scholarly journals Aptamer Applications in Neuroscience

Author(s):  
Meric Ozturk ◽  
Marit Nilsen-Hamilton ◽  
Muslum Ilgu

Being the predominant cause of disability, neurological diseases have received much attention from the global health community. Over a billion people suffer from one of the following neurological disorders: dementia, epilepsy, stroke, migraine, meningitis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, prion dis-ease, or brain tumors. Diagnosis and treatment options are limited for many of these diseases. Aptamers, being small and non-immunogenic nucleic acid molecules that are easy to chemically modify, offer potential diagnostic and theranostic applications to meet these needs. This review covers pioneer studies to apply aptamers, which show promise for future diagnostics and treatments of neurological disorders that pose increasingly dire worldwide health challenges.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 1260
Author(s):  
Meric Ozturk ◽  
Marit Nilsen-Hamilton ◽  
Muslum Ilgu

Being the predominant cause of disability, neurological diseases have received much attention from the global health community. Over a billion people suffer from one of the following neurological disorders: dementia, epilepsy, stroke, migraine, meningitis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, prion disease, or brain tumors. The diagnosis and treatment options are limited for many of these diseases. Aptamers, being small and non-immunogenic nucleic acid molecules that are easy to chemically modify, offer potential diagnostic and theragnostic applications to meet these needs. This review covers pioneering studies in applying aptamers, which shows promise for future diagnostics and treatments of neurological disorders that pose increasingly dire worldwide health challenges.


Author(s):  
Kristine O’Phelan

The purpose of the Oral Board Examination is to determine a candidate’s competency in neurosurgical disorders, but also neurological disorders, which may mimic neurosurgical conditions. It is not uncommon for a candidate to be presented imaging studies that clearly appear surgical; however, after carefully listening to the history and relevant neurological findings, it will become apparent that the imaging does not explain the patient’s symptoms. Some of the common neurological ailments that the Oral Board examinee needs to be well aware of include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Guillain-Barré syndrome, and Parsonage=Turner syndrome (brachial plexitis), some of which are covered either in this chapter or in other relevant chapters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (21) ◽  
pp. 2475-2491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Morello ◽  
Massimo Pieri ◽  
Rossella Zenobi ◽  
Alessandra Talamo ◽  
Delphine Stephan ◽  
...  

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone implicated in the regulation of neuronal integrity and many brain functions. Its influence, as a nutrient and a hormone, on the physiopathology of the most common neurodegenerative diseases is continuously emphasized by new studies. This review addresses what is currently known about the action of vitamin D on the nervous system and neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Further vitamin D research is necessary to understand how the action of this “neuroactive” steroid can help to optimize the prevention and treatment of several neurological diseases.


2013 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 815-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleide da Mota Gomes ◽  
Eliasz Engelhardt

Jean-Martin Charcot was a pioneer in a variety of subjects, including nervous system diseases; anatomy; physiology; pathology; and diseases of ageing, joints, and lungs. His medical achievements were mainly based on his anatomopathological proficiency, his observation, and his personal thoroughness that favored the delineation of the nosology of the main neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, peroneal muscular atrophy, and hysteria/epilepsy. The link of this anatomoclinical method with iconographic representations and theatrical lessons, and the rich bibliographical documentations, carried out in a crowded diseased people barn - Salpetrière hospital were the basis of his achievements, which are still discussed 120 years after his death.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (S5) ◽  
pp. 6-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Duda

AbstractThe syndrome now known as involuntary emotional expression disorder (IEED) is a condition characterized by uncontrollable episodes of laughing and/or crying. It has been known for more than a century, but confusing and conflicting terminology may have hampered the progress of physicians in recognizing this condition. IEED is associated with various neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and neurological injuries such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. It is hoped that better defined terminology for IEED may help in the future diagnosis of this debilitating condition, the establishment of accurate prevalence rates for IEED in the varying underlying conditions, and also in removing blame and stigma from sufferers by providing reassurance about the nature of their condition.


Author(s):  
Luis De-Bernardi-Ojuel ◽  
Laura Torres-Collado ◽  
Manuela García-de-la-Hera

This scoping review aims to describe occupational therapy interventions carried out with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in occupational therapy. A peer review of the literature was conducted in different databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase, and in some occupational therapy journals. A search of the literature published was carried out before December 2019. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) articles evaluating the intervention of occupational therapy in MS or ALS including experimental, randomized, nonrandomized and exploratory studies; (2) written in English or Spanish; (3) adult population (over 18 years old). The initial search identified 836 articles of which we included 32 divided into four areas of intervention: fatigue-targeted interventions, cognitive interventions, physical interventions and others. Only 16 studies were carried out exclusively by occupational therapists. Most occupational therapy interventions are aimed at fatigue and physical rehabilitation. The majority of the studies in our review included MS patients, with little representation from the ALS population. These interventions have shown an improvement in perceived fatigue, manual dexterity, falls prevention and improvement in cognitive aspects such as memory, communication, depression and quality of life in the MS and ALS populations.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1210
Author(s):  
Júlia Costa ◽  
Marta Gromicho ◽  
Ana Pronto-Laborinho ◽  
Conceição Almeida ◽  
Ricardo A. Gomes ◽  
...  

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative neuromuscular disease that affects motor neurons controlling voluntary muscles. Survival is usually 2–5 years after onset, and death occurs due to respiratory failure. The identification of biomarkers would be very useful to help in disease diagnosis and for patient stratification based on, e.g., progression rate, with implications in therapeutic trials. Neurofilaments constitute already-promising markers for ALS and, recently, chitinases have emerged as novel marker targets for the disease. Here, we investigated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) chitinases as potential markers for ALS. Chitotriosidase (CHIT1), chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1), chitinase-3-like protein 2 (CHI3L2) and the benchmark marker phosphoneurofilament heavy chain (pNFH) were quantified by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from the CSF of 34 ALS patients and 24 control patients with other neurological diseases. CSF was also analyzed by UHPLC-mass spectrometry. All three chitinases, as well as pNFH, were found to correlate with disease progression rate. Furthermore, CHIT1 was elevated in ALS patients with high diagnostic performance, as was pNFH. On the other hand, CHIT1 correlated with forced vital capacity (FVC). The three chitinases correlated with pNFH, indicating a relation between degeneration and neuroinflammation. In conclusion, our results supported the value of CHIT1 as a diagnostic and progression rate biomarker, and its potential as respiratory function marker. The results opened novel perspectives to explore chitinases as biomarkers and their functional relevance in ALS.


Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Cadiele Oliana Reichert ◽  
Debora Levy ◽  
Sergio P. Bydlowski

The human body has biological redox systems capable of preventing or mitigating the damage caused by increased oxidative stress throughout life. One of them are the paraoxonase (PON) enzymes. The PONs genetic cluster is made up of three members (PON1, PON2, PON3) that share a structural homology, located adjacent to chromosome seven. The most studied enzyme is PON1, which is associated with high density lipoprotein (HDL), having paraoxonase, arylesterase and lactonase activities. Due to these characteristics, the enzyme PON1 has been associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Here we update the knowledge about the association of PON enzymes and their polymorphisms and the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).


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