scholarly journals Sensory experience modulates the reorganisation of temporal auditory regions for executive processing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Manini ◽  
Valeria Vinogradova ◽  
Bencie Woll ◽  
Donnie Cameron ◽  
Martin Eimer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Memory Switching ◽  
Executive Processing ◽  
Crossmodal Plasticity ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Functional Relevance

AbstractCrossmodal plasticity refers to the reorganisation of sensory cortices in the absence of their main sensory input. Understanding this phenomenon provides insights into brain function and its potential for change and enhancement. Using fMRI, we investigated how early deafness and consequent varied language experience influence crossmodal plasticity and the organisation of executive functions (EF) in the adult brain. Results from four visual EF tasks (working memory, switching, planning, inhibition) show that, as a function of the degree of deafness, deaf individuals specifically recruit “auditory” regions during switching. This recruitment correlates with performance, highlighting its functional relevance. We also observed recruitment of auditory temporal regions during planning, but only in deaf individuals with the highest language scores, suggesting differential use of linguistic skills to support EF. Our results show executive processing in typically sensory regions, suggesting that the development and ultimate role of brain regions are influenced by perceptual environmental experience.

Role of adrenal catecholamines in cerebrovasodilation evoked from brain stem

1987 ◽  
Vol 252 (6) ◽  
pp. H1183-H1191
Author(s):  
C. Iadecola ◽  
P. M. Lacombe ◽  
M. D. Underwood ◽  
T. Ishitsuka ◽  
D. J. Reis
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Blood Gases ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Elevated Plasma ◽  
Regional Cerebral Blood ◽  
Medullary Reticular Formation ◽  
Alpha Chloralose ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

We studied whether adrenal medullary catecholamines (CAs) contribute to the metabolically linked increase in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) elicited by electrical stimulation of the dorsal medullary reticular formation (DMRF). Rats were anesthetized (alpha-chloralose, 30 mg/kg), paralyzed, and artificially ventilated. The DMRF was electrically stimulated with intermittent trains of pulses through microelectrodes stereotaxically implanted. Blood gases were controlled and, during stimulation, arterial pressure was maintained within the autoregulated range for rCBF. rCBF and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability were determined in homogenates of brain regions by using [14C]iodoantipyrine and alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB), respectively, as tracers. Plasma CAs (epinephrine and norepinephrine) were measured radioenzymatically. DMRF stimulation increased rCBF throughout the brain (n = 5; P less than 0.01, analysis of variance) and elevated plasma CAs substantially (n = 4). Acute bilateral adrenalectomy abolished the increase in plasma epinephrine (n = 4), reduced the increases in flow (n = 6) in cerebral cortex (P less than 0.05), and abolished them elsewhere in brain (P greater than 0.05). Comparable effects on rCBF were obtained by selective adrenal demedullation (n = 7) or pretreatment with propranolol (1.5 mg/kg iv) (n = 5). DMRF stimulation did not increase the permeability of the BBB to AIB (n = 5). We conclude that the increases in rCBF elicited from the DMRF has two components, one dependent on, and the other independent of CAs. Since the BBB is impermeable to CAs and DMRF stimulation fails to open the BBB, the results suggest that DMRF stimulation allows, through a mechanism not yet determined, circulating CAs to act on brain and affect brain function.

Visual and Auditory Alertness: Modality-Specific and Supramodal Neural Mechanisms and Their Modulation by Nicotine

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 2758-2768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane M. Thiel ◽  
Gereon R. Fink
Keyword(s):  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Stimulus Processing ◽  
Frontal Brain ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Warning Cues

Alertness is a nonselective attention component that refers to a state of general readiness that improves stimulus processing and response initiation. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify neural correlates of visual and auditory alertness. A further aim was to investigate the modulatory effects of the cholinergic agonist nicotine. Nonsmoking participants were given either placebo or nicotine (NICORETTE gum, 2 mg) and performed a target-detection task with warned and unwarned trials in the visual and auditory modality. Our results provide evidence for modality-specific correlates of visual and auditory alertness in respective higher-level sensory cortices and in posterior parietal and frontal brain areas. The only region commonly involved in visual and auditory alertness was the right superior temporal gyrus. A connectivity analysis showed that this supramodal region exhibited modality-dependent coupling with respective higher sensory cortices. Nicotine was found to mainly decrease visual and auditory alertness-related activity in several brain regions, which was evident as a significant interaction of nicotine-induced decreases in BOLD signal in warned trials and increases in unwarned trials. The cholinergic drug also affected alerting-dependent activity in the supramodal right superior temporal gyrus; here the effect was the result of a significant increase of neural activity in unwarned trials. We conclude that the role of the right superior temporal gyrus is to induce an “alert” state in response to warning cues and thereby optimize stimulus processing and responding. We speculate that nicotine increases brain mechanisms of alertness specifically in conditions where no extrinsic warning is provided.

