Technical advances in neuroscience

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin R. Turner ◽  
Matthew C. Kiernan ◽  
Kevin Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Squid Axon ◽  
Giant Squid ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Technical Advances ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Molecular Framework

This chapter highlights key technological advances in neuroimaging, the understanding of impulse transmission, and the molecular biology of the nervous system that have underpinned our modern understanding of the brain, mind, and nervous system. Neuroimaging spans the sub-cellular and systems levels of neuroscience, beginning with electron microscopy and then, 50 years later, magnetic resonance imaging and increasingly sophisticated mathematical modelling of brain function. These developments have been interleaved with the improved understanding of neurotransmission, starting with the seminal observations made from giant squid axon recordings, which were translated into clinically useable tools through the application of electric current, and later with magnetic stimulation. It is during the last 50 years that a molecular framework for these concepts emerged, with the cloning of genes that began in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, paving the way for the wider human genome project.

Gut–brain axis biochemical signalling from the gastrointestinal tract to the central nervous system: gut dysbiosis and altered brain function

2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (1114) ◽  
pp. 446-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Borros M Arneth
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Immune System Activation ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
Bidirectional Communication ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Intestinal Functions ◽  
The Brain

BackgroundThe gut–brain axis facilitates a critical bidirectional link and communication between the brain and the gut. Recent studies have highlighted the significance of interactions in the gut–brain axis, with a particular focus on intestinal functions, the nervous system and the brain. Furthermore, researchers have examined the effects of the gut microbiome on mental health and psychiatric well-being.The present study reviewed published evidence to explore the concept of the gut–brain axis.AimsThis systematic review investigated the relationship between human brain function and the gut–brain axis.MethodsTo achieve these objectives, peer-reviewed articles on the gut–brain axis were identified in various electronic databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, CIHAHL, Web of Science and PsycINFO.ResultsData obtained from previous studies showed that the gut–brain axis links various peripheral intestinal functions to brain centres through a broad range of processes and pathways, such as endocrine signalling and immune system activation. Researchers have found that the vagus nerve drives bidirectional communication between the various systems in the gut–brain axis. In humans, the signals are transmitted from the liminal environment to the central nervous system.ConclusionsThe communication that occurs in the gut–brain axis can alter brain function and trigger various psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia and depression. Thus, elucidation of the gut–brain axis is critical for the management of certain psychiatric and mental disorders.

Introductory remarks

1980 ◽  
Vol 210 (1178) ◽  
pp. 3-4 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Specific Receptor ◽  
Morphine Group ◽  
Neural Origin ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Pressor Activity ◽  
Short Time ◽  
The Brain

It was in 1895 that Oliver & Schafer discovered the pressor activity of glycerol extracts of the pituitary. By 1928 it was clear that this activity, called vasopressin, was due to a peptide derived from the neural lobes of the pituitary and, in the early fifties, its structure and that of its ‘twin’, oxytocin, were determined by du Vigneaud and his colleagues, who were also able to prepare them synthetically. For a long time these two peptides, which were clearly of neural origin, were thought to have only peripheral physiological actions. However, evidence has gradually accumulated that these as well as some hormonal peptides not of neural origin, such as angiotensin and corticotrophin, could have actions on the central nervous system. The discovery of the enkephalins by Hughes & Kosterlitz in 1975 revealed the presence of an oligopeptide in the forebrain that could influence brain function and for which a specific receptor could be delineated which provided an immediate connection with the well documented non-peptide analgesic drugs of the morphine group. Within a short time discrete localization both of enkaphalin stores and of enkephalin receptors within the nervous system was demonstrated. In the ensuing period a growing number of peptides have either been isolated from the brain or have been inferred, from immunological evidence, to be present. Some of these peptides, such as insulin and gastrin, have well established peripheral biological actions, and their presence in the brain has engendered considerable surprise.

scholarly journals A Budding Relationship: Bacterial Extracellular Vesicles in the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8899
Author(s):  
Sandor Haas-Neill ◽  
Paul Forsythe
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Extracellular Vesicles ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Endocrine System ◽  
Membrane Vesicles ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Bacterial Membrane ◽  
Gut Microbe ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Brain

