Animal models of damage, repair, and plasticity in the brain

2015 ◽  
pp. 129-134
Author(s):  
Andreas Luft
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
Variable Degree ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Damage Repair ◽  
The Individual ◽  
New Treatments ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Multidimensional Process

Recovery after a stroke is a multidimensional process depending on the individual deficit. Within each functional domain, spontaneous recovery occurs to a variable degree and can be improved by specific neurorehabilitative interventions. The knowledge about the neurophysiology of the processes that lead to recovery and render neurorehabilitative interventions effective is scarce. Such knowledge, however, would be necessary to find new treatments that can fully exploit the brain’s capacity for recovery. Animal models can be an experimental platform to investigate these mechanisms. But it has to be realized that they oversimplify the human condition. The complexity of motor, cognitive, social, emotional, and other factors contributing to recovery in humans cannot be modelled in animals. The opportunities and caveats of animal models are discussed.

Animal models of damage, repair, and plasticity in the brain

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-154
Author(s):  
Andreas R. Luft
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
Variable Degree ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Damage Repair ◽  
The Individual ◽  
New Treatments ◽  
The Brain

Recovery after a stroke is a multidimensional process depending on the individual deficit. Within each functional domain, spontaneous recovery occurs to a variable degree and can be improved by specific neurorehabilitative interventions. Basic knowledge about to the mechanisms of spontaneous and training-induced recovery is growing but translation to effective therapies has only been demonstrated in a few cases. Mechanistic knowledge is necessary to find new treatments that can fully exploit the brain’s capacity for recovery. Animal models can be an experimental platform to investigate these mechanisms. But it has to be realized that they oversimplify the human condition. The complexity of the interaction of motor, cognitive, social, emotional, and other factors contributing to recovery in humans cannot be modelled in animals. The opportunities and caveats of animal models are discussed.

scholarly journals Ocular Manifestations of Alzheimer’s Disease in Animal Models

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Parnell ◽  
Li Guo ◽  
Mohamed Abdi ◽  
M. Francesca Cordeiro
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Senile Plaques ◽  
Transgenic Animal ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Ocular Manifestations ◽  
Transgenic Animal Models ◽  
New Treatments ◽  
The Brain

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, and the pathological changes of senile plaques (SPs) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in AD brains are well described. Clinically, a diagnosis remains a postmortem one, hampering both accurate and early diagnosis as well as research into potential new treatments. Visual deficits have long been noted in AD patients, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that histopathological changes already noted in the brain also occur in an extension of the brain; the retina. Due to the optically transparent nature of the eye, it is possible to image the retina at a cellular level noninvasively and thus potentially allow an earlier diagnosis as well as a way of monitoring progression and treatment effects. Transgenic animal models expressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) presenilin (PS) and tau mutations have been used successfully to recapitulate the pathological findings of AD in the brain. This paper will cover the ocular abnormalities that have been detected in these transgenic AD animal models.

Fit Vs Faint: Assessing Work Causation in “Idiopathic Fall” Cases

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Lorne Direnfeld ◽  
David B. Torrey ◽  
Jim Black ◽  
LuAnn Haley ◽  
Christopher R. Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Loss Of Consciousness ◽  
Brain Electrical Activity ◽  
Medical Terminology ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Medical Causation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Current Science

Abstract When an individual falls due to a nonwork-related episode of dizziness, hits their head and sustains injury, do workers’ compensation laws consider such injuries to be compensable? Bearing in mind that each state makes its own laws, the answer depends on what caused the loss of consciousness, and the second asks specifically what happened in the fall that caused the injury? The first question speaks to medical causation, which applies scientific analysis to determine the cause of the problem. The second question addresses legal causation: Under what factual circumstances are injuries of this type potentially covered under the law? Much nuance attends this analysis. The authors discuss idiopathic falls, which in this context means “unique to the individual” as opposed to “of unknown cause,” which is the familiar medical terminology. The article presents three detailed case studies that describe falls that had their genesis in episodes of loss of consciousness, followed by analyses by lawyer or judge authors who address the issue of compensability, including three scenarios from Arizona, California, and Pennsylvania. A medical (scientific) analysis must be thorough and must determine the facts regarding the fall and what occurred: Was the fall due to a fit (eg, a seizure with loss of consciousness attributable to anormal brain electrical activity) or a faint (eg, loss of consciousness attributable to a decrease in blood flow to the brain? The evaluator should be able to fully explain the basis for the conclusions, including references to current science.

