Search results for " Neurological"
showing 10 items of 166 documents
A system-level mathematical model of Basal Ganglia motor-circuit for kinematic planning of arm movements
2017
International audience; In this paper, a novel system-level mathematical model of the Basal Ganglia (BG) for kinematic planning, is proposed. An arm composed of several segments presents a geometric redundancy. Thus, selecting one trajectory among an infinite number of possible ones requires overcoming redundancy, according to some kinds of optimization. Solving this optimization is assumed to be the function of BG in planning. In the proposed model, first, a mathematical solution of kinematic planning is proposed for movements of a redundant arm in a plane, based on minimizing energy consumption. Next, the function of each part in the model is interpreted as a possible role of a nucleus of…
Hypothesis: can N-acetylcysteine be beneficial in Parkinson's disease?
1999
Based on the finding of decreased mitochondrial complex I activity in the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease, we propose that the consequent reduction of ATP synthesis and increased generation of reactive oxygen species may be a possible cause of nigrostriatal cell death. Since sulfhydryl groups are essential in oxidative phosphorylation, thiolic antioxidants may contribute to the preservation of these proteins against oxidative damage. In the present paper, we hypothesize that treatment with a sulfur-containing antioxidant such as N-acetylcysteine may provide a new neuroprotective therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease.
Modelling the spatial and temporal constrains of the GABAergic influence on neuronal excitability
2021
GABA (γ-amino butyric acid) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain that can mediate depolarizing responses during development or after neuropathological insults. Under which conditions GABAergic membrane depolarizations are sufficient to impose excitatory effects is hard to predict, as shunting inhibition and GABAergic effects on spatiotemporal filtering of excitatory inputs must be considered. To evaluate at which reversal potential a net excitatory effect was imposed by GABA (EGABAThr), we performed a detailed in-silico study using simple neuronal topologies and distinct spatiotemporal relations between GABAergic and glutamatergic inputs. These simulations revealed for GABAe…
Effect of depolarizing GABAA-mediated membrane responses on excitability of Cajal-Retzius cells in the immature rat neocortex
2011
In immature neurons activation of ionotropic GABA receptors induces depolarizing membrane responses due to a high intracellular Cl− concentration ([Cl−]i). However, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the functional consequences of subthreshold GABAergic depolarizations, since GABAergic membrane shunting and additional effects on voltage-dependent ion channels or action potential threshold must be considered. To systematically investigate factors that determine the GABAergic effect on neuronal excitability we performed whole cell patch-clamp recordings from Cajal-Retzius cells in immature rat neocortex, using [Cl−]i between 10 and 50 mM. The effect of focal GABA application was quant…
Immunohistochemical investigation of the brain of aged dogs. I. Detection of neurofibrillary tangles and of 4-hydroxynonenal protein, an oxidative da…
2001
In the aging dog brain lesions develop spontaneously. They share some morphological characteristics with those of Alzheimer 's disease in man. Diffuse and primitive plaques are well known, whereas neuritic plaques rarely develop. Neurofibrillary tangles have not been seen in the canine. The aim of the present investigation was to study major age-related changes of the dog's brain using paraffin sections with respect to cross-immunoreactivity of tau, A beta protein and other immunoreactive components including hydroxynonenal protein, which is a marker for oxidative damage. The occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles and of the protein tau therein was studied in serial brain sections of two dog…
Early patterns of electrical activity in the developing cerebral cortex of humans and rodents.
2006
International audience; During prenatal and early postnatal development, the cerebral cortex exhibits synchronized oscillatory network activity that is believed to be essential for the generation of neuronal cortical circuits. The nature and functional role of these early activity patterns are of central interest in neuroscience. Much of the research is performed in rodents and in vitro, but how closely do these model systems relate to the human fetal brain? In this review, we compare observations in humans with in vivo and in vitro rodent data, focusing on particular oscillatory activity patterns that share many common features: delta brushes, spindle bursts and spindle-like oscillations. …
Linear inverse filtering improves spatial separation of nonlinear brain dynamics: a simulation study.
2000
We examined topographic variations in nonlinear measures based on scalp voltages, which were generated by two simulated current dipoles each placed in a different hemisphere of a spherical volume conductor (three-shell model). Dipole dynamics were that of a three-torus and the x-component of the Lorenz-system and scalp voltage were calculated for a configuration of 29 electrode positions. Although estimates for correlation dimension D2 and Lyapunov exponent L1 were close to the theoretical values for the original time series, the simulated scalp voltage data showed almost no topographic resolution of dipole positions. In order to enhance topographic differentiation, we constructed linear in…
Small-signal analysis of the encoder mechanism in the lobster stretch receptor and the frog and cat muscle spindle.
1975
Ausgehend von der Leitwert-Potential-Beziehung als Bedingung fur die Impulsauslosung an erregbaren Membranen (Chaplain, 1974) wird eine Kleinsignal-Analyse des Kodierungsvorganges in Mechanorezeptoren beschrieben. Hierbei wird die Theorie der Systeme mit zeitvariablen Parametern angewendet. Das beschriebene mathematische Modell erlaubt quantitative Aussagen fur den Frequenzgang unabhangig davon ob die Momentafrequenz oder die Impulsdichte als Ausgangssignal betrachtet wird. Die Approximation experimenteller Daten gelingt sowohl fur die Ansteuerung des Kodierers bei intrazellularer Stromstimulierung im Fall des Dehnungsrezeptors wie auch durch Leitwertanderungen als Folge des mechano-elektri…
Sensitivity of a sensory process to short time delays: A study in pattern induced flicker colors (PIFCs)
1978
Pattern induced flicker colors (PIFCs) were generated by means of a modified version of Benham's top, the stimulus pattern of which could be varied continuously during stimulation by the human subjects. The sensitivity of the color sensation to small phase shifts between the periodic stimuli on neighboring retinal areas was recorded under several conditions of stimulus parameters. A mathematical model was developed to describe the influence of the stimulus parameters on the recorded sensory effect. Concerning the underlying neurophysiological processes, a hypothesis is advanced according to which the phase sensitive lateral interaction within the retina changes the spatial excitation distri…
Images perceived after chromatic or achromatic contrast sensitivity losses.
2010
Purpose. We simulate how subjects with losses in chromatic and achromatic contrast sensitivity perceive colored images by using the spatiochromatic corresponding pair algorithm. Methods. This is a generalized version of the algorithm by Capilla et al. (J Opt Soc Am (A) 2004;21:176 –186) for simulating color perception of color deviant subjects, which incorporates a simple spatial vision model, consisting of a linear filtering stage, with a band-pass achromatic filter and two low-pass chromatic ones, for the red-green and blue-yellow mechanisms. These filters, except for the global scaling, are the subject’s contrast sensitivity functions measured along the cardinal directions of the color s…