The discovery of the microbiota-gut-brain axis has revolutionized our understanding of systemic influences on brain function and may lead to novel therapeutic approaches to neurodevelopmental and mood disorders. A parallel revolution has occurred in the field of intercellular communication, with the realization that endosomes, and other extracellular vesicles, rival the endocrine system as regulators of distant tissues. These two paradigms shifting developments come together in recent observations that bacterial membrane vesicles contribute to inter-kingdom signaling and may be an integral component of gut microbe communication with the brain. In this short review we address the current understanding of the biogenesis of bacterial membrane vesicles and the roles they play in the survival of microbes and in intra and inter-kingdom communication. We identify recent observations indicating that bacterial membrane vesicles, particularly those derived from probiotic organisms, regulate brain function. We discuss mechanisms by which bacterial membrane vesicles may influence the brain including interaction with the peripheral nervous system, and modulation of immune activity. We also review evidence suggesting that, unlike the parent organism, gut bacteria derived membrane vesicles are able to deliver cargo, including neurotransmitters, directly to the central nervous system and may thus constitute key components of the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

Can irisin be a linker between physical activity and brain function?

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Weizhen Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Neural Differentiation ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Differentiation And Proliferation ◽  
Neuronal Functions ◽  
The Brain

AbstractIrisin was initially discovered as a novel hormone-like myokine released from skeletal muscle during exercise to improve obesity and glucose dysfunction by stimulating the browning of white adipose tissue. Emerging evidence have indicated that irisin also affects brain function. FNDC5 mRNA and FNDC5/irisin immunoreactivity are present in various regions of the brain. Central irisin is involved in the regulation of neural differentiation and proliferation, neurobehavior, energy expenditure and cardiac function. Elevation of peripheral irisin level stimulates hippocampal genes related to neuroprotection, learning and memory. In this brief review, we summarize the current understanding on neuronal functions of irisin. In addition, we discuss the pros and cons for this molecule as a potential messenger mediating the crosstalk between skeletal muscle and central nervous system during exercise.

scholarly journals Congenital and acquired mitochondrial disorders of the central nervous system

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 50-54
Author(s):  
V. V. Nikitina ◽  
A. N. Pravdina
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Dna Typing ◽  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
Mitochondrial Diseases ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Aged Patients ◽  
Demyelinating Disorders ◽  
The Brain

Clinical presentations of disorders of the nervous system manifest in young and middle-aged patients with congenital and acquired mitochondrial dysfunctions and cognitive disorders manifest in patients with mitochondrial diseases more often. Nowadays the effective methods of initial diagnosing of these conditions are neurological and neuropsychological examination of patients, using of biochemical markers of mitochondrial diseases: the indices of lactate, total homocysteine in plasma and liquor. Neuro-visual study (Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, MR spectroscopy, tractography, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, mitochondrial DNA typing) is actually used for the differential diagnosing of mitochondrial diseases with other disorders that are accompanied by demyelinating disorders.

scholarly journals A studyforrest extension, MEG recordings while watching the audio-visual movie "Forrest Gump"

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingyu Liu ◽  
Yuxuan Dai ◽  
Hailun Xie ◽  
Zonglei Zhen
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
The Brain ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Naturalistic stimuli, such as movies, are being increasingly used to map brain function because of their high ecological validity. The pioneering studyforrest and other naturalistic neuroimaging projects have provided free access to multiple movie-watching functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets to prompt the community for naturalistic experimental paradigms. However, sluggish blood-oxygenation-level-dependent fMRI signals are incapable of resolving neuronal activity with the temporal resolution at which it unfolds. Instead, magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures changes in the magnetic field produced by neuronal activity and is able to capture rich dynamics of the brain at the millisecond level while watching naturalistic movies. Herein, we present the first public prolonged MEG dataset collected from 11 participants while watching the 2 h long audio-visual movie "Forrest Gump". Minimally preprocessed data was also provided to facilitate the use. As a studyforrest extension, we envision that this dataset, together with fMRI data from the studyforrest project, will serve as a foundation for exploring the neural dynamics of various cognitive functions in real-world contexts.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of the Natural Observation of an Emotionally Loaded Video

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanni Nanni ◽  
Joel Martínez-Soto ◽  
Leopoldo Gonzalez-Santos ◽  
Fernando A. Barrios
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Know How ◽  
Modeling Stress ◽  
Male Subjects ◽  
The Brain

AbstractStudies based on a paradigm of free or natural viewing have revealed characteristics that allow us to know how the brain processes stimuli within a natural environment. This method has been little used to study brain function. With a connectivity approach, we examine the processing of emotions using an exploratory method to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. This research describes our approach to modeling stress paradigms suitable for neuroimaging environments. We showed a short film (4.54 minutes) with high negative emotional valence and high arousal content to 24 healthy male subjects (36.42 years old; SD=12.14) during fMRI. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to identify networks based on spatial statistical independence. Through this analysis we identified the sensorimotor system and its influence on the dorsal attention and default-mode networks, which in turn have reciprocal activity and modulate networks described as emotional.

