Digital Endocasting in Comparative Canine Brain Morphology

Background: During aging and in age-associated disorders, such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD), learning abilities decline. Probably, disturbances in signal transduction in brain cells underlie the cognitive decline. The phosphorylation/dephosphorylation imbalance occurring in degenerating neurons was recently related to abnormal activity of one or more signal transduction pathways. AD is known to be associated with altered neuronal Ca2+ homeostasis, as Ca2+ accumulates in affected neurons leading to functional impairment. It is becoming more and more evident the involvement of signal transduction pathways acting upon Ca2+ metabolism and phosphorylation regulation of proteins. A growing interest raised around the role of signal transduction systems in a number of human diseases including neurodegenerative diseases, with special regard to the systems related to the phosphoinositide (PI) pathway and AD. The PI signal transduction pathway plays a crucial role, being involved in a variety of cell functions, such as hormone secretion, neurotransmitter signal transduction, cell growth, membrane trafficking, ion channel activity, cytoskeleton regulation, cell cycle control, apoptosis, cell and tissue polarity, and contributes to regulate the Ca2+ levels in the nervous tissue. Conclusion: A number of observations indicated that PI-specific phospholipase C (PLC) enzymes might be involved in the alteration of neurotransmission. To understand the role and the timing of action of the signalling pathways recruited during the brain morphology changes during the AD progression might help to elucidate the aetiopathogenesis of the disease, paving the way to prognosis refinement and/or novel molecular therapeutic strategies.

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Age and sex effects on brain morphology

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0278-5846(97)00160-7 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 21 (8) ◽

pp. 1231-1237 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Theodore J. Passe ◽

Pradeep Rajagopalan ◽

Larry A. Tupler ◽

Christopher E. Byrum ◽

James R. Macfall ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Morphology ◽

Sex Effects ◽

Age And Sex

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Surgical removal of a sewing needle penetrated through the foramen lacerum into a canine brain

Journal of Small Animal Practice ◽

10.1111/jsap.13391 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

S. Abed Alla ◽

A. Locatelli ◽

S. Losio ◽

G. Allevi

Keyword(s):

Surgical Removal ◽

Sewing Needle ◽

Canine Brain

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Alcohol use and brain morphology in adolescence: a longitudinal study in three different cohorts

European Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1111/ejn.15411 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hanan El Marroun ◽

Eduard T. Klapwijk ◽

Martijn Koevoets ◽

Rachel M. Brouwer ◽

Sabine Peters ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Brain Morphology

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Effects of eight neuropsychiatric copy number variants on human brain structure

Translational Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41398-021-01490-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Claudia Modenato ◽

Kuldeep Kumar ◽

Clara Moreau ◽

Sandra Martin-Brevet ◽

Guillaume Huguet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Copy Number ◽

Copy Number Variants ◽

Principal Component ◽

Brain Morphology ◽

Brain Anatomy ◽

Brain Morphometry ◽

Supplementary Motor Cortex ◽

Psychiatric Conditions ◽

Latent Dimension ◽

Mirror Effects

AbstractMany copy number variants (CNVs) confer risk for the same range of neurodevelopmental symptoms and psychiatric conditions including autism and schizophrenia. Yet, to date neuroimaging studies have typically been carried out one mutation at a time, showing that CNVs have large effects on brain anatomy. Here, we aimed to characterize and quantify the distinct brain morphometry effects and latent dimensions across 8 neuropsychiatric CNVs. We analyzed T1-weighted MRI data from clinically and non-clinically ascertained CNV carriers (deletion/duplication) at the 1q21.1 (n = 39/28), 16p11.2 (n = 87/78), 22q11.2 (n = 75/30), and 15q11.2 (n = 72/76) loci as well as 1296 non-carriers (controls). Case-control contrasts of all examined genomic loci demonstrated effects on brain anatomy, with deletions and duplications showing mirror effects at the global and regional levels. Although CNVs mainly showed distinct brain patterns, principal component analysis (PCA) loaded subsets of CNVs on two latent brain dimensions, which explained 32 and 29% of the variance of the 8 Cohen’s d maps. The cingulate gyrus, insula, supplementary motor cortex, and cerebellum were identified by PCA and multi-view pattern learning as top regions contributing to latent dimension shared across subsets of CNVs. The large proportion of distinct CNV effects on brain morphology may explain the small neuroimaging effect sizes reported in polygenic psychiatric conditions. Nevertheless, latent gene brain morphology dimensions will help subgroup the rapidly expanding landscape of neuropsychiatric variants and dissect the heterogeneity of idiopathic conditions.

