rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Silent synapses in developing rat nucleus tractus solitarii have AMPA receptors.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2008

NMDA-only synapses, called silent synapses, are thought to be the initial step in synapse formation in several systems. However, the underlying mechanism and the role in circuit construction are still a matter of dispute. Using combined morphological and electrophysiological approaches, we searched for silent synapses at the level of the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), a brainstem structure that is a gateway for many visceral sensory afferent fibers. Silent synapses were detected at birth by using electrophysiological recordings and minimal stimulation protocols. However, anatomical experiments indicated that nearly all, if not all, NTS synapses had AMPA receptors. Based on EPSC fluctuation measurements and differential blockade by low-affinity competitive and noncompetitive glutamate antagonists, we then demonstrated that NTS silent synapses were better explained by glutamate spillover from neighboring fibers and/or slow dynamic of fusion pore opening. Glutamate spillover at immature NTS synapses may favor crosstalk between active synapses during development when glutamate transporters are weakly expressed and contribute to synaptic processing as well as autonomic circuit formation.
Dose-dependent changes in the synaptic strength on dopamine neurons and locomotor activity after cocaine exposure.
Synapse (New York, N.Y.), 2008

Changes in synaptic strength on ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons are thought to play a critical role in the development of addiction-related behaviors. However, it is unknown how a single injection of cocaine at different doses affects locomotor activity, behavioral sensitization, and glutamatergic synaptic strength on VTA dopamine neurons in mice. We observed that behavioral sensitization to a challenge cocaine injection scaled with the dose of cocaine received 1 day prior. Interestingly, the locomotor activity after the initial exposure to different doses of cocaine corresponded to the changes in glutamatergic strength on VTA dopamine neurons. These results in mice suggest that a single exposure to cocaine dose-dependently affects excitatory synapses on VTA dopamine neurons, and that this acute synaptic alteration is directly associated with the locomotor responses to cocaine and not to behavioral sensitization.
Abnormalities in metabolite concentrations in tourette's disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder-A proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2017

Abnormal glutamatergic transmission in cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuits is thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of Tourette's disorder (TD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the current study aimed to investigate regional concentrations of glutamatergic compounds in TD and OCD patients in comparison to healthy control subjects (HC).
Practice and nap schedules modulate children's motor learning.
Developmental psychobiology, 2016

Night- or day-time sleep enhances motor skill acquisition. However, prominent issues remained about the circadian (time-of-day) and homeostatic (time since last sleep) effects of sleep on developmental motor learning. Therefore, we examined the effects of nap schedules and nap-test-intervals (NTIs) on the learning of finger tapping sequences on computer keyboards. Children aged 6-7, 8-9, and 10-11 years explicitly acquired the short and long tapping orders that share the same movement strings (4-2-3-1-4, 4-2-3-1-4-2-3-1-4). Following a constant 8- or 10-hr post-learning period in one of the four NTIs (2, 4, 5, 7 hr), children in the morning napping groups, the afternoon napping groups, or the waking group performed the original long sequence in retention test (4-2-3-1-4-2-3-1-4) and the mirrored-order sequence in transfer test (1-3-2-4-1-3-2-4-1). Age and treatment differences in the movement time (MT, ms) and sequence accuracy (SA, %) were compared during skill learning and in retrieval tests. Results suggest that practice or nap affects MT and SA in a greater extent for the younger learners than for the older learners. The circadian effects might not change nap-based skill learning. Importantly, the longer NTIs resulted in superior retention performance than the shorter ones, suggesting that children require a relatively longer post-nap period to form motor memory. Finally, nap-based motor learning was more marked in skill retention than in skill transfer. Brain development may play an important role in motor learning. Our discussion centers on memory consolidation and its relevance for skill acquisition from early to late childhood.
Effects of Candesartan in the Acute Phase of Intracerebral Hemorrhage.
Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association, 2019

Uncertainty persists over the effects of blood pressure-lowering treatment in acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We assessed the effects of treatment with candesartan in acute ICH and according to different types of hematoma.
Immunization against social fear learning.
Journal of experimental psychology. General, 2016

Social fear learning offers an efficient way to transmit information about potential threats; little is known, however, about the learning processes that counteract the social transmission of fear. In three separate experiments, we found that safety information transmitted from another individual (i.e., demonstrator) during preexposure prevented subsequent observational fear learning (Experiments 1-3), and this effect was maintained in a new context involving direct threat confrontation (Experiment 3). This protection from observational fear learning was specific to conditions in which information about both safety and danger was transmitted from the same demonstrator (Experiments 2-3) and was unaffected by increasing the number of the safety demonstrators (Experiment 3). Collectively, these findings demonstrate that observational preexposure can limit social transmission of fear. Future research is needed to better understand the conditions under which such effects generalize across individual demonstrators. (PsycINFO Database Record
Frequency-dependent attentional modulation of local field potential signals in macaque area MT.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2010

