Article
Psychiatry
Maja Kesic, Gordana Mokrovic, Ante Tvrdeic, Branko Mise, Jasminka Stefulj, Lipa Cicin-Sain
Summary: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed medications for treating mood disorders, but individual response to SSRIs varies. Individual serotonin levels may play a role in influencing the biological actions of SSRIs.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bhaskar Roy, Yogesh Dwivedi
Summary: This review focuses on the neurobiological abnormalities, particularly genetic and epigenetic abnormalities, associated with suicidal behavior and the potential for modeling these abnormalities in animals. It aims to enhance the current understanding of suicidal behavior and potentially aid in the development of treatment opportunities and risk assessment.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Simona Kralj-Fiser, Jutta M. Schneider, Matjaz Kuntner, Kate Laskowski, Francisco Garcia-Gonzalez
Summary: Genetic differences in aggression, activity, and exploration were found between sexes in a sexually size-dimorphic spider species, while no differences were observed in boldness. However, the high degree of uncertainty in the estimates prevents a robust conclusion on sex differences in genetic influences.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Social
Zsuzsanna Elek, Zsolt Ronai, Rita Hargitai, Janos Rethelyi, Bernadett Arndt, Andras Matuz, Arpad Csath, Bertalan Polner, Janos Kallai
Summary: This study identified genetic associations between specific gene variants and schizotypal traits (such as magical thinking and excessive social anxiety) in healthy college students.
PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Anthony Murkar, Joseph De Koninck, Zul Merali
Summary: This review provides a detailed description of cannabinoids and their effects at neuronal receptors, highlighting their diverse nature and complex interactions within the CNS. It also examines the role of cannabinoid receptors in controlling fear and anxiety, proposing a plausible framework for their effects. Knowledge gaps in understanding the mechanisms of cannabinoids on fear and anxiety in animal models, as well as their potential therapeutic use in humans, are also emphasized.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Yeo Bi Choi, Jeff Mentch, A. J. Haskins, Caitlin Van Wicklin, Caroline E. Robertson
Summary: Close phenotypic characterization of individuals with genetic conditions linked to autism is important for understanding the heterogeneity of autism spectrum conditions. This study investigated sensory processing in individuals with a rare genetic event, 16p11.2 deletions, and found slower binocular rivalry perceptual transition rates in these individuals compared to controls. These findings highlight the importance of characterizing sensory functions in individuals with genetic alterations associated with autism.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Rida Nisar, Zehra Batool, Saida Haider
Summary: This study aims to improve the practice of using electric foot-shock to generate anxiety-like symptoms by identifying an optimum current intensity and combining it with behavioral paradigms. The results showed that 1.0 mA electric foot-shock induced abnormal behavioral effects similar to anxiety-like effects. Furthermore, aberrations in various physiological parameters were observed in the rat model of anxiety, which were successfully alleviated by diazepam.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ron Nudel, Richard Zetterberg, Nicoline Hemager, Camilla A. J. Christiani, Jessica Ohland, Birgitte K. Burton, Aja N. Greve, Katrine S. Spang, Ditte Ellersgaard, Ditte L. Gantriis, Jonas Bybjerg-Grauholm, Kerstin J. Plessen, Jens Richardt M. Jepsen, Anne A. E. Thorup, Thomas Werge, Ole Mors, Merete Nordentoft
Summary: Many psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders are heritable, but studying their genetic architecture lags behind somatic traits. We conducted GWAS on neurocognitive, motor, and social-behavioral traits in a family-based sample and identified 48 significant associations, including parent-of-origin effects. Functional annotation of genes revealed associations with working memory, processing speed, and social behavior. Our findings highlight novel gene-phenotype-disorder pathways.