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Brain morphology predicts social intelligence in wild cleaner fish

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-20130-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Zegni Triki ◽

Yasmin Emery ◽

Magda C. Teles ◽

Rui F. Oliveira ◽

Redouan Bshary

Keyword(s):

Social Intelligence ◽

Brain Plasticity ◽

Decision Rules ◽

Brain Morphology ◽

Brain Anatomy ◽

Environmental Complexity ◽

Learning Abilities ◽

Cleaner Fish ◽

High Performing ◽

Selective Pressures

AbstractIt is generally agreed that variation in social and/or environmental complexity yields variation in selective pressures on brain anatomy, where more complex brains should yield increased intelligence. While these insights are based on many evolutionary studies, it remains unclear how ecology impacts brain plasticity and subsequently cognitive performance within a species. Here, we show that in wild cleaner fish (Labroides dimidiatus), forebrain size of high-performing individuals tested in an ephemeral reward task covaried positively with cleaner density, while cerebellum size covaried negatively with cleaner density. This unexpected relationship may be explained if we consider that performance in this task reflects the decision rules that individuals use in nature rather than learning abilities: cleaners with relatively larger forebrains used decision-rules that appeared to be locally optimal. Thus, social competence seems to be a suitable proxy of intelligence to understand individual differences under natural conditions.

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Dissecting the midlife crisis: disentangling social, personality and demographic determinants in social brain anatomy

Communications Biology ◽

10.1038/s42003-021-02206-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hannah Kiesow ◽

Lucina Q. Uddin ◽

Boris C. Bernhardt ◽

Joseph Kable ◽

Danilo Bzdok

Keyword(s):

Brain Regions ◽

Interindividual Variation ◽

Brain Morphology ◽

Brain Anatomy ◽

Leadership Roles ◽

Social Brain ◽

Aging Parents ◽

Health Satisfaction ◽

Midlife Transitions ◽

Fully Bayesian

AbstractIn any stage of life, humans crave connection with other people. In midlife, transitions in social networks can relate to new leadership roles at work or becoming a caregiver for aging parents. Previous neuroimaging studies have pinpointed the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to undergo structural remodelling during midlife. Social behavior, personality predisposition, and demographic profile all have intimate links to the mPFC according in largely disconnected literatures. Here, we explicitly estimated their unique associations with brain structure using a fully Bayesian framework. We weighed against each other a rich collection of 40 UK Biobank traits with their interindividual variation in social brain morphology in ~10,000 middle-aged participants. Household size and daily routines showed several of the largest effects in explaining variation in social brain regions. We also revealed male-biased effects in the dorsal mPFC and amygdala for job income, and a female-biased effect in the ventral mPFC for health satisfaction.

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Aquaporin-4 protein expression in normal canine brains

BMC Veterinary Research ◽

10.1186/s12917-021-02745-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Álvarez ◽

Ester Blasco ◽

Martí Pumarola ◽

Annette Wessmann

Keyword(s):

White Matter ◽

Cancer Progression ◽

Aquaporin 4 ◽

Histopathological Study ◽

White Matter Tracts ◽

Aqp4 Expression ◽

Canine Brain ◽

Potential Marker ◽

Formalin Fixed Paraffin ◽

Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded

Abstract Background Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) is in growing recognition as potential marker for cancer progression, differentiation and therapeutic intervention. No information is available about AQP4 expression in the normal canine brain. The aim of this histopathological study is to confirm the presence of AQP4 by immunohistochemistry technique in a group of non-pathological canine brains and to describe its expression and distribution across the brain. Results Twelve non-pathological canine brains of various ages (ranging from 21 days to 17 years) and breeds were included in the study. Immunohistochemical expression of AQP4 was analyzed using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded brain tissue sections. The findings were correlated between AQP4 expressing cells and astrocytes using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). AQP4 expression was more marked in the astrocyte foot processes of subpial, perivascular and periventricular surfaces in all specimens. The majority of the canine brain sections (9/12) presented with an AQP4 predilection for white matter tracts. Interestingly, the two youngest dogs (21 days and 3 months old) were characterized by diffuse AQP4 labelling in both grey and white matter tracts. This result may suggest that brain development and ageing may play a role in the AQP4 distribution throughout the canine brain. Conclusions This is the first study to describe immunohistochemical distribution of AQP4 in normal canine brains. The AQP4 expression and distribution in non-pathological canine brains was comparable to other species. Larger studies are needed to substantiate the influence of breed and ageing on AQP4 expression in the normal canine brain.

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