Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yanli Zhang, Yingting Pang, Weixi Feng, Yuxi Jin, Sijia Chen, Shixin Ding, Ze Wang, Ying Zou, Yun Li, Tianqi Wang, Peng Sun, Junying Gao, Yi Zhu, Xiaoyan Ke, Charles Marshall, Huang Huang, Chengyu Sheng, Ming Xiao
Summary: Research has found that patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher levels of miR-124, which may be related to brain development and social isolation. Animal models indicate that the miR-124 signaling pathway is involved in regulating myelination in brain regions associated with early social experiences, and could be a potential therapeutic target for neuropsychiatric disorders related to social neglect or social isolation.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(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
Cell Biology
Alberto Lazari, Piergiorgio Salvan, Michiel Cottaar, Daniel Papp, Matthew F. S. Rushworth, Heidi Johansen-Berg
Summary: Evidence suggests that white matter plasticity in humans follows Hebb's rule. Stimulation of cortical areas leads to increased cortical excitability and a myelin marker in the stimulated fiber bundle, indicating the presence of Hebbian plasticity in human white matter fibers.
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
Neurosciences
Ate Bijlsma, Louk J. M. J. Vanderschuren, Corette J. Wierenga
Summary: Experience-dependent organization of neuronal connectivity is critical for brain development. Social play behavior is important for the fine-tuning of inhibitory synapses in the medial prefrontal cortex in rats. The impact of social play on the development of neurotransmission in different prefrontal subregions is temporally and regionally heterogeneous.
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
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
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Saba Imdad, Wonchung Lim, Jin-Hee Kim, Chounghun Kang
Summary: This article discusses the relationship between the microbiome and mitochondrial functional capacity, as well as exercise performance. Exercise can influence the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota, and microbial by-products can enhance mitochondrial function. Therefore, exercise can be used as a therapeutic intervention to prevent or mitigate metabolic and mitochondria-related diseases.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Xing-Xing Liao, Xiao-Yun Wu, Yu-Long Zhou, Jia-Jun Li, You-Liang Wen, Jun-Jie Zhou
Summary: Cardiovascular diseases and depression have a high comorbidity rate, but previous studies have mainly focused on individual diseases and lack research on the common pathophysiology of both diseases in comorbid states. Modern high-throughput technologies have shown that gut microbiome metabolites play important roles in the pathophysiology of AS and depression. This review summarizes the important findings on the role of gut microbiome metabolites in depression and AS disease, aiming to identify potential biological targets for the early diagnosis and treatment of AS co-depression disorders.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
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)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Weifeng Lin, Louis P. Conway, Miroslav Vujasinovic, J-Matthias Lohr, Daniel Globisch
Summary: The study developed a new chemical biology tool to overcome analytical challenges in metabolite analysis, enabling detection of over 200 metabolites in human fecal, urine, and plasma samples. This comprehensive mass spectrometric analysis enhances metabolomics-driven biomarker discovery.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Simon Pan, Jonah R. Chan
Summary: Learning, salient experiences, and neuronal activity can induce new myelin formation, while neuromodulation and rehabilitation exercises may help improve symptoms in MS patients by promoting remyelination. These nonpharmacological strategies show potential for developing remyelinating therapies.
ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Natalya S. Kolomeets, Natalya A. Uranova
Summary: Research has shown reduced number of oligodendrocyte satellites per neuron in layer 5 of the prefrontal cortex in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls, without correlation with the density of oligodendrocytes or clusters. These alterations in satellite oligodendrocytes may be linked to specific plasticity of corresponding networks in the brain of individuals with schizophrenia.
EUROPEAN ARCHIVES OF PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alexey A. Tinkov, Airton C. Martins, Daiana Silva Avila, Victor A. Gritsenko, Anatoly Skalny, Abel Santamaria, Eunsook Lee, Aaron B. Bowman, Michael Aschner
Summary: Manganese (Mn) exposure can lead to alterations in gut microbiota diversity and metabolite production, potentially contributing to neurotoxicity. Transplantation of healthy microbiota may alleviate Mn-induced neurotoxicity, highlighting the significant role of gut flora in Mn-mediated effects.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ling Wang, Yi-Xuan Tu, Lu Chen, Yuan Zhang, Xue-Ling Pan, Shu-Qiao Yang, Shuai-Jie Zhang, Sheng-Hui Li, Ke-Chun Yu, Shuo Song, Hong-Li Xu, Zhu-Cheng Yin, Jun-Qiu Yue, Qian-Lin Ni, Tang Tang, Jiu-Liang Zhang, Min Guo, Shuai Zhang, Fan Yao, Xin-Jun Liang, Zhen-Xia Chen
Summary: Men have higher incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) than women. This study explains the sexual dimorphism in CRC by examining sex-biased gut microbiota and metabolites. The results show that male mice and pseudo-germ mice receiving fecal samples from males have larger tumors and impaired gut barrier function. Changes in gut microbiota composition, including increased pathogenic bacteria and decreased probiotic bacteria, were observed in male mice and pseudo-germ mice. Sex-biased gut metabolites contribute to the sex dimorphism in CRC through glycerophospholipids metabolism pathway. Modulating sex-biased gut microbiota and metabolites could be a potential therapeutic strategy for CRC.