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International Journal of Molecular... Nov 2020Methamphetamine (MA) use disorder is a chronic neuropsychiatric disease characterized by recurrent binge episodes, intervals of abstinence, and relapses to MA use....
Methamphetamine (MA) use disorder is a chronic neuropsychiatric disease characterized by recurrent binge episodes, intervals of abstinence, and relapses to MA use. Therefore, identification of the key genes and pathways involved is important for improving the diagnosis and treatment of this disorder. In this study, high-throughput RNA sequencing was performed to find the key genes and examine the comparability of gene expression between whisker follicles and the striatum of rats following MA self-administration. A total of 253 and 87 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in whisker follicles and the striatum, respectively. Multivariate and network analyses were performed on these DEGs to find hub genes and key pathways within the constructed network. A total of 129 and 49 genes were finally selected from the DEG sets of whisker follicles and of the striatum. Statistically significant DEGs were found to belong to the classes of genes involved in nicotine addiction, cocaine addiction, and amphetamine addiction in the striatum as well as in Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Alzheimer's diseases in whisker follicles. Of note, several genes and pathways including retrograde endocannabinoid signaling and the synaptic vesicle cycle pathway were common between the two tissues. Therefore, this study provides the first data on gene expression levels in whisker follicles and in the striatum in relation to MA reward and thereby may accelerate the research on the whisker follicle as an alternative source of biomarkers for the diagnosis of MA use disorder.
Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Amphetamine-Related Disorders; Animals; Corpus Striatum; Disease Models, Animal; Gene Expression Regulation; Hair Follicle; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Humans; Huntington Disease; Methamphetamine; Neostriatum; Parkinson Disease; Rats; Self Administration; Signal Transduction; Transcriptome; Vibrissae
PubMed: 33238484
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21228856 -
Frontiers in Neurology 2022Facial nerve damage can lead to partial or total facial nerve palsy. Photobiomodulation has been reported to improve and accelerate functional recovery following...
Facial nerve damage can lead to partial or total facial nerve palsy. Photobiomodulation has been reported to improve and accelerate functional recovery following peripheral nerve lesion, depending on the type of lesion and the light exposure parameters used. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of infrared exposure on functional and axonal regeneration after section-suture of the distal branches of the facial nerve: the buccal and marginal mandibular branches and the distal pes. The animals underwent surgery and were irradiated with infrared light at 850 nm twice daily from day 1 to day 16. The recovery of facial function was then studied at both the behavioral and morphological levels. Behavioral analyses were performed by videoscoring with a high-speed camera and using various devices to assess the recovery of whisker movement on the lesioned side from day 1 to day 30. We also assessed nasal deviation toward the intact side and the ability to close the ipsilateral eyelid completely from day 1 to day 38 and from day 1 to day 50, respectively. For morphological analyses, we assessed the re-establishment of facial motoneuron labeling with Fluorogold®, an immunofluorescent retrograde marker of axonal transport injected into the vibrissae, on D10, D14 and D30. We found that whisker movements recovery was significantly faster in treated than in control mice. A complete disappearance of nasal deviation was observed at 2 weeks in infrared-treated lesioned mice and at 5 weeks in controls. Complete eyelid closure was observed 3 weeks after surgery in treated animals and 6 weeks after surgery in controls. Finally, normal fluorogold labeling of the facial nuclei complex was restored 30 days after surgery in the treated animals, but no such restoration was ever observed in control animals. In conclusion, our data show that IR treatment at a distal site has a significant positive effect on facial nerve recovery. These findings pave the way for the clinical use of infrared photobiomodulation in patients with nerve lesions.
PubMed: 35280271
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.827218 -
Genes, Brain, and Behavior Nov 2022Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent form of dementia in elderly people. The triple transgenic (3xTg-AD) mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease is important in...
Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent form of dementia in elderly people. The triple transgenic (3xTg-AD) mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease is important in biomedical research as these mice develop both neuropathological and behavioural phenotypes. However, their behavioural phenotype is variable, with findings depending on the specific task, as well as the age and sex of the mice. Whisker movements show motor, sensory and cognitive deficits in mouse models of neurodegenerative disease. Therefore, we examined whisker movements in 3, 12.5 and 17-month-old female 3xTg-AD mice and their B6129S/F2 wildtype controls. Mice were filmed using a high-speed video camera (500 fps) in an open arena during a novel object exploration task. Genotype and age differences were found in mice exploring the arena prior to object contact. Prior to whisker contact, the 3-month-old 3xTg-AD mice had smaller whisker angles compared with the wildtype controls, suggesting an early motor phenotype in these mice. Pre-contact mean angular position at 3 months and whisking amplitude at 17 months of age differed between the 3xTg-AD and wildtype mice. During object contact 3xTg-AD mice did not reduce whisker spread as frequently as the wildtype mice at 12.5 and 17 months, which may suggest sensory or attentional deficits. We show that whisker movements are a powerful behavioural measurement tool for capturing behavioural deficits in mouse models that show complex phenotypes, such as the 3xTg-AD mouse model.
Topics: Mice; Female; Animals; Alzheimer Disease; Mice, Transgenic; Vibrissae; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Disease Models, Animal; Mice, Inbred C57BL
PubMed: 35733405
DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12813 -
Anatomical Record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) Mar 2022
From specialized skin to sensing whiskers to unique depth perception mechanisms to novel eyes and much, much more: The distinctive ways marine mammals interact with their world are explored in a Special Issue of the The Anatomical Record.
Topics: Animals; Cetacea; Depth Perception; Touch; Touch Perception; Vibrissae
PubMed: 35146950
DOI: 10.1002/ar.24866 -
Frontiers in Neural Circuits 2024For neural circuit construction in the brain, coarse neuronal connections are assembled prenatally following genetic programs, being reorganized postnatally by... (Review)
Review
For neural circuit construction in the brain, coarse neuronal connections are assembled prenatally following genetic programs, being reorganized postnatally by activity-dependent mechanisms to implement area-specific computational functions. Activity-dependent dendrite patterning is a critical component of neural circuit reorganization, whereby individual neurons rearrange and optimize their presynaptic partners. In the rodent primary somatosensory cortex (barrel cortex), driven by thalamocortical inputs, layer 4 (L4) excitatory neurons extensively remodel their basal dendrites at neonatal stages to ensure specific responses of barrels to the corresponding individual whiskers. This feature of barrel cortex L4 neurons makes them an excellent model, significantly contributing to unveiling the activity-dependent nature of dendrite patterning and circuit reorganization. In this review, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of the activity-dependent mechanisms underlying dendrite patterning. Our focus lays on the mechanisms revealed by time-lapse imaging, and the role of activity-dependent Golgi apparatus polarity regulation in dendrite patterning. We also discuss the type of neuronal activity that could contribute to dendrite patterning and hence connectivity.
Topics: Animals; Dendrites; Somatosensory Cortex; Vibrissae; Animals, Newborn
PubMed: 38827189
DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2024.1409993 -
Nature Communications Sep 2023Bio-mechanoreceptors capable of micro-motion sensing have inspired mechanics-guided designs of micro-motion sensors in various fields. However, it remains a major...
Bio-mechanoreceptors capable of micro-motion sensing have inspired mechanics-guided designs of micro-motion sensors in various fields. However, it remains a major challenge for mechanics-guided designs to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity and broadband sensing due to the nature of resonance effect. By mimicking rat vibrissae, here we report a metamaterial mechanoreceptor (MMR) comprised of piezoelectric resonators with distributed zero effective masses featuring a broad range of local resonances, leading to near-infinite sensitivity for micro-motion sensing within a broad bandwidth. We developed a mechanical frequency-division multiplexing mechanism for MMR, in which the measured micro-motion signal is mechanically modulated in non-overlapping frequency bands and reconstructed by a computational multi-channel demodulation approach. The maximum sensitivity of MMR is improved by two orders of magnitude compared to conventional mechanics-guided mechanoreceptors, and its bandwidth with high sensitivity is extendable towards both low-frequency and high-frequency ranges in 0-12 kHz through tuning the local resonance of each individual sensing cell. The MMR is a promising candidate for highly sensitive and broadband micro-motion sensing that was previously inaccessible for mechanics-guided mechanoreceptors, opening pathways towards spatio-temporal sensing, remote-vibration monitoring and smart-driving assistance.
PubMed: 37673899
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41222-9 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Sep 2020Injury induces synaptic, circuit, and systems reorganization. After unilateral amputation or stroke, this functional loss disrupts the interhemispheric interaction...