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joeri Bordes, Lucas Miranda, Maya Reinhardt, Sowmya Narayan, Jakob Hartmann, Emily L. Newman, Lea Maria Brix, Lotte van Doeselaar, Clara Engelhardt, Larissa Dillmann, Shiladitya Mitra, Kerry J. Ressler, Benno Puetz, Felix Agakov, Bertram Mueller-Myhsok, Mathias V. Schmidt
Summary: The open-source tool DeepOF can accurately identify distinct stress-induced social behavioral patterns in mice, especially at the beginning of a novel social encounter. It provides supervised and unsupervised pipelines for analyzing pose estimation data, facilitating the study of rodent individual and social behavior.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Milla Salonen, Salla Mikkola, Emma Hakanen, Sini Sulkama, Jenni Puurunen, Hannes Lohi
Summary: This study examined the associations between personality traits and unwanted behavioral traits in dogs. The results showed that dog personality traits resemble human personality traits and are associated with similar patterns of unwanted behaviors. This suggests that dogs may be a suitable animal model for studying human behavior and psychiatric disorders.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Amira Abozaid, Robert Gerlai
Summary: Anxiety is a significant medical need, but current pharmacotherapy options are often ineffective. The zebrafish has emerged as a promising animal model for studying anxiolytic drugs. This study investigated the effects of buspirone hydrochloride on zebrafish behavior and found that it reduced movement and thigmotaxis while increasing immobility duration and turn angle. These findings suggest that juvenile zebrafish could be a useful model for evaluating the effects of anxiolytic drugs.
Article
Immunology
You Ni, Yifan Feng, Dingding Shen, Ming Chen, Xiaona Zhu, Qinming Zhou, Yining Gao, Jun Liu, Qi Zhang, Yuntian Shen, Lisheng Peng, Zike Zeng, Dou Yin, Ji Hu, Sheng Chen
Summary: The study demonstrated that anti-IgLON5 antibodies can induce progressive and irreversible behavioral deficits in mice, supporting their pathogenicity in vivo. The effects of these antibodies include cognitive abnormalities, increased brain-bound antibodies, increased microglial and astrocyte density, and altered synaptic homeostasis.
JOURNAL OF NEUROINFLAMMATION
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Robert Gerlai
Summary: Behavioral neuroscience aims to understand the neurobiology of behavior. Zebrafish, a simple and cost-effective study species that shares evolutionary history with humans, shows promise in this field. This review discusses its advantages, disadvantages, and arguments for or against its use in research, focusing on its utility in behavioral neuroscience.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Majid Davidson, Niloufar Rashidi, Puspha Sinnayah, Amir Hossein Ahmadi, Vasso Apostolopoulos, Kulmira Nurgali
Summary: This study aimed to develop an image processing program to improve the collection and analysis of behavioral test data in animal models. The results showed that the AMT software provides highly accurate and reliable data analysis compared to other methods.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Kathryn M. Harper, Samuel J. Harp, Sheryl S. Moy
Summary: Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are complex conditions that arise in infancy and childhood and are influenced by a combination of genetic risk and environmental factors. Two-hit models, which incorporate both genetic and environmental alterations, are advantageous in uncovering underlying vulnerabilities. This review summarizes existing literature on the detrimental interactions between prenatal stress and genes associated with NDDs, with a focus on behavioral phenotyping approaches in mouse models. Identifying optimal stress protocols and critical developmental windows would enhance the utility of these gene x environment models of NDDs.
FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ilja M. J. Saris, Moji Aghajani, Niels Jongs, Lianne M. Reus, Nic J. A. van der Wee, Amy C. Bilderbeck, Inge Winter van Rossum, Celso Arango, Alejandro de la Torre-Luque, Asad Malik, Andreea Raslescu, Gerard R. Dawson, Jose L. Ayuso-Mateos, Martien J. Kas, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx
Summary: Social functioning is impaired in both schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease patients. Social dysfunction may be more severe in schizophrenia patients and is more influenced by mood states than by disease severity.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Alejandro De la Torre-Luque, Alba Viera-Campos, Amy C. Bilderbeck, Maria Teresa Carreras, Jose Vivancos, Covadonga M. Diaz-Caneja, Moji Aghajani, Ilja M. J. Saris, Andreea Raslescu, Asad Malik, Jenna Clark, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, Nic van der Wee, Inge Winter-van Rossum, Bernd Sommer, Hugh Marston, Gerard R. Dawson, Martien J. Kas, Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos, Celso Arango
Summary: This study investigated the role of social withdrawal in neuropsychiatric patients and found that they showed poorer performance in detecting facial emotions compared to healthy individuals. Social withdrawal was associated with higher accuracy in negative emotion detection and lower misclassification of positive emotions. These findings suggest that social withdrawal may lead to heightened sensitivity to negative emotions and impact social functioning in people with severe mental illness.
