Article
Biology
Nahoko Kuga, Reimi Abe, Kotomi Takano, Yuji Ikegaya, Takuya Sasaki
Summary: The medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala play important roles in regulating social behavior, but their specific neurophysiological mechanisms are still unclear. This study recorded local field potentials (LFPs) from these brain regions in male mice engaged in social behavior. It was found that both the medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala showed changes in oscillation power when mice attended to another target mouse. Manipulating specific neural activity patterns in these regions restored social interaction behavior in socially deficient mice, providing insights into the underlying neurophysiological basis of social behavioral deficits.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Paulina G. Eusebi, Natalia Sevane, Thomas O'Rourke, Manuel Pizarro, Cedric Boeckx, Susana Dunner
Summary: This study compared gene expression profiles of aggressive and non-aggressive cattle breeds, revealing up-regulated genes related to pathways like Alzheimer's disease, integrins, and ERK/MAPK signaling in aggressive cattle. Down-regulated genes may be associated with PFC activity and aggression. These findings provide insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying aggressive behavior.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Axel Fogaca Rosado, Laura Menegatti Bevilacqua, Eduardo Luiz Gasnhar Moreira, Manuella Pinto Kaster
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate if variability in baseline flexibility can enable differences in coping strategies, changes in neuroplasticity, and behavioral outcomes in responses to chronic social defeat stress (CSDS). The results showed that animals with high behavioral flexibility exhibited changes in their coping strategies during the CSDS protocol, and they also displayed higher dendritic complexity in certain cortical areas. Moreover, high flexibility was associated with better emotional responses and motivation. However, exposure to CSDS reversed the beneficial effects of high flexibility in male mice.
PROGRESS IN NEURO-PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vasiliy V. Reshetnikov, Polina E. Kisaretova, Natalia P. Bondar
Summary: Research on the molecular causes of stress-associated psychopathologies is crucial for understanding the development mechanisms of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorders. This study conducted a meta-analysis of transcriptome changes in mice and human patients, finding the most reliable molecular alterations associated with different durations of stress.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Diego Scheggia, Filippo La Greca, Federica Maltese, Giulia Chiacchierini, Maria Italia, Cinzia Molent, Fabrizio Bernardi, Giulia Coccia, Nicolo Carrano, Elisa Zianni, Fabrizio Gardoni, Monica Di Luca, Francesco Papaleo
Summary: Decisions regarding self-interest or the interest of others depend on context and relationships between individuals, and the neurobiology underlying these choices is not well understood. This study found that amygdala neurons play a role in prosocial decision-making, with specific projections to the prefrontal cortex mediating altruistic choices and projections from the prefrontal cortex to the amygdala modulating self-interest motives.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hidekazu Sotoyama, Hiroyoshi Inaba, Yuriko Iwakura, Hisaaki Namba, Nobuyuki Takei, Toshikuni Sasaoka, Hiroyuki Nawa
Summary: Dopamine in the prefrontal cortex has opposing effects on social behavior depending on the duration of its activation. Sustained dopamine activation suppresses social behavior while acute activation enhances it. The duration of social interactions is positively correlated with transient dopamine release and negatively correlated with sustained dopamine increase in the prefrontal cortex. Dopamine levels also modulate neural calcium signaling and c-Fos induction triggered by social stimuli in prefrontal neurons.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ming-Fen Ho, Cheng Zhang, Irene Moon, Xiujuan Zhu, Brandon J. Coombes, Joanna Biernacka, Michelle Skime, Tyler S. Oesterle, Victor M. Karpyak, Kristen Schmidt, Kate Gliske, Quyen Ngo, Cedric Skillon, Marvin D. Seppala, Hu Li, Richard M. Weinshilboum
Summary: This study used single-cell sequencing technology to investigate the response of OUD patients to oxycodone and buprenorphine. The results revealed that buprenorphine significantly influenced transcriptional regulation in glial cells, while oxycodone induced type I interferon signaling in multiple cell types. These findings provide novel mechanistic insights into the actions of drugs at the single-cell level.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shinobu Hirai, Hideki Miwa, Tomoko Tanaka, Kazuya Toriumi, Yasuto Kunii, Hiroko Shimbo, Takuya Sakamoto, Mizuki Hino, Ryuta Izumi, Atsuko Nagaoka, Hirooki Yabe, Tomoya Nakamachi, Seiji Shioda, Takashi Dan, Toshio Miyata, Yasumasa Nishito, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Mitsuhiro Miyashita, Toshifumi Tomoda, Takatoshi Hikida, Junjiro Horiuchi, Masanari Itokawa, Makoto Arai, Haruo Okado