Animal models of alcohol use disorder and the brain: From casual drinking to dependence.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole A. Crowley ◽  
Nigel C. Dao ◽  
Sarah N. Magee ◽  
Alexandre J. Bourcier ◽  
Emily G. Lowery-Gionta
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorder ◽  
The Brain

scholarly journals Is There a Brain Microbiome?

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 263310552110187
Author(s):  
Christopher D Link
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Strong Motivation ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Brain

Numerous studies have identified microbial sequences or epitopes in pathological and non-pathological human brain samples. It has not been resolved if these observations are artifactual, or truly represent population of the brain by microbes. Given the tempting speculation that resident microbes could play a role in the many neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases that currently lack clear etiologies, there is a strong motivation to determine the “ground truth” of microbial existence in living brains. Here I argue that the evidence for the presence of microbes in diseased brains is quite strong, but a compelling demonstration of resident microbes in the healthy human brain remains to be done. Dedicated animal models studies may be required to determine if there is indeed a “brain microbiome.”

Individual Uniqueness in the Neonatal Functional Connectome

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiushi Wang ◽  
Yuehua Xu ◽  
Tengda Zhao ◽  
Zhilei Xu ◽  
Yong He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Identification ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Functional Connectome ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Identification Analysis ◽  
The Brain

Abstract The functional connectome is highly distinctive in adults and adolescents, underlying individual differences in cognition and behavior. However, it remains unknown whether the individual uniqueness of the functional connectome is present in neonates, who are far from mature. Here, we utilized the multiband resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 40 healthy neonates from the Developing Human Connectome Project and a split-half analysis approach to characterize the uniqueness of the functional connectome in the neonatal brain. Through functional connectome-based individual identification analysis, we found that all the neonates were correctly identified, with the most discriminative regions predominantly confined to the higher-order cortices (e.g., prefrontal and parietal regions). The connectivities with the highest contributions to individual uniqueness were primarily located between different functional systems, and the short- (0–30 mm) and middle-range (30–60 mm) connectivities were more distinctive than the long-range (>60 mm) connectivities. Interestingly, we found that functional data with a scanning length longer than 3.5 min were able to capture the individual uniqueness in the functional connectome. Our results highlight that individual uniqueness is present in the functional connectome of neonates and provide insights into the brain mechanisms underlying individual differences in cognition and behavior later in life.

scholarly journals Preclinical Testing of Radiopharmaceuticals for the Detection and Characterization of Osteomyelitis: Experiences from a Porcine Model

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4221
Author(s):  
Aage Kristian Olsen Alstrup ◽  
Svend Borup Jensen ◽  
Ole Lerberg Nielsen ◽  
Lars Jødal ◽  
Pia Afzelius
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Porcine Model ◽  
Animal Experiments ◽  
Radioactive Tracers ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Selection Of

The development of new and better radioactive tracers capable of detecting and characterizing osteomyelitis is an ongoing process, mainly because available tracers lack selectivity towards osteomyelitis. An integrated part of developing new tracers is the performance of in vivo tests using appropriate animal models. The available animal models for osteomyelitis are also far from ideal. Therefore, developing improved animal osteomyelitis models is as important as developing new radioactive tracers. We recently published a review on radioactive tracers. In this review, we only present and discuss osteomyelitis models. Three ethical aspects (3R) are essential when exposing experimental animals to infections. Thus, we should perform experiments in vitro rather than in vivo (Replacement), use as few animals as possible (Reduction), and impose as little pain on the animal as possible (Refinement). The gain for humans should by far exceed the disadvantages for the individual experimental animal. To this end, the translational value of animal experiments is crucial. We therefore need a robust and well-characterized animal model to evaluate new osteomyelitis tracers to be sure that unpredicted variation in the animal model does not lead to a misinterpretation of the tracer behavior. In this review, we focus on how the development of radioactive tracers relies heavily on the selection of a reliable animal model, and we base the discussions on our own experience with a porcine model.