Visual attention modulates neuronal responses in primate motion processing area MT. However, whether it modulates the strength local field potentials (LFP-power) within this area remains unexplored, as well as how this modulation relates to the one of the neurons' response. We investigated these issues by simultaneously recording LFPs and neuronal responses evoked by moving random dot patterns of varying direction and contrast in area MT of two male monkeys (Macaca mulatta) during different behavioral conditions. We found that: (1) LFP-power in the gamma (30-120 Hz), but not in the delta (2-4 Hz), (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), beta(1) (12-20 Hz), and beta(2) (20-30 Hz) frequency bands, was tuned for motion direction and contrast, similarly to the neurons' response, (2) shifting attention into a neuron's receptive field (RF) decreased LFP-power in the bands below 30 Hz (except the band), whereas shifting attention to a stimulus motion direction outside the RF had no effect in these bands, (3) LFP-power in the gamma band, however, exhibited both spatial- and motion direction-dependent attentional modulation (increase or decrease), which was highly correlated with the modulation of the neurons' response. These results demonstrate that in area MT, shifting attention into the RFs of neurons in the vicinity of the recording electrode, or to the direction of a moving stimulus located far away from these RFs, distinctively modulates LFP-power in the various frequency bands. They further suggest differences in the neural mechanisms underlying these types of attentional modulation of visual processing.
NMR Metabolomics for Stem Cell type discrimination.
Scientific reports, 2017

Cell metabolism is a key determinant factor for the pluripotency and fate commitment of Stem Cells (SCs) during development, ageing, pathological onset and progression. We derived and cultured selected subpopulations of rodent fetal, postnatal, adult Neural SCs (NSCs) and postnatal glial progenitors, Olfactory Ensheathing Cells (OECs), respectively from the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the olfactory bulb (OB). Cell lysates were analyzed by proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (
A physical constraint on perceptual learning: tactile spatial acuity improves with training to a limit set by finger size.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013

In touch as in vision, perceptual acuity improves with training to an extent that differs greatly across people; even individuals with similar initial acuity may undergo markedly different improvement with training. What accounts for this variability in perceptual learning? We hypothesized that a simple physical characteristic, fingertip surface area, might constrain tactile learning, because previous research suggests that larger fingers have more widely spaced mechanoreceptors. To test our hypothesis, we trained 10 human participants intensively on a tactile spatial acuity task. During 4 d, participants completed 1900 training trials (38 50-trial blocks) in which they discriminated the orientation of square-wave gratings pressed onto the stationary index or ring finger, with auditory feedback provided to signal correct and incorrect responses. We progressively increased task difficulty by shifting to thinner groove widths whenever participants achieved ≥90% correct block performance. We took optical scans to measure surface area from the distal interphalangeal crease to the tip of the finger. Participants' acuity improved markedly on the trained finger and to a lesser extent on the untrained finger. Crucially, we found that participants' tactile spatial acuity improved toward a theoretical optimum set by their finger size; participants with worse initial performance relative to their finger size improved more with training, and posttraining performance was better correlated than pretraining performance with finger size. These results strongly support the hypothesis that tactile perceptual learning is limited by finger size. We suspect that analogous physical constraints on perceptual learning will be found in other sensory modalities.
Randomized controlled trial of early rehabilitation after intracerebral hemorrhage stroke: difference in outcomes within 6 months of stroke.
Stroke, 2014

Mechanisms, acute management, and outcomes for patients who experience intracerebral hemorrhage may differ from patients with ischemic stroke. Studies of very early rehabilitation have been mainly undertaken in patients with ischemic stroke, and it is unknown if benefits apply to those with intracerebral hemorrhage. We hypothesized that early rehabilitation, within 48 hours of stroke, would improve survival and functional outcomes in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.
Insulin-like growth factor-1 stimulation of hypothalamic KiSS-1 gene expression is mediated by Akt: effect of alcohol.
Neuroscience, 2010