Summary: Metabolic dysfunction is believed to exacerbate psychiatric disorders, and a high-sucrose diet during adolescence has been shown to induce psychosis-related behaviors in mice deficient for glyoxalase-1. This diet also caused microcapillary impairments and reduced brain glucose uptake, with aspirin offering protection against these vascular changes and abnormal behavioral phenotypes. The findings suggest that psychiatric disorders may be associated with brain angiopathy caused by metabolic stress.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andrea M. F. Reiter, Michael Moutoussis, Lucy Vanes, Rogier Kievit, Edward T. Bullmore, Ian M. Goodyer, Peter Fonagy, Peter B. Jones, Raymond J. Dolan
Summary: This study demonstrates that adolescents are more susceptible to social influence from peers, but this susceptibility decreases over time, leading to more stable behavior patterns. The underlying reason for this susceptibility is attributed to a higher uncertainty about their own preferences, which decreases as adolescents grow older. Furthermore, neural development plays a role in this process, with a measure of myelination predicting a decrease in preference uncertainty over time.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tsuyoshi Hattori, Stanislav M. Cherepanov, Ryo Sakaga, Jureepon Roboon, Dinh Thi Nguyen, Hiroshi Ishii, Mika Takarada-Iemata, Takumi Nishiuchi, Takayuki Kannon, Kazuyoshi Hosomichi, Atsushi Tajima, Yasuhiko Yamamoto, Hiroshi Okamoto, Akira Sugawara, Haruhiro Higashida, Osamu Hori
Summary: This study reveals that astrocytes, specifically the CD38 protein expressed in them, play a crucial role in social behavior by regulating oxytocin release and synapse formation. Deletion of CD38 in postnatal astrocytes impairs social memory and inhibits synaptogenesis, highlighting the importance of astrocytes in neural circuit formation.
Article
Cell Biology
Joowon Kim, Min Whan Jung, Doyun Lee
Summary: Social and reward signal processing and their association are critical elements of social motivation. This study found that social signal processing is selectively disrupted, whereas reward signal processing is intact in the medial prefrontal cortex of Shank2-knockout mice. Furthermore, reward learning not only allows Shank2-knockout mice to associate social stimuli with reward availability, but it also rescues the impaired social signal processing.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xiaxia Xu, Lingzhen Song, Rebecca Kringel, Ileana L. Hanganu-Opatz
Summary: The study reveals that mice mimicking the dual genetic-environmental etiology of psychiatric risk exhibit poor lateral entorhinal cortex-dependent recognition memory in pre-juvenile age and abnormal communication within LEC-HP-PFC networks throughout development. These deficits are linked to decreased projections from LEC to CA1 and reduced efficiency of axonal terminals in activating hippocampal circuits in neonatal GE mice. The entorhinal-hippocampal circuit is impaired from neonatal age on in GE mice.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Navdeep K. Lidhar, Soroush Darvish-Ghane, Sivaani Sivaselvachandran, Sana Khan, Fatima Wasif, Holly Turner, Meruba Sivaselvachandran, Neil M. Fournier, Loren J. Martin
Summary: Research has shown that experiencing pain with an unfamiliar individual can suppress pain contagion in males by activating the endocrine stress response. Inhibition or activation of glucocorticoid receptors in the prelimbic cortex can impact the occurrence of pain contagion. Furthermore, the study results suggest that the activity in the prelimbic cortex might play a key role in preventing pain contagion under certain conditions.
NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Laifu Li, Li-Zi Zhang, Zhi-Xiong He, Huan Ma, Yu-Ting Zhang, Yu-Feng Xun, Wei Yuan, Wen-Juan Hou, Yi-Tong Li, Zi-Jian Lv, Rui Jia, Fa-Dao Tai
Summary: This study using socially monogamous mandarin voles found that neural circuits involving 5-HTergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus and serotonin terminals in the anterior cingulate cortex play a crucial role in consolation-like behaviors and sociability. The release of 5-HT in the ACC and activity of DR neurons were significantly increased during comforting behaviors and social interactions. Activation of 5-HT1A receptors in the ACC was able to reverse deficits in consolation and sociability induced by inhibition of 5-HTergic neurons in the DR.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Henry W. Kietzman, Gracy Trinoskey-Rice, Sarah A. Blumenthal, Jidong D. Guo, Shannon L. Gourley
Summary: Social experiences influence future decision making. The authors here establish a method for quantifying this phenomenon in mice and identify an amygdalo-frontal-striatal circuit controlling how social context shapes decisions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Aung Khaing, Aye Thet Swe, Cho Lwin Aung, Mya Mya Thwin, Mya Thanda Sein
Summary: This study investigated the expression of ET-1 and eNOS in normal and PE placentae. The results showed that serum levels of ET-1 were significantly higher in PE pregnant women compared with normal pregnant women, while the levels of ET-1 in placental tissue homogenates were not significantly different. Serum ET-1 might play a major role in the pathogenesis of PE.
REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE GINECOLOGIA E OBSTETRICIA
(2022)