scholarly journals Thymoquinone and Curcumin Defeat Aging-Associated Oxidative Alterations Induced by D-Galactose in Rats’ Brain and Heart

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 6839
Author(s):  
Ali H. El-Far ◽  
Yaser H. A. Elewa ◽  
Elsayeda-Zeinab A. Abdelfattah ◽  
Abdel-Wahab A. Alsenosy ◽  
Mustafa S. Atta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Calcium Binding ◽  
Caspase 3 ◽  
Combination Group ◽  
Preventive Effect ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Adapter Molecule ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Bcl2 Expression

D-galactose (D-gal) administration causes oxidative disorder and is widely utilized in aging animal models. Therefore, we subcutaneously injected D-gal at 200 mg/kg BW dose to assess the potential preventive effect of thymoquinone (TQ) and curcumin (Cur) against the oxidative alterations induced by D-gal. Other than the control, vehicle, and D-gal groups, the TQ and Cur treated groups were orally supplemented at 20 mg/kg BW of each alone or combined. TQ and Cur effectively suppressed the oxidative alterations induced by D-gal in brain and heart tissues. The TQ and Cur combination significantly decreased the elevated necrosis in the brain and heart by D-gal. It significantly reduced brain caspase 3, calbindin, and calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA1), heart caspase 3, and BCL2. Expression of mRNA of the brain and heart TP53, p21, Bax, and CASP-3 were significantly downregulated in the TQ and Cur combination group along with upregulation of BCL2 in comparison with the D-gal group. Data suggested that the TQ and Cur combination is a promising approach in aging prevention.

scholarly journals Animal Models in the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Phage Therapy for Infections Caused by Gram-Negative Bacteria from the ESKAPE Group and the Reliability of Its Use in Humans

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Martyna Cieślik ◽  
Natalia Bagińska ◽  
Andrzej Górski ◽  
Ewa Jończyk-Matysiak
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Phage Therapy ◽  
Animal Experiments ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Effectiveness Evaluation ◽  
Gram Negative Bacteria ◽  
Gram Negative ◽  
Enterobacter Species ◽  
The Individual

The authors emphasize how extremely important it is to highlight the role played by animal models in an attempt to determine possible phage interactions with the organism into which it was introduced as well as to determine the safety and effectiveness of phage therapy in vivo taking into account the individual conditions of a given organism and its physiology. Animal models in which phages are used make it possible, among other things, to evaluate the effective therapeutic dose and to choose the possible route of phage administration depending on the type of infection developed. These results cannot be applied in detail to the human body, but the knowledge gained from animal experiments is invaluable and very helpful. We would like to highlight how useful animal models may be for the possible effectiveness evaluation of phage therapy in the case of infections caused by gram-negative bacteria from the ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter species) group of pathogens. In this review, we focus specifically on the data from the last few years.

Recent advances in animal model experimentation in autism research

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 264-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mousumi Tania ◽  
Md. Asaduzzaman Khan ◽  
Kun Xia
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Behavioral Alterations ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Adult Mice ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Model Study ◽  
Disease Biology ◽  
Animal Model Study

ObjectiveAutism, a lifelong neuro-developmental disorder is a uniquely human condition. Animal models are not the perfect tools for the full understanding of human development and behavior, but they can be an important place to start. This review focused on the recent updates of animal model research in autism.MethodsWe have reviewed the publications over the last three decades, which are related to animal model study in autism.ResultsAnimal models are important because they allow researchers to study the underlying neurobiology in a way that is not possible in humans. Improving the availability of better animal models will help the field to increase the development of medicines that can relieve disabling symptoms. Results from the therapeutic approaches are encouraging remarkably, since some behavioral alterations could be reversed even when treatment was performed on adult mice. Finding an animal model system with similar behavioral tendencies as humans is thus vital for understanding the brain mechanisms, supporting social motivation and attention, and the manner in which these mechanisms break down in autism. The ongoing studies should therefore increase the understanding of the biological alterations associated with autism as well as the development of knowledge-based treatments therapy for those struggling with autism.ConclusionIn this review, we have presented recent advances in research based on animal models of autism, raising hope for understanding the disease biology for potential therapeutic intervention to improve the quality of life of autism individuals.

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