Article
Behavioral Sciences
Judith C. Kreutzmann, Marie-France Marin, Markus Fendt, Mohammed R. Milad, Kerry Ressler, Tanja Jovanovic
Summary: The study found that individuals with lower responses to aversive stimuli also displayed lower fear responses to conditioned safety stimuli, while traumatized individuals showed responses to fear and safety stimuli influenced by their unconditioned response to aversive stimuli.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Julia S. Yarrington, Meghan Vinograd, Alexander L. Williams, Kate B. Wolitzky-Taylor, Richard E. Zinbarg, Susan Mineka, Allison M. Waters, Michelle G. Craske
Summary: This study used SR and SCR to predict longitudinal changes in anxiety and depression symptoms. The results showed that SR and SCR were associated with an increase in these symptom factors over time.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Lucianne Groenink, P. Monika Verdouw, Yulong Zhao, Freija ter Heegde, Kimberley E. Wever, Elisabeth Y. Bijlsma
Summary: Fear conditioning is an important aspect in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders. This study aimed to synthesize the available data on drugs tested in the fear-potentiated startle test to further understand the neurotransmitter systems involved in conditioned fear expression. The results showed that most clinically active anxiolytics can reduce fear and certain drug classes have significant effects on conditioned fear.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Hannah M. Oberle, Alexander N. Ford, Deepak Dileepkumar, Jordyn Czarny, Pierre F. Apostolides
Summary: Corticofugal projections from the neocortex to evolutionarily ancient subcortical structures are common in mammalian sensory systems, allowing the cortex to control ascending sensory representations predictively or in a feedback manner. This study focused on the projection from the mouse auditory cortex to the inferior colliculus (IC), revealing that although individual synapses were weak, IC neurons integrated inputs from multiple corticofugal axons to generate reliable depolarizations. Descending signals reached the IC within 30 ms of sound onset and were found to nonlinearly amplify IC neurons' acoustic responses.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Philip Newsome, Sonia G. Ruiz, Andrea L. Gold, Daniel S. Pine, Rany Abend
Summary: An alternative fear potentiated startle (FPS) scoring method was used to examine threat conditioning and extinction in individuals with anxiety disorders. The study found that individuals with anxiety disorders exhibited stronger retention of threat contingency during extinction. These findings support extinction theories of anxiety and suggest the importance of further research on aberrant extinction in pathological anxiety.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Yuanhui Li, Nan Li, Liqun Zhang, Yanru Liu, Tianjiao Zhang, Dai Li, Dexiang Bai, Xiang Liu, Lingjiang Li
Summary: This study develops a fear-potentiated startle paradigm and a machine learning approach to accurately predict PTSD symptoms in Chinese firefighters. The machine learning model can identify firefighters with a PCL-C score of 38 or above with sensitivity and specificity both above 0.85 when 5-fold cross validated on a 1107-person sample.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Michael W. Lewis, Daniel E. Bradford, Eylul Akman, Kevin Frederiks, Scott L. Rauch, Isabelle M. Rosso
Summary: Unconditioned responding (UCR) to an aversive stimulus is associated with defensive responding during fear acquisition, but its relationships with extinction training, PTSD symptom severity, and fearful traits are unknown. This study found that UCR, particularly unconditioned startle, is positively associated with defensive responding and fearful traits, but not with PTSD symptom severity.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Patrick Vizeli, Isabelle Straumann, Urs Duthaler, Nimmy Varghese, Anne Eckert, Martin P. Paulus, Victoria Risbrough, Matthias E. Liechti
Summary: This study aims to explore the potential of MDMA as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its mechanism of action. The results show that MDMA treatment can enhance fear extinction learning and recall, but this effect may be limited to certain forms of learned fear responses. Additionally, MDMA does not influence fear reactions to conditioned cues.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Anne Richards, Sabra S. Inslicht, Leslie M. Yack, Thomas J. Metzler, J. Russell Huie, Laura D. Straus, Cassandra Dukes, Samantha Q. Hubachek, Kim L. Felmingham, Daniel H. Mathalon, Steven H. Woodward, Thomas C. Neylan
Summary: This study examines the relationship between emotional learning and REM sleep in trauma-exposed participants using fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and nap sleep protocol. The results show that safety learning is positively correlated with REM sleep and REM sleep is related to rapid extinction learning. Moreover, the study reveals unexpected effects of PTSD symptoms and biological sex on the learning-sleep relationship.
Article
Neurosciences
Charles A. Williams, Kimberly E. Miller, Nisa P. Williams, Christine V. Portfors, David J. Perkel
Summary: Adrenergic receptors play important roles in the modulation of adrenergic and noradrenergic signaling in the brain, with different subtypes showing differential expression patterns in the inferior colliculus (IC) of male and female mice. This study found a coordinated pattern of adrenergic receptor expression in the IC, with little developmental change in expression levels. Additionally, co-expression of multiple adrenergic receptor subtypes was observed in IC cells, indicating a potential for combined modulatory effects of these receptors.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Jessica Maples-Keller, Laura E. Watkins, K. Maria Nylocks, Carly Yasinski, Callan Coghlan, Kathryn Black, Tanja Jovanovic, Sheila A. M. Rauch, Barbara O. Rothbaum, Seth Davin Norrholm
Summary: This study examined fear acquisition, extinction learning, and retention in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients before and after treatment, and found excessive fear in PTSD patients during acquisition and extinction. It also found that high responders to prolonged exposure therapy (PE) maintained fear extinction learning, while low responders showed a return of fear after treatment.
BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jessica C. Gaspar, Bright N. Okine, David Dinneen, Michelle Roche, David P. Finn
Summary: There is evidence suggesting that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are involved in pain, cognition, and anxiety. However, their role in pain-fear interactions is still unclear. This study investigated the effects of PPAR antagonists on nociceptive behavior, fear-conditioned analgesia (FCA), and conditioned fear in the amygdala. The results indicate that PPAR alpha and PPAR gamma in the amygdala play a role in the expression or extinction of conditioned fear.
Article
Family Studies
Alexandra D. W. Sullivan, Zoe M. F. Brier, Alison C. Legrand, Katherine van Stolk-Cooke, Tanja Jovanovic, Seth D. Norrholm, Hugh Garavan, Rex Forehand, Matthew Price
Summary: This study examined the risk of psychological pathology in emerging adults with a history of childhood maltreatment and the influence of positive parenting on PTSD symptom severity and a transdiagnostic maladjustment biomarker. The findings suggest that positive parenting can moderate the increase in reactivity and provide better psychological outcomes for emerging adults with childhood maltreatment histories.
CHILD MALTREATMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yujie Chen, Si Chen, Zhongju Sun, Xilei Zhang, Xiangyong Yuan, Liang Wang, Yi Jiang
Summary: This study provides empirical evidence that low-spatial-frequency components play a unique role in unconscious fear conditioning, even with emotionally neutral stimuli. These findings support the prioritized processing of low-spatial-frequency information in unconscious fear processing and highlight the important distinctions between unconscious and conscious fear learning.
Article
Neurosciences
Jonas Engert, Kristen Rak, Linda Bieniussa, Miriam Scholl, Rudolf Hagen, Johannes Voelker
Summary: This research project aimed to evaluate the neurogenic potential in the rat inferior colliculus from early postnatal days until adulthood, identifying and characterizing neural stem cells (NSCs) and their age-specific features. The study contributes to a better understanding of the development and plasticity of the auditory pathway, providing insights for potential therapeutic applications.
MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Marcus L. Brandao, Norberto C. Coimbra
REVIEWS IN THE NEUROSCIENCES
(2019)
Review
Psychiatry
M. L. Brandao, T. A. Lovick
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2019)
Article
Neurosciences
Thiago Oliari Ribeiro, Leticia Morais Bueno-de-Camargo, Ana Paula Farias Waltrick, Amanda Ribeiro de Oliveira, Marcus Lira Brandao, Carolina Demarchi Munhoz, Janaina Menezes Zanoveli
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2020)
Editorial Material
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Sangu Muthuraju, Rahimah Zakaria, Mohan Kumar Muthu Karuppan, Badriya Al-Rahbi
BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL
(2020)
Review
Neurosciences
Entesar Yaseen Abdo Qaid, Ninie Nadia Zulkipli, Rahimah Zakaria, Asma Hayati Ahmad, Zahiruddin Othman, Sangu Muthuraju, Teguh Haryo Sasongko
Summary: mTOR plays a crucial role in hypoxia-induced cognitive impairment, providing neuroprotection during mild or acute hypoxia exposure and potentially leading to neuronal cell death during severe or chronic hypoxia. Keeping mTORC1 activity normal could be explored as a potential strategy to prevent cognitive impairment in severe or chronic hypoxia.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Laura A. Leon, Marcus L. Brandao, Fernando P. Cardenas, Diana Parra, Thomas E. Krahe, Antonio Pedro Mello Cruz, J. Landeira-Fernandez
Article
Neurosciences
Geiza Fernanda Antunes, Flavia Venetucci Gouveia, Fabiana Strambio Rezende, Midia Dias de Jesus Seno, Milene Cristina de Carvalho, Caroline Cruz de Oliveira, Lennon Cardoso Tosati dos Santos, Marina Correia de Castro, Mayra Akemi Kuroki, Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira, Jose Pinhata Otoch, Marcus Lira Brandao, Erich Talamoni Fonoff, Raquel Chacon Ruiz Martinez
NEUROBIOLOGY OF STRESS
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Renata Ferreira Sgobbi, Manoel Jorge Nobre
EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gleice Kelli Silva-Cardoso, Manoel Jorge Nobre
Summary: Ketamine is a drug that can be abused for its reinforcing properties and can induce tolerance through Pavlovian conditioning in specific environmental contexts. Research shows that ketamine can induce short-term and pharmacological conditioned tolerance, affecting dopamine and serotonin release, with potential implications in specific environments.
NEUROCHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Vivian M. de Vita, Heloisa R. Zapparoli, Adriano E. Reimer, Marcus L. Brandao, Amanda R. de Oliveira
Summary: Dopamine mediates fear conditioning through its action on D2 receptors in the mesolimbic pathway, primarily influencing the expression rather than acquisition of conditioned fear. Sulpiride reduces the expression of fear without affecting extinction recall, while haloperidol has cataleptic and motor-impairing effects.
EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Psychiatry
Marcus L. Brandao, Manoel Jorge Nobre, Ruth Estevao
Summary: Fear and anxiety are responses to threatening environments or stimuli, depending on the distance of the threat. This study used virtual reality to examine the effects of threat intensity on behavior and physiological responses in volunteers, revealing a relationship between individual emotional susceptibility and anxiety development.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Debora Fabris, Milene C. Carvalho, Marcus L. Brandao, Wiliam A. Prado, Antonio W. Zuardi, Jose A. Crippa, Amanda R. de Oliveira, Thelma A. Lovick, Karina Genaro
Summary: CBD exhibits anxiolytic effects in both male and female rats, with potential mechanisms involving GABA(A) receptor expression in females and 5-HT1A receptor activation in males. The responsiveness of female rats to CBD is influenced by the stage of the estrous cycle, with higher responsiveness observed in the late diestrus phase. After sub-chronic treatment, female rats in late diestrus maintain their responsiveness to CBD, while those in proestrus remain unresponsive.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Tohru M. Takahashi, Arisa Hirano, Takeshi Kanda, Viviane M. Saito, Hiroto Ashitomi, Kazumasa Z. Tanaka, Yasufumi Yokoshiki, Kosaku Masuda, Masashi Yanagisawa, Kaspar E. Vogt, Takashi Tokuda, Takeshi Sakurai
Summary: We have successfully induced a hibernation-like hypothermic/hypometabolic state in mice using an optogenetic method. This method is useful for studying the neural mechanisms underlying long-term dormancy states such as sleep and hibernation.
CELL REPORTS METHODS
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
H. Hasim, P. V. Rao, A. C. Sekhar, S. Muthuraju, M. A. Asari, K. N. S. Sirajudeen
ADVANCES IN NATURAL SCIENCES-NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Jia Hui Wong, Faruque Reza, Sangu Muthuraju, Huei Gau Chuang, Jingli Zhang, Mohd Harizal Senik, Siti Rafidah Yusof, Habsah Mohamad, Tengku Sifzizul Tengku Muhammad, Nor Hadiani Ismail, Jafri Malin Abdullah
JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Yang He, Jun Tang, Meng Zhang, Junjie Ying, Dezhi Mu
Summary: This study investigated the protective effects and mechanisms of human placenta derived mesenchymal stem cells (hPMSCs) transplantation in a rat model of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The results showed that hPMSCs transplantation reduced apoptosis and improved long-term neurological prognosis. Furthermore, the downregulation of Sema 3A/NRP-1 expression and activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway played a key role in the protective effects of hPMSCs.
Article
Neurosciences
Emily L. Isenstein, Edward G. Freedman, Jiayi Xu, Ian A. DeAndrea-Lazarus, John J. Foxe
Summary: This study evaluated electrophysiological discrimination of parametric somatosensory stimuli in healthy young adults to understand how the brain processes the duration of tactile information. The results showed that participants did not electrophysiologically discriminate between 100 and 115 ms, but they exhibited distinct electrophysiological responses when the deviant stimuli were 130, 145, and 160 ms. These findings contribute to a better understanding of tactile sensitivity in different clinical conditions.
Article
Neurosciences
Juliana R. Souza, Ludmila Lima-Silveira, Daniela Accorsi-Mendonca, Benedito H. Machado
Summary: This study demonstrates that A2A receptors play a crucial role in modulating synaptic transmission in the NTS neurons and are required for the enhancement of glutamatergic transmission observed under short-term sustained hypoxia conditions.
Article
Neurosciences
Miki Hashizume, Rina Ito, Rie Suge, Yasushi Hojo, Gen Murakami, Takayuki Murakoshi
Summary: The basolateral amygdaloid complex (BLA) is closely involved in the formation of emotional memories, including both aversive memory and contextual fear memory. Acute sleep deprivation (SD) disrupts the acquisition of tone-associated fear memory in juvenile rats, but has no significant effect on contextual fear memory. Slow network oscillation in the amygdala contributes to the formation of amygdala-dependent fear memory in relation to sleep.
Article
Neurosciences
Qunxian Wang, Shipeng Guo, Dongjie Hu, Xiangjun Dong, Zijun Meng, Yanshuang Jiang, Zijuan Feng, Weihui Zhou, Weihong Song
Summary: GSDME plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease by regulating the switch from apoptosis to pyroptosis and participating in neuroinflammatory response. Knockdown of GSDME has been shown to improve cognitive impairments, indicating that GSDME could be a therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.