PROGRESS IN NEURO-PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Anna-Sophia Buschhoff, Regina Scherliess, Johanne G. de Mooij-van Malsen, Thomas Schiffelholz, Ulrich Stephani, Peer Wulff
Summary: Systemic drug application is commonly used in epilepsy treatment, but the blood-brain barrier restricts the accessibility of drugs to the central nervous system (CNS). This study evaluated the efficacy of intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) drug administration compared to systemic application in generalized epilepsy. The results showed that i.c.v. treatment was more effective in suppressing seizures and had reduced systemic drug exposure compared to standard systemic therapy.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Suzanne D. Lanooij, Ulrich L. M. Eisel, Wilhelmus H. I. M. Drinkenburg, Eddy A. van der Zee, Martien J. H. Kas
Summary: This article provides an overview of deficits in the social and cognitive domain in psychiatric and neurological disorders and explores the extensive neurobiological basis underlying the relationship between these two domains. By mapping rodent brain regions involved in social and/or cognitive functions, it is shown that the majority of cognitive brain regions are also involved in the social domain. This neuroanatomical overlap has an evolutionary basis and aligns with the functional interactions between cognitive and social processes. Therefore, the social domain should receive more focus as an important treatment target and/or biomarker, especially considering the limited treatment strategies for these disorders.
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Renate Kat, Maria Arroyo-Araujo, Rob B. M. de Vries, Marthe A. Koopmans, Sietse F. de Boer, Martien J. H. Kas
Summary: Predictive models are crucial for studying brain disorders, but the high variation in research outcomes poses challenges. In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the behavioral phenotypes of the knock-out rodent model for Fragile X syndrome. The results showed that the model demonstrated translational validity and replicability for several clinical phenotypes, although the effect sizes were low in some cases. Experimental factors and environmental conditions were identified as potential reasons for the low replicability. These findings provide important insights for the use of other rodent models in preclinical research.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Youri G. Bolsius, Pim R. A. Heckman, Camilla Paraciani, Sophia Wilhelm, Frank Raven, Elroy L. Meijer, Martien J. H. Kas, Steve Ramirez, Peter Meerlo, Robbert Havekes
Summary: Sleep deprivation impairs hippocampal memory processes and can cause amnesia, but it does not necessarily lead to memory loss. Instead, it results in suboptimal storage of information that cannot be retrieved without drug treatment or optogenetic stimulation.
Article
Neurosciences
Suzanne D. Lanooij, Ulrich L. M. Eisel, Eddy A. van der Zee, Martien J. H. Kas
Summary: Altered social behavior could be an early indicator of A-beta pathology in female J20 mice. Co-housing with wild type mice can have a positive influence on this social phenotype.
JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Sjoerd J. van Hasselt, Luisa Epifani, Danique Zantinge, Kornelija Vitkute, Martien J. H. Kas, Giancarlo Allocca, Peter Meerlo
Summary: In this study, the effects of low temperature on REM sleep in tree shrews were investigated. It was found that exposure to low temperature significantly suppressed REM sleep, but the loss of REM sleep was not recovered during the subsequent day and night. These findings support the high sensitivity of REM sleep to environmental temperature but do not support the homeostatic regulation of REM sleep in this species.
