Search results for "NEUROPLASTICITY"

Binge-like alcohol exposure in adolescence: behavioural, neuroendocrine and molecular evidence of abnormal neuroplasticity … and return

2021

Binge alcohol consumption among adolescents affects the developing neural networks underpinning reward and stress processing in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). This study explores in rats the long-lasting effects of early intermittent exposure to intoxicating alcohol levels at adolescence, on: (1) the response to natural positive stimuli and inescapable stress

Exercise, Neuroplasticity, and Growth Factors in Adolescence

2015

Polysialic acid is required for dopamine D2 receptor-mediated plasticity involving inhibitory circuits of the rat medial prefrontal cortex.

2011

Decreased expression of dopamine D2 receptors (D2R), dysfunction of inhibitory neurotransmission and impairments in the structure and connectivity of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and major depression, but the relationship between these changes remains unclear. The polysialylated form of the neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM), a plasticity-related molecule, may serve as a link. This molecule is expressed in cortical interneurons and dopamine, via D2R, modulates its expression in parallel to that of proteins related to synapses and inhibitory neurotransmission, suggesting that D2R-targeted antipsychotics/antidepressants…

Complex regional pain syndrome–up-to-date

2017

The pathophysiology of complex regional pain syndromes includes inflammation and central reorganisation. The treatment should be adjusted to the prevailing pathophysiology including possible psychosocial factors.

Semaphorin 6A Improves Functional Recovery in Conjunction with Motor Training after Cerebral Ischemia

2010

Stroke is a major health problem in industrialized societies. Despite numerous attempts at developing acute stroke therapies aimed at minimizing acute infarct development, the only approved therapy so far is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA). In recent years, the attention of the stroke community has therefore also put increased emphasis on understanding processes of post-stroke recovery, and their potential exploitability for therapeutic purposes. The brain has a remarkable ability to adapt to changes after stroke. Mechanisms that contribute to this plasticity are re-mapping and expansion of cortical areas to neighboring regions of functional motor cortex areas after injury […

Sparse Distributed Representation of Odors in a Large-scale Olfactory Bulb Circuit

2013

In the olfactory bulb, lateral inhibition mediated by granule cells has been suggested to modulate the timing of mitral cell firing, thereby shaping the representation of