, enhances acute cocaine-induced locomotor activity but blocks the development of sensitization. These findings provide insights into the dynamics of AMPK activation in subcellular compartments and support the potential use of metformin for the treatment of cocaine use disorder.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Michael Hartung, Elisa Anastasi, Zeinab M. Mamdouh, Cristian Nogales, Harald H. H. W. Schmidt, Jan Baumbach, Olga Zolotareva, Markus List
Summary: Cancer is a heterogeneous disease and targeted therapy based on evidence-based selection of drugs is crucial. However, many cancer driver genes cannot be directly targeted, necessitating an indirect approach using functionally related targets in the gene interaction network. CADDIE is a web application that integrates databases and algorithms to guide clinical researchers in identifying drug targets and candidates.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Daniel K. Wilton, Kevin Mastro, Molly D. Heller, Frederick W. Gergits, Carly Rose Willing, Jacyln B. Fahey, Arnaud Frouin, Anthony Daggett, Xiaofeng Gu, Yejin A. Kim, Richard L. M. Faull, Suman Jayadev, Ted Yednock, X. William Yang, Beth Stevens
Summary: The selective loss of cortical-striatal synapses in Huntington's disease is associated with the activation and localization of complement proteins. In preclinical models, these complement proteins mediate the elimination of synapses, which can be prevented through inhibition of the complement cascade. These findings provide new insights into the development of cognitive deficits in Huntington's disease and suggest complement as a potential therapeutic target.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Macarena Gonzalez-Portilla, Susana Mellado, Sandra Montagud-Romero, Fernando Rodriguez de Fonseca, Maria Pascual, Marta Rodriguez-Arias
Summary: This study evaluated the effects of oleoylethanolamide (OEA) on the rewarding properties of cocaine and relapse-related gene expression in the striatum and hippocampus. The results showed that OEA did not affect cocaine-induced conditioned place preference acquisition, but it blocked drug-induced reinstatement and inhibited the expression of dopamine receptor gene D1, dopamine receptor gene D2, and cannabinoid receptor 1 in the striatum and hippocampus. These findings suggest that OEA may be a promising pharmacological agent in the treatment of cocaine use disorder.
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bridget L. Kajs, Adrienne C. Loewke, Jeffrey M. Dorsch, Leah T. Vinson, Lisa A. Gunaydin
Summary: This study utilized fiber photometry to record the activity of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and its projections to the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) during active avoidance learning in mice. The results showed that both prefrontal projections exhibited learning-related increases in activity, while the overall dmPFC activity showed different patterns during avoidance and cued freezing. The findings highlight the importance of dmPFC projections in active avoidance learning.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Kunlin Zhang, Guanyu Ji, Mei Zhao, Yan Wang
Summary: piRNAs regulate gene expression in response to methionine treatment in cocaine-induced behaviors, involving genes related to substance dependence, signal transduction, and nervous functions pathways. The study showed that piRNAs negatively regulate target mRNA genes and positively regulate target miRNA genes. These findings may explain the mechanisms of methionine in counteracting the effects of cocaine CPP.
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
(2021)
Article
Psychiatry
James M. Bjork, Lori Keyser-Marcus, Jasmin Vassileva, Tatiana Ramey, David C. Houghton, F. Gerard Moeller
Summary: The study investigated attentional function in individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and found differences in attentional responses and inhibitory abilities among individuals with different primary substances of abuse.
PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biology
Tong Zhang, Yixuan Lin, Weimin He, FengXin Yuan, Yu Zeng, Shihua Zhang
Summary: Coronary heart disease is a common heart disease associated with lifestyle and dietary habits. Although some genes related to coronary heart disease have been identified, there are still many potential genes that have not been discovered. Therefore, it is urgent to use computational methods to identify these genes and conduct biological experiments for validation. This paper proposes a deep learning method based on biological networks, which is more accurate than other methods and is a reliable approach for predicting coronary heart disease-related genes.
COMPUTERS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Mengyuan Zhao, Wenying He, Jijun Tang, Quan Zou, Fei Guo
Summary: The study focuses on the importance of GRN reconstruction technologies in biology and medical science, discussing different method classifications and their performance in networks of varying scales. The aim is to discover potential drug targets and identify cancer biomarkers.
BRIEFINGS IN BIOINFORMATICS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Zhi Sun, Weijia Wei, Mingyue Zhang, Wenjia Shi, Yeqing Zong, Yihua Chen, Xiaojing Yang, Bo Yu, Chao Tang, Chunbo Lou
Summary: Researchers successfully achieved stable performance of genetic circuits in the face of environmental perturbations by designing and synthesizing a new robust adaptation circuit. By systematically changing genetic parameters and environmental conditions, they found that the desired function was achieved under various circumstances. This study demonstrates the guiding significance of the top-down design strategy for engineering robust genetic circuits.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Naomi P. Friedman, Trevor W. Robbins
Summary: Concepts of cognitive control and executive function are defined in relation to goal-directed behavior versus habits, controlled versus automatic processing, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex and related regions and networks. There is unity and diversity in cognitive control constructs, including general cognitive control and components specific to mental set shifting and working memory updating. The relationships of cognitive control with psychopathology, impulsivity, genetic studies, and psychiatric classification are also explored.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Suzanne N. Haber, Trevor Robbins
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jung-Hung Chen, I-Hsin Lin, Thomas Y. Hsueh, Jeffrey W. Dalley, Tung-Hu Tsai
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the metabolism, distribution, and transplacental transfer mechanism of codeine and its metabolites in pregnant rats, as well as to assess the risk of medication for pregnant women.
JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Katharina Zuhlsdorff, Jeffrey W. Dalley, Trevor W. Robbins, Sharon Morein-Zamir
Summary: Behavioral and cognitive flexibility enable individuals to adapt to a changing environment. This study introduces a novel "change your mind task" to assess volitional switching under uncertainty, without the need for rule-based learning. The findings suggest that individuals are more likely to change their response when the feedback is negative or when their initial response is incorrect.
Article
Neurosciences
Clara Velazquez-Sanchez, Leila Muresan, Lucia Marti-Prats, David Belin
Summary: This study found that compulsive disorders may be related to the loss of coping strategies, and the cellular mechanisms involved have not been elucidated. By studying male rats, it was discovered that animals exhibiting compulsive behavior had lower transcript levels of the Arc gene in the LC region. This study reveals dynamic changes associated with behavioral responses and provides potential targets for the treatment of compulsive disorders.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Nana Feng, Lena Palaniyappan, Trevor W. Robbins, Luolong Cao, Shuanfeng Fang, Xingwei Luo, Xiang Wang, Qiang Luo
Summary: Impaired working memory (WM) is a core dysfunction in schizophrenia, characterized by deficits in both attention and WM processing. Patients show linear modulation of brain activation in frontoparietal and dorsal attention networks, while controls exhibit an inverted U-shaped response pattern in the left anterior cingulate cortex. These modulation effects are associated with gene expressions related to the dopamine neurotransmitter system.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Jonathan W. Kanen, Qiang Luo, Mojtaba Rostami Kandroodi, Rudolf N. Cardinal, Trevor W. Robbins, David J. Nutt, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Hanneke E. M. den Ouden
Summary: The study aimed to investigate how LSD affects probabilistic reversal learning in healthy individuals. The results showed that LSD increased the reward and punishment learning rates, decreased stimulus stickiness, and induced a state of heightened plasticity.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Review
Neurosciences
Olivia Stupart, Trevor W. Robbins, Jeffrey W. Dalley
Summary: The meta-analysis showed that unconditioned tasks are generally poor at consistently demonstrating differences between control and separated groups in rats, indicating the need for more objective tasks in translational research on stress-related disorders.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Roxanne W. Hook, Masanori Isobe, George Savulich, Jon E. Grant, Konstantinos Ioannidis, David Christmas, Barbara J. Sahakian, Trevor W. Robbins, Samuel R. Chamberlain
Summary: This study found that single-dose istradefylline can impact human cognition, particularly in the social information preference task with emotional loading. This indicates the under-studied role of the adenosine neurochemical system in human cognition, which requires further exploration.
EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Michal M. Graczyk, Barbara J. Sahakian, Trevor W. Robbins, Karen D. Ersche
Summary: Not everyone who uses drugs loses control over their intake, which is a hallmark of addiction. Although familial risk studies suggest significant addiction heritability, the genetic basis of vulnerability to drug addiction remains largely unknown. In this study, the researchers examined the relationship between self-control, cocaine use, and a specific gene variant (rs36024) associated with the noradrenaline transporter gene. They found that individuals carrying the C-allele of this gene exhibited impaired self-control, particularly in the context of chronic cocaine use. Patients with cocaine use disorder who had the CC genotype showed longer stop-signal reaction time and fewer successful stops compared to healthy controls and patients with the TT genotype. These findings suggest that rs36024 may be a potential genetic vulnerability marker for cocaine addiction.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Biographical-Item
Neurosciences
Barbara J. Sahakian, Eileen M. Joyce, Trevor W. Robbins
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nace Mikus, Christoph Eisenegger, Christoph Mathys, Luke Clark, Ulrich Mueller, Trevor W. Robbins, Claus Lamm, Michael Naef
Summary: The study investigates the impact of the D2/D3 dopamine receptor antagonist sulpiride on learning about other people's prosocial attitudes. The results show that sulpiride increases the volatility of beliefs, leading to higher precision weights on prediction errors. This effect is more significant in participants with genetically conferred higher dopamine availability and remains even after controlling for working memory performance. The findings demonstrate the importance of D2 receptors in regulating belief updating in a social context.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Shitong Xiang, Tianye Jia, Chao Xie, Zhichao Zhu, Wei Cheng, Gunter Schumann, Trevor W. Robbins, Jianfeng Feng
Summary: How to retrieve latent neurobehavioural processes from complex neurobiological signals is a challenge that has not been fully addressed. This study presents a novel approach, DeCoP, that outperforms traditional decoding methods in terms of false inference and robustness. The research reveals distinct evaluation and readiness processes during reward/punishment anticipation, modulated by different dopamine systems. Only a few brain regions encode exact input information, while others encode abstract information.
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Amy Rachel Bland, Jonathan Paul Roiser, Mitul Ashok Mehta, Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Trevor William Robbins, Rebecca Elliott
Summary: The study found that COVID-19 social isolation has an impact on emotional and social cognitive function, with reduced contact with friends, smaller household size, and changes in communication methods leading to a decrease in positive bias in emotion recognition and attention to emotional faces. Conversely, increased contact with friends and family during social isolation was associated with greater cooperative behavior.
COGNITION & EMOTION
(2022)