Injury induces synaptic, circuit, and systems reorganization. After unilateral amputation or stroke, this functional loss disrupts the interhemispheric interaction between intact and deprived somatomotor cortices to recruit deprived cortex in response to intact limb stimulation. This recruitment has been implicated in enhanced intact sensory function. In other patients, maladaptive consequences such as phantom limb pain can occur. We used unilateral whisker denervation in male and female mice to detect circuitry alterations underlying interhemispheric cortical reorganization. Enhanced synaptic strength from the intact cortex via the corpus callosum (CC) onto deep neurons in deprived primary somatosensory barrel cortex (S1BC) has previously been detected. It was hypothesized that specificity in this plasticity may depend on to which area these neurons projected. Increased connectivity to somatomotor areas such as contralateral S1BC, primary motor cortex (M1) and secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) may underlie beneficial adaptations, while increased connectivity to pain areas like anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) might underlie maladaptive pain phenotypes. Neurons from the deprived S1BC that project to intact S1BC were hyperexcitable, had stronger responses and reduced inhibitory input to CC stimulation. M1-projecting neurons also showed increases in excitability and CC input strength that was offset with enhanced inhibition. S2 and ACC-projecting neurons showed no changes in excitability or CC input. These results demonstrate that subgroups of output neurons undergo dramatic and specific plasticity after peripheral injury. The changes in S1BC-projecting neurons likely underlie enhanced reciprocal connectivity of S1BC after unilateral deprivation consistent with the model that interhemispheric takeover supports intact whisker processing. Amputation, peripheral injury, and stroke patients experience widespread alterations in neural activity after sensory loss. A hallmark of this reorganization is the recruitment of deprived cortical space which likely aids processing and thus enhances performance on intact sensory systems. Conversely, this recruitment of deprived cortical space has been hypothesized to underlie phenotypes like phantom limb pain and hinder recovery. A mouse model of unilateral denervation detected remarkable specificity in alterations in the somatomotor circuit. These changes underlie increased reciprocal connectivity between intact and deprived cortical hemispheres. This increased connectivity may help explain the enhanced intact sensory processing detected in humans.
Topics: Afferent Pathways; Animals; Corpus Callosum; Female; Functional Laterality; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Somatosensory Cortex; Vibrissae
PubMed: 32913109
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1056-20.2020 -
Brain and Behavior May 2023Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that can affect sensory-motor behaviors in the valproic acid (Val) rodent model of autism. Although whisker...
INTRODUCTION
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that can affect sensory-motor behaviors in the valproic acid (Val) rodent model of autism. Although whisker deprivation (WD) induces plastic changes in the cortical neurons, tactile stimulation (TS) during the neonatal period may reverse it. Here, we investigate the interaction effects of TS and WD on behavioral and histologic features of barrel cortex neurons in juvenile Val-treated.
METHODS
Control (CTL, CTL-TS, CTL-WD, and CTL-TS-WD groups) and Val-treated (Val, Val-TS, Val-WD, and Val-TS-WD groups) rats of both sexes were subjected to behavioral tests of social interaction, and novel texture recognition, and Nissl staining. The TS groups were exposed to sensory stimulation for 15 min, three times/day; moreover, all whiskers in the WD groups were trimmed every other day from postnatal days 1 to 21.
RESULTS
Both prenatal valproic acid administration and postnatal WD decreased the rats' performance percentage of the Val and CTL-WD groups of both sexes compared with the CTL groups in the social interaction and texture discrimination tests. Following TS, the performance of the Val-TS-WD group increased significantly compared to the Val group (p < .05), whereas the performance of the CTL-TS-WD group rescued to the CTL group. Nissl staining results also revealed the neuron degeneration percentage in the barrel field area of the Val and CTL-WD groups was increased significantly (p < .05) compared with the CTL group. In this regard, TS decreased the neuron degeneration percentage of the Val-TS-WD and the CTL-TS-WD groups, compared with the CTL group, significantly (p < .05).
CONCLUSION
TS in juvenile male and female rats can act as a modulator and compensate for the behavioral and histological consequences of WD and prenatal valproic acid exposure.