Kisspeptin, as well as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), act centrally to stimulate luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) secretion at puberty. IGF-1 can induce KiSS-1 gene expression as an early pubertal event; however, the signaling pathway mediating this effect is not known. Since alcohol (ALC) blocks IGF-1 induced LHRH release acutely, we assessed whether this drug could affect IGF-1 stimulated prepubertal KiSS-1 gene expression following a binge type of exposure. Immature female rats were administered either ALC (3 g/kg) or water via gastric gavage at 07.30 h. At 09.00 h the ALC and control groups were subdivided where half received either saline or IGF-1 (200 ng) into the third ventricle. A second dose of ALC (1.5, 2 and 3 g/kg) or water was administered at 11.30 h. These regimens produced moderate blood alcohol concentrations of 77, 89 and 117 mg/dl, respectively, over the time course of the experiment. Rats were sacrificed 6 h after the IGF-1 injection and tissues containing the anteroventral periventricular (AVPV) and arcuate (ARC) nuclei were collected. IGF-1 stimulated (P<0.01) KiSS-1 gene expression in the AVPV nucleus at 6 h, but did not affect expression of the kisspeptin receptor, GPR54. While ALC did not alter basal expression of either gene, its dose dependently blocked IGF-1-induced KiSS-1 gene expression in the AVPV nucleus. No changes were observed in the ARC nucleus. Assessment of IGF-1 signaling indicated that the acute administration of IGF-1, ALC, or both did not alter the basal expression of IGF-1 receptor protein. However, IGF-1 stimulated (P<0.05) phosphorylated Akt protein over basal levels, an action blocked by ALC. Our results indicate that the IGF-1 induction of KiSS-1 gene expression is mediated by Akt activation, and that ALC alters this important prepubertal action of IGF-1.
An evaluation of post-registration neuroscience focused education and neuroscience nurses' perceived educational needs.
Nurse education today, 2015

People with complex neurological conditions require co-ordinated care provided by nurses educated in meeting service needs, understanding the pathophysiological processes of disease and the preparation to care for those with complex needs. However, evidence suggests that neuroscience specific education provision is largely unregulated and set outside of a cohesive professional development context. Furthermore, it largely seems to only address the induction phase into working within neurosciences.
Personnel time required for supported employment and education services for individuals in a recent-onset psychosis treatment program.
Early intervention in psychiatry, 2021

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) improves vocational outcomes in first-episode psychosis patients, but policy makers need information on costs (and personnel time required) to conduct effective IPS.
Mitochondrial dysfunction in the hippocampus of rats caused by chronic oxidative stress.
Neuroscience, 2013

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of chronic oxidative stress on mitochondrial function and its relationship to progressive neurodegeneration in the hippocampus of rats chronically exposed to ozone. Animals were exposed to 0.25 ppm ozone for 7, 15, 30, or 60 days. Each group was tested for (1) protein oxidation and, manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity using spectrophotometric techniques, (2) oxygen consumption, (3) cytochrome c, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ Co-activator 1α (PGC-1α), B-cell lymphoma (Bcl-2), and Bax expression using Western blotting, (4) histology using hematoxylin and eosin staining, and (5) mitochondrial structure using electron microscopy. Our results showed increased levels of carbonyl protein and Mn-SOD activity after 30 days of ozone exposure and decreased GPx activity. The SDH activity decreased from 7 to 60 days of exposure. The oxygen consumption decreased at 60 days. Western blotting showed an increase in cytochrome c at 60 days of ozone exposure and an increase in iNOS up to 60 days of ozone exposure. The expression of PGC-1α was decreased after 15, 30, and 60 days compared to the earlier time Bcl-2 was increased at 60 days compared to earlier time points, and Bax was increased after 30 and 60 days of exposure compared to earlier time points. We observed cellular damage, and mitochondrial swelling with a loss of mitochondrial cristae after 60 days of exposure. These changes suggest that low doses of ozone caused mitochondrial abnormalities that may lead to cell damage.
Polyethylene glycol treated allografts not tissue matched nor immunosuppressed rapidly repair sciatic nerve gaps, maintain neuromuscular functions, and restore voluntary behaviors in female rats.
Journal of neuroscience research, 2018