scholarly journals Image Features of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Evaluating Poor Emotion and Sleep Quality in Patients with Chronic Pain under Artificial Intelligence Algorithm

2022 ◽  
Vol 2022 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Shuqin Yang ◽  
Xiaoyan Bie ◽  
Yanmei Wang ◽  
Junnan Li ◽  
Yujing Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Observation Group ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
The Brain

The balanced iterative reducing and clustering using hierarchies (BIRCH) method was adopted to optimize the results of the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) to analyze the changes in the brain function of patients with chronic pain accompanied by poor emotion or abnormal sleep quality in this study, so as to provide data support for the prevention and treatment of clinical chronic pain with poor emotion or sleep quality. 159 patients with chronic pain who visited the hospital were selected as the research objects, and they were grouped according to the presence or absence of abnormalities in emotion and sleep. The patients without poor emotion and sleep quality were set as the control group (60 cases), and the patients with the above symptoms were defined in the observation group (90 cases). The brain function was detected by RS-fMRI technology based on the BIRCH algorithm. The results showed that the rand index (RI), adjustment of RI (ARI), and Fowlkes–Mallows index (FMI) results in the k-means, flow cytometry (FCM), and BIRCH algorithms were 0.82, 0.71, and 0.88, respectively. The scores of Hamilton Depression Scale (HAHD), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were 7.26 ± 3.95, 7.94 ± 3.15, and 8.03 ± 4.67 in the observation group and 4.03 ± 1.95, 5.13 ± 2.35, and 4.43 ± 2.07 in the control group; the higher proportion of RS-fMRI was with abnormal brain signal connections. A score of 7 or more meant that the number of brain abnormalities was more than 90% and that of less than 7 was less than 40%, showing a statistically obvious difference in contrast P < 0.05 . Therefore, the BIRCH clustering algorithm showed reliable value in the optimization of RS-fMRI images, and RS-fMRI showed high application value in evaluating the emotion and sleep quality of patients with chronic pain.

scholarly journals Hemosiderosis of Central Nervous System: a case report of a rare and underdiagnosed disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e270101119579
Author(s):  
Cássio Marques Perlin ◽  
Lanusa Alquino Colombo ◽  
Anderson Dillmann Groto ◽  
Bruno Gleizer da Silva Rigon
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Superficial Siderosis ◽  
Medical Clinic ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
System A ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

Superficial Siderosis (SS) of Central Nervous System is a rare disease characterized by the deposit of hemosiderin in the brain and spinal cord. Clinically, it is characterized by progressive sensorineural ataxia and deafness associated with injury of superior motor neuron. The diagnosis is made by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the encephalon and spinal cord. The objective of the study is to report the case of a patient with characteristic elements of the syndrome, accompanied in a private medical clinic.

scholarly journals A half century of γ-aminobutyric acid

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 239821281985824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor G Smart ◽  
F Anne Stephenson
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Molecular Cloning ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Drug Targets ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Receptor Subtypes ◽  
Acid Receptor ◽  
Neural Excitability ◽  
The Brain

γ-aminobutyric acid has become one of the most widely known neurotransmitter molecules in the brain over the last 50 years, recognised for its pivotal role in inhibiting neural excitability. It emerged from studies of crustacean muscle and neurons before its significance to the mammalian nervous system was appreciated. Now, after five decades of investigation, we know that most neurons are γ-aminobutyric-acid-sensitive, it is a cornerstone of neural physiology and dysfunction to γ-aminobutyric acid signalling is increasingly documented in a range of neurological diseases. In this review, we briefly chart the neurodevelopment of γ-aminobutyric acid and its two major receptor subtypes: the γ-aminobutyric acidA and γ-aminobutyric acidB receptors, starting from the humble invertebrate origins of being an ‘interesting molecule’ acting at a single γ-aminobutyric acid receptor type, to one of the brain’s most important neurochemical components and vital drug targets for major therapeutic classes of drugs. We document the period of molecular cloning and the explosive influence this had on the field of neuroscience and pharmacology up to the present day and the production of atomic γ-aminobutyric acidA and γ-aminobutyric acidB receptor structures. γ-Aminobutyric acid is no longer a humble molecule but the instigator of rich and powerful signalling processes that are absolutely vital for healthy brain function.

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