Topics: Pregnancy; Rats; Animals; Male; Female; Autistic Disorder; Social Interaction; Vibrissae; Valproic Acid; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Somatosensory Cortex
PubMed: 37062939
DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2993 -
Life (Basel, Switzerland) May 2023Exposure to space galactic cosmic radiation is a principal consideration for deep space missions. While the effects of space irradiation on the nervous system are not...
Exposure to space galactic cosmic radiation is a principal consideration for deep space missions. While the effects of space irradiation on the nervous system are not fully known, studies in animal models have shown that exposure to ionizing radiation can cause neuronal damage and lead to downstream cognitive and behavioral deficits. Cognitive health implications put humans and missions at risk, and with the upcoming Artemis missions in which female crew will play a major role, advance critical analysis of the neurological and performance responses of male and female rodents to space radiation is vital. Here, we tested the hypothesis that simulated Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCRSim) exposure disrupts species-typical behavior in mice, including burrowing, rearing, grooming, and nest-building that depend upon hippocampal and medial prefrontal cortex circuitry. Behavior comprises a remarkably well-integrated representation of the biology of the whole animal that informs overall neural and physiological status, revealing functional impairment. We conducted a systematic dose-response analysis of mature (6-month-old) male and female mice exposed to either 5, 15, or 50 cGy 5-ion GCRSim (H, Si, He, O, Fe) at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL). Behavioral performance was evaluated at 72 h (acute) and 91-days (delayed) postradiation exposure. Specifically, species-typical behavior patterns comprising burrowing, rearing, and grooming as well as nest building were analyzed. A Neuroscore test battery (spontaneous activity, proprioception, vibrissae touch, limb symmetry, lateral turning, forelimb outstretching, and climbing) was performed at the acute timepoint to investigate early sensorimotor deficits postirradiation exposure. Nest construction, a measure of neurological and organizational function in rodents, was evaluated using a five-stage Likert scale 'Deacon' score that ranged from 1 (a low score where the Nestlet is untouched) to 5 (a high score where the Nestlet is completely shredded and shaped into a nest). Differential acute responses were observed in females relative to males with respect to species-typical behavior following 15 cGy exposure while delayed responses were observed in female grooming following 50 cGy exposure. Significant sex differences were observed at both timepoints in nest building. No deficits in sensorimotor behavior were observed via the Neuroscore. This study revealed subtle, sexually dimorphic GCRSim exposure effects on mouse behavior. Our analysis provides a clearer understanding of GCR dose effects on species typical, sensorimotor and organizational behaviors at acute and delayed timeframes postirradiation, thereby setting the stage for the identification of underlying cellular and molecular events.
PubMed: 37240858
DOI: 10.3390/life13051214 -
Anatomical Record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) Mar 2022In the order of cetacean, the ability to detect bioelectric fields has, up to now, only been demonstrated in the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) and is suggested to...
In the order of cetacean, the ability to detect bioelectric fields has, up to now, only been demonstrated in the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) and is suggested to facilitate benthic feeding. As this foraging strategy has also been reported for bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), we studied electroreception in this species by combining an anatomical analysis of "vibrissal crypts" as potential electroreceptors from neonate and adult animals with a behavioral experiment. In the latter, four bottlenose dolphins were trained on a go/no-go paradigm with acoustic stimuli and afterward tested for stimulus generalization within and across modalities using acoustic, optical, mechanical, and electric stimuli. While neonates still possess almost complete vibrissal follicles including a hair shaft, hair papilla, and cavernous sinus, adult bottlenose dolphins lack these features. Thus, their "vibrissal crypts" show a similar postnatal morphological transformation from a mechanoreceptor to an electroreceptor as in Sotalia. However, innervation density was high and almost equal in both, neonate as well as adult animals. In the stimulus generalization tests the dolphins transferred the go/no-go response within and across modalities. Although all dolphins responded spontaneously to the first presentation of a weak electric field, only three of them showed perfect transfer in this modality by responding continuously to electric field amplitudes of 1.5 mV cm , successively reduced to 0.5 mV cm . Electroreception can explain short-range prey detection in crater-feeding bottlenose dolphins. The fact that this is the second odontocete species with experimental evidence for electroreception suggests that it might be widespread in this marine mammal group.
Topics: Animals; Bottle-Nosed Dolphin; Vibrissae
PubMed: 34558802
DOI: 10.1002/ar.24773