Many publications report that ablations of segments of peripheral nerves produce the following unfortunate results: (1) Immediate loss of sensory signaling and motor control; (2) rapid Wallerian degeneration of severed distal axons within days; (3) muscle atrophy within weeks; (4) poor behavioral (functional) recovery after many months, if ever, by slowly-regenerating (∼1mm/d) axon outgrowths from surviving proximal nerve stumps; and (5) Nerve allografts to repair gap injuries are rejected, often even if tissue matched and immunosuppressed. In contrast, using a female rat sciatic nerve model system, we report that neurorrhaphy of allografts plus a well-specified-sequence of solutions (one containing polyethylene glycol: PEG) successfully addresses each of these problems by: (a) Reestablishing axonal continuity/signaling within minutes by nonspecific ally PEG-fusing (connecting) severed motor and sensory axons across each anastomosis; (b) preventing Wallerian degeneration by maintaining many distal segments of inappropriately-reconnected, PEG-fused axons that continuously activate nerve-muscle junctions; (c) maintaining innervation of muscle fibers that undergo much less atrophy than otherwise-denervated muscle fibers; (d) inducing remarkable behavioral recovery to near-unoperated levels within days to weeks, almost certainly by CNS and PNS plasticities well-beyond what most neuroscientists currently imagine; and (e) preventing rejection of PEG-fused donor nerve allografts with no tissue matching or immunosuppression. Similar behavioral results are produced by PEG-fused autografts. All results for Negative Control allografts agree with current neuroscience data 1-5 given above. Hence, PEG-fusion of allografts for repair of ablated peripheral nerve segments expand on previous observations in single-cut injuries, provoke reconsideration of some current neuroscience dogma, and further extend the potential of PEG-fusion in clinical practice.
How do antidepressants influence the BOLD signal in the developing brain?
Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2017

Depression is a highly prevalent life-threatening disorder, with its first onset commonly occurring during adolescence. Adolescent depression is increasingly being treated with antidepressants, such as fluoxetine. The use of medication during this sensitive period of physiological and cognitive brain development produces neurobiological changes, some of which may outlast the course of treatment. In this review, we look at how antidepressant treatment in adolescence is likely to alter neurovascular coupling and brain energy use and how these changes, in turn, affect our ability to identify neuronal activity changes between participant groups. BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), the method most commonly used to record brain activity in humans, is an indirect measure of neuronal activity. This means that between-group comparisons - adolescent versus adult, depressed versus healthy, medicated versus non-medicated - rely upon a stable relationship existing between neuronal activity and the BOLD response across these groups. We use data from animal studies to detail the ways in which fluoxetine may alter this relationship, and explore how these alterations may influence the interpretation of BOLD signal differences between groups that have been treated with fluoxetine and those that have not.
Early life seizures: evidence for chronic deficits linked to autism and intellectual disability across species and models.
Experimental neurology, 2015

Recent work in Exp Neurol by Lugo et al. (2014b) demonstrated chronic alterations in sociability, learning and memory following multiple early life seizures (ELS) in a mouse model. This work adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the detrimental nature of ELS on the developing brain to contribute to aspects of an autistic phenotype with intellectual disability. Review of the face validity of behavioral testing and the construct validity of the models used informs the predictive ability and thus the utility of these models to translate underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms into future human studies.
Reinvigorating electrochemistry education.
iScience, 2021

Electrochemistry is an established discipline with modern frontiers spanning energy conversion and storage, neuroscience, and organic synthesis. In spite of the expanding opportunities for academic and industrial electrochemists, particularly in the growing energy-storage sector, rigorous training of electrochemists is generally lacking at academic institutions in the United States. In this perspective, we highlight the core concepts of electrochemistry and discuss ways in which it has been historically taught. We identify challenges faced when teaching inherently interdisciplinary electrochemical concepts and discuss how technology provides new tools for teaching, such as inexpensive electronics and open-source software, to help address these challenges. Finally, we outline example programs and discuss how new tools and approaches can be brought together to prepare scientists and engineers for careers in electrochemical technology where they can accelerate the research, development, and deployment of the clean energy technology essential to combat climate change in the coming decades.
Proteases Shape the 
Proteomes, 2018

The recent identification of catalytically active peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a unicellular green alga, suggested the presence of a PAM-like gene and peptidergic signaling in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). We identified prototypical neuropeptide precursors and essential peptide processing enzymes (subtilisin-like prohormone convertases and carboxypeptidase B-like enzymes) in the
A retinal code for motion along the gravitational and body axes.
Nature, 2017

Self-motion triggers complementary visual and vestibular reflexes supporting image-stabilization and balance. Translation through space produces one global pattern of retinal image motion (optic flow), rotation another. We examined the direction preferences of direction-sensitive ganglion cells (DSGCs) in flattened mouse retinas in vitro. Here we show that for each subtype of DSGC, direction preference varies topographically so as to align with specific translatory optic flow fields, creating a neural ensemble tuned for a specific direction of motion through space. Four cardinal translatory directions are represented, aligned with two axes of high adaptive relevance: the body and gravitational axes. One subtype maximizes its output when the mouse advances, others when it retreats, rises or falls. Two classes of DSGCs, namely, ON-DSGCs and ON-OFF-DSGCs, share the same spatial geometry but weight the four channels differently. Each subtype ensemble is also tuned for rotation. The relative activation of DSGC channels uniquely encodes every translation and rotation. Although retinal and vestibular systems both encode translatory and rotatory self-motion, their coordinate systems differ.