Review
Psychiatry
Anna M. Langener, Gert Stulp, Martien J. Kas, Laura F. Bringmann
Summary: This article reviews the literature on different methods used to capture the changing social environment and their relationship to well-being. The findings suggest that these methods tap into different aspects of the social environment and that combining them is essential for a holistic understanding of well-being.
JMIR MENTAL HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Christina Dalla, Ivana Jaric, Pavlina Pavlidi, Georgia E. Hodes, Nikolaos Kokras, Anton Bespalov, Martien J. Kas, Thomas Steckler, Mohamed Kabbaj, Hanno Wuerbel, Jordan Marrocco, Jessica Tollkuhn, Rebecca Shansky, Debra Bangasser, Jill B. Becker, Margaret McCarthy, Chantelle Ferland-Beckham
Summary: Many funding agencies have emphasized the importance of considering sex as a biological variable in experimental design to improve the reproducibility and translational relevance of preclinical research. Omitting the female sex from experimental designs in neuroscience and pharmacology can result in biased or limited understanding of disease mechanisms. This article provides methodological considerations for incorporating sex as a biological variable in in vitro and in vivo experiments, including the influence of age and hormone levels, and proposes strategies to enhance methodological rigor and translational relevance in preclinical research.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS
(2024)
Article
Neurosciences
Suzanne D. Lanooij, W. H. I. M. Drinkenburg, U. L. M. Eisel, E. A. van der Zee, Martien J. H. Kas
Summary: Social factors are linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease. Social housing conditions have a significant effect on amyloid plaques and microglia, particularly in certain genotypes.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Hilary North, Martin Hofmann-Apitius, Martien J. H. Kas, Hugh Marston, Magali Haas
Summary: The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is a European public-private partnership aimed at improving the drug development process and enhancing the competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical sector. It funds research partnerships addressing obstacles to translating research into clinical success. This paper focuses on six initiatives that tackle foundational challenges, particularly in neurodegenerative diseases, discussing their successes, challenges, and lessons learned.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Johanne Gertrude de Mooij-van Malsen, Niels Rohrdanz, Anna-Sophia Buschhoff, Thomas Schiffelholz, Torfi Sigurdsson, Peer Wulff
Summary: Working memory requires maintenance and executive control, which depends on the interaction between hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The nucleus reuniens plays a critical role in hippocampal-prefrontal communication. The prefrontal-hippocampal-reuniens network displays performance-related coherence and delay activity during working memory tasks.
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Geeske Peeters, Almar A. L. Kok, Simone de Bruin, Cretien van Campen, Maud Graff, Minke Nieuwboer, Martijn Huisman, Barbara van Munster, Eddy van der Zee, Martien J. Kas, Marieke Perry, Debby L. Gerritsen, Elisabeth Vreede-Chabot, Anne-Mei The, Hein P. J. van Hout, Franka C. Bakker, Wilco P. Achterberg, Jenny T. van der Steen, Carolien Smits, Rene Melis, Marcel G. M. Olde Rikkert
Summary: The concept of resilience, which refers to the system's ability to bounce back after stress, is gaining interest across various fields. This paper argues that resilience is relevant throughout all stages of cognitive decline, and a socioecological, multisystem perspective is needed to understand and support individuals with cognitive decline. The paper provides evidence and examples to substantiate this argument. Resilience can help to understand responses to risk factors and inform personalized prevention, as well as interventions to strengthen recovery and coping mechanisms in care for people with cognitive decline. The application of resilience in this field opens new horizons for research and improving health and social care for the increasing population with cognitive decline.
Article
Neurosciences
Andrea Costanzo, Isabelle F. van der Velpen, M. Arfan Ikram, Myrra J. F. Vernooij-Dassen, Wiro J. Niessen, Meike W. Vernooij, Martien J. Kas
Summary: Social health is associated with specific white matter microstructure, with loneliness being associated with lower integrity of limbic and sensorimotor tracts, and better perceived social support being associated with higher integrity of association and commissural tracts.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)