Role of melatonin in regulating neurogenesis: Implications for the neurodegenerative pathology and analogous therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayuri Shukla ◽  
Areechun Sotthibundhu ◽  
Piyarat Govitrapong
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Adult Neurogenesis ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Therapeutic Implications ◽  
Cell Proliferation And Differentiation ◽  
Proliferation And Differentiation ◽  
Progenitor Cell Proliferation

The revelation of adult brain exhibiting neurogenesis has established that the brain possesses great plasticity and that neurons could be spawned in the neurogenic zones where hippocampal adult neurogenesis attributes to learning and memory processes. With strong implications in brain functional homeostasis, aging and cognition, various aspects of adult neurogenesis reveal exuberant mechanistic associations thereby further aiding in facilitating the therapeutic approaches regarding the development of neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Impaired neurogenesis has been significantly evident in AD with compromised hippocampal function and cognitive deficits. Melatonin the pineal indolamine augments neurogenesis and has been linked to AD development as its levels are compromised with disease progression. Here, in this review, we discuss and appraise the mechanisms via which melatonin regulates neurogenesis in pathophysiological conditions which would unravel the molecular basis in such conditions and its role in endogenous brain repair. Also, its components as key regulators of neural stem and progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in the embryonic and adult brain would aid in accentuating the therapeutic implications of this indoleamine in line of prevention and treatment of AD.   

Microbiota-Immune System Interactions in Human Neurological Disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 509-526
Author(s):  
Qin Huang ◽  
Fang Yu ◽  
Di Liao ◽  
Jian Xia
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Neurological Disorders ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Host Immune System ◽  
Gut Dysbiosis ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Novel Therapeutic Strategies

: Recent studies implicate microbiota-brain communication as an essential factor for physiology and pathophysiology in brain function and neurodevelopment. One of the pivotal mechanisms about gut to brain communication is through the regulation and interaction of gut microbiota on the host immune system. In this review, we will discuss the role of microbiota-immune systeminteractions in human neurological disorders. The characteristic features in the development of neurological diseases include gut dysbiosis, the disturbed intestinal/Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) permeability, the activated inflammatory response, and the changed microbial metabolites. Neurological disorders contribute to gut dysbiosis and some relevant metabolites in a top-down way. In turn, the activated immune system induced by the change of gut microbiota may deteriorate the development of neurological diseases through the disturbed gut/BBB barrier in a down-top way. Understanding the characterization and identification of microbiome-immune- brain signaling pathways will help us to yield novel therapeutic strategies by targeting the gut microbiome in neurological disease.

scholarly journals An architectonic type principle in the development of laminar patterns of cortico-cortical connections

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah F. Beul ◽  
Alexandros Goulas ◽  
Claus C. Hilgetag
Keyword(s):  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Cortical Connections ◽  
Cortical Projections ◽  
Structural Connections ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Brain

AbstractStructural connections between cortical areas form an intricate network with a high degree of specificity. Many aspects of this complex network organization in the adult mammalian cortex are captured by an architectonic type principle, which relates structural connections to the architectonic differentiation of brain regions. In particular, the laminar patterns of projection origins are a prominent feature of structural connections that varies in a graded manner with the relative architectonic differentiation of connected areas in the adult brain. Here we show that the architectonic type principle is already apparent for the laminar origins of cortico-cortical projections in the immature cortex of the macaque monkey. We find that prenatal and neonatal laminar patterns correlate with cortical architectonic differentiation, and that the relation of laminar patterns to architectonic differences between connected areas is not substantially altered by the complete loss of visual input. Moreover, we find that the degree of change in laminar patterns that projections undergo during development varies in proportion to the relative architectonic differentiation of the connected areas. Hence, it appears that initial biases in laminar projection patterns become progressively strengthened by later developmental processes. These findings suggest that early neurogenetic processes during the formation of the brain are sufficient to establish the characteristic laminar projection patterns. This conclusion is in line with previously suggested mechanistic explanations underlying the emergence of the architectonic type principle and provides further constraints for exploring the fundamental factors that shape structural connectivity in the mammalian brain.

scholarly journals Infectious disease-associated encephalopathies

Critical Care ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria C. Barbosa-Silva ◽  
Maiara N. Lima ◽  
Denise Battaglini ◽  
Chiara Robba ◽  
Paolo Pelosi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Cell Activation ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
Barrier Dysfunction ◽  
Glial Cell Activation ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

AbstractInfectious diseases may affect brain function and cause encephalopathy even when the pathogen does not directly infect the central nervous system, known as infectious disease-associated encephalopathy. The systemic inflammatory process may result in neuroinflammation, with glial cell activation and increased levels of cytokines, reduced neurotrophic factors, blood–brain barrier dysfunction, neurotransmitter metabolism imbalances, and neurotoxicity, and behavioral and cognitive impairments often occur in the late course. Even though infectious disease-associated encephalopathies may cause devastating neurologic and cognitive deficits, the concept of infectious disease-associated encephalopathies is still under-investigated; knowledge of the underlying mechanisms, which may be distinct from those of encephalopathies of non-infectious cause, is still limited. In this review, we focus on the pathophysiology of encephalopathies associated with peripheral (sepsis, malaria, influenza, and COVID-19), emerging therapeutic strategies, and the role of neuroinflammation. Graphic abstract

scholarly journals Creatine Supplementation and Brain Health

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamilton Roschel ◽  
Bruno Gualano ◽  
Sergej M. Ostojic ◽  
Eric S. Rawson
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Creatine Supplementation ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Brain Health

There is a robust and compelling body of evidence supporting the ergogenic and therapeutic role of creatine supplementation in muscle. Beyond these well-described effects and mechanisms, there is literature to suggest that creatine may also be beneficial to brain health (e.g., cognitive processing, brain function, and recovery from trauma). This is a growing field of research, and the purpose of this short review is to provide an update on the effects of creatine supplementation on brain health in humans. There is a potential for creatine supplementation to improve cognitive processing, especially in conditions characterized by brain creatine deficits, which could be induced by acute stressors (e.g., exercise, sleep deprivation) or chronic, pathologic conditions (e.g., creatine synthesis enzyme deficiencies, mild traumatic brain injury, aging, Alzheimer’s disease, depression). Despite this, the optimal creatine protocol able to increase brain creatine levels is still to be determined. Similarly, supplementation studies concomitantly assessing brain creatine and cognitive function are needed. Collectively, data available are promising and future research in the area is warranted.

scholarly journals The G Protein-Coupled Glutamate Receptors as Novel Molecular Targets in Schizophrenia Treatment—A Narrative Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1475
Author(s):  
Waldemar Kryszkowski ◽  
Tomasz Boczek
Keyword(s):  
Glutamate Receptors ◽  
Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors ◽  
Glutamate Release ◽  
Molecular Targets ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Unknown Etiology ◽  
Metabotropic Glutamate ◽  
G Protein Coupled

Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disease with an unknown etiology. The research into the neurobiology of this disease led to several models aimed at explaining the link between perturbations in brain function and the manifestation of psychotic symptoms. The glutamatergic hypothesis postulates that disrupted glutamate neurotransmission may mediate cognitive and psychosocial impairments by affecting the connections between the cortex and the thalamus. In this regard, the greatest attention has been given to ionotropic NMDA receptor hypofunction. However, converging data indicates metabotropic glutamate receptors as crucial for cognitive and psychomotor function. The distribution of these receptors in the brain regions related to schizophrenia and their regulatory role in glutamate release make them promising molecular targets for novel antipsychotics. This article reviews the progress in the research on the role of metabotropic glutamate receptors in schizophrenia etiopathology.

scholarly journals Early Consumption of Cannabinoids: From Adult Neurogenesis to Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (14) ◽  
pp. 7450
Author(s):  
Citlalli Netzahualcoyotzi ◽  
Luis Miguel Rodríguez-Serrano ◽  
María Elena Chávez-Hernández ◽  
Mario Humberto Buenrostro-Jáuregui
Keyword(s):  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Adult Neurogenesis ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Consumption Rate ◽  
Behavioral Outcomes ◽  
Endocannabinoid System ◽  
Illegal Drug ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
As Stress

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a crucial modulatory system in which interest has been increasing, particularly regarding the regulation of behavior and neuroplasticity. The adolescent–young adulthood phase of development comprises a critical period in the maturation of the nervous system and the ECS. Neurogenesis occurs in discrete regions of the adult brain, and this process is linked to the modulation of some behaviors. Since marijuana (cannabis) is the most consumed illegal drug globally and the highest consumption rate is observed during adolescence, it is of particular importance to understand the effects of ECS modulation in these early stages of adulthood. Thus, in this article, we sought to summarize recent evidence demonstrating the role of the ECS and exogenous cannabinoid consumption in the adolescent–young adulthood period; elucidate the effects of exogenous cannabinoid consumption on adult neurogenesis; and describe some essential and adaptive behaviors, such as stress, anxiety, learning, and memory. The data summarized in this work highlight the relevance of maintaining balance in the endocannabinoid modulatory system in the early and adult stages of life. Any ECS disturbance may induce significant modifications in the genesis of new neurons and may consequently modify behavioral outcomes.

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