scholarly journals The Importance of Studying Human Brain

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Jakovcevski ◽  
Slobodanka Mitrović ◽  
Igor Jakovcevski
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Research ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Animal Experiments ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Therapeutic Tools ◽  
Basic Features

Abstract Due to its numerous distinctive functions and unique pathology, the human brain, or rather forebrain has been difficult to study in common animal models. Although many basic molecular and cellular events are conserved across species, human brain connectivity, pertinent especially to the cerebral cortex circuitry, is unique and demands extensive research. Despite a great advancement in functional imaging methods accomplished over the last two decades, many basic features of healthy and diseased human forebrain remain elusive. Here we address difficulties in anatomical studies of developing and adult human brain and indicate the new directions and challenges to be addressed in the future. We pay special attention to possibilities of translating animal brain research to human cases. We consider that, although animal experiments play a vital role in understanding fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms behind brain function, understanding of higher brain functions (language, intelligence, memory) has to be based on understanding uniqueness of human circuitries. Furthermore, brain is the site of many human-specific diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease, for which only partial animal models exist. To study human brain, thus, remains irreplaceable in the quest for new therapeutic tools, as well as in understanding the essence of our being.

scholarly journals Evolutionary modifications in human brain connectivity associated with schizophrenia

Brain ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (12) ◽  
pp. 3991-4002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn P van den Heuvel ◽  
Lianne H Scholtens ◽  
Siemon C de Lange ◽  
Rory Pijnenburg ◽  
Wiepke Cahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
The Brain

See Vértes and Seidlitz (doi:10.1093/brain/awz353) for a scientific commentary on this article. Is schizophrenia a by-product of human brain evolution? By comparing the human and chimpanzee connectomes, van den Heuvel et al. demonstrate that connections unique to the human brain show greater involvement in schizophrenia pathology. Modifications in service of higher-order brain functions may have rendered the brain more vulnerable to dysfunction.

scholarly journals Characterizing Brain Connectivity From Human Electrocorticography Recordings With Unobserved Inputs During Epileptic Seizures

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1271-1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anup Das ◽  
Daniel Sexton ◽  
Claudia Lainscsek ◽  
Sydney S. Cash ◽  
Terrence J. Sejnowski
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Brain Research ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Correlation Method ◽  
Epileptic Seizures ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Clustering Coefficient ◽  
Eigenvector Centrality ◽  
Common Input

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by the sudden occurrence of unprovoked seizures. There is extensive evidence of significantly altered brain connectivity during seizure periods in the human brain. Research on analyzing human brain functional connectivity during epileptic seizures has been limited predominantly to the use of the correlation method. However, spurious connectivity can be measured between two brain regions without having direct connection or interaction between them. Correlations can be due to the apparent interactions of the two brain regions resulting from common input from a third region, which may or may not be observed. Hence, researchers have recently proposed a sparse-plus-latent-regularized precision matrix (SLRPM) when there are unobserved or latent regions interacting with the observed regions. The SLRPM method yields partial correlations of the conditional statistics of the observed regions given the latent regions, thus identifying observed regions that are conditionally independent of both the observed and latent regions. We evaluate the performance of the methods using a spring-mass artificial network and assuming that some nodes cannot be observed, thus constituting the latent variables in the example. Several cases have been considered, including both sparse and dense connections, short-range and long-range connections, and a varying number of latent variables. The SLRPM method is then applied to estimate brain connectivity during epileptic seizures from human ECoG recordings. Seventy-four clinical seizures from five patients, all having complex partial epilepsy, were analyzed using SLRPM, and brain connectivity was quantified using modularity index, clustering coefficient, and eigenvector centrality. Furthermore, using a measure of latent inputs estimated by the SLRPM method, it was possible to automatically detect 72 of the 74 seizures with four false positives and find six seizures that were not marked manually.

What’s Wrong with Their Mice?

Neuro ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Rose ◽  
Joelle M. Abi-Rached
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Animal Experiments ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Psychiatric Research ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Laboratory Situation

This chapter discusses the use of animals to explore issues relating to human cognition, emotion, volition, and their pathologies. Researchers who use animal models in their work point to similarities in the genomes of the two species, in the structure of mouse and human brain, in patterns of brain activation, in neural mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level, in responses to drugs and so forth, perhaps with reference to evolution and the principle of conservation across species when it comes to the most basic aspects of living organisms, including their brains. The chapter then examines four interconnected themes: the question of the artificiality of the laboratory situation within which animal experiments are conducted; the idea of a model in behavioral and psychiatric research; the specificity of the human and the elision of history and human sociality; and the problem of translation.

scholarly journals PROGRESS ON THE PATERNAL BRAIN: THEORY, ANIMAL MODELS, HUMAN BRAIN RESEARCH, AND MENTAL HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 394-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.E. Swain ◽  
C.J. Dayton ◽  
P. Kim ◽  
R.M. Tolman ◽  
B.L. Volling
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Research ◽  
Health Implications ◽  
Brain Theory

scholarly journals Animal Models for Human Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Focused on the Use of Indirect Hormonal Perturbations: A Review of the Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 2720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngjae Ryu ◽  
Sung Woo Kim ◽  
Yoon Young Kim ◽  
Seung-Yup Ku
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Polycystic Ovary ◽  
Animal Experiments ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Ovary Syndrome ◽  
Novel Treatments ◽  
Extracellular Signal ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Hormonal disturbances, such as hyperandrogenism, are considered important for developing polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in humans. Accordingly, directly hormone-regulated animal models are widely used for studying PCOS, as they replicate several key PCOS features. However, the pathogenesis and treatment of PCOS are still unclear. In this review, we aimed to investigate animal PCOS models and PCOS-like phenotypes in animal experiments without direct hormonal interventions and determine the underlying mechanisms for a better understanding of PCOS. We summarized animal PCOS models that used indirect hormonal interventions and suggested or discussed pathogenesis of PCOS-like features in animals and PCOS-like phenotypes generated in other animals. We presented integrated physiological insights and shared cellular pathways underlying the pathogenesis of PCOS in reviewed animal models. Our review indicates that the hormonal and metabolic changes could be due to molecular dysregulations, such as upregulated PI3K-Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signalling, that potentially cause PCOS-like phenotypes in the animal models. This review will be helpful for considering alternative animal PCOS models to determine the cellular/molecular mechanisms underlying PCOS symptoms. The efforts to determine the specific cellular mechanisms of PCOS will contribute to novel treatments and control methods for this complex syndrome.

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.”

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 Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination in Turtles

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Horacio Merchant-Larios ◽  
Verónica Díaz-Hernández ◽  
Diego Cortez
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Sex Determination ◽  
Incubation Temperature ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Male Phenotype ◽  
History Of ◽  
Reptilian Species

The discovery in mammals that fetal testes are required in order to develop the male phenotype inspired research efforts to elucidate the mechanisms underlying gonadal sex determination and differentiation in vertebrates. A pioneer work in 1966 that demonstrated the influence of incubation temperature on sexual phenotype in some reptilian species triggered great interest in the environment’s role as a modulator of plasticity in sex determination. Several chelonian species have been used as animal models to test hypotheses concerning the mechanisms involved in temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). This brief review intends to outline the history of scientific efforts that corroborate our current understanding of the state-of-the-art in TSD using chelonian species as a reference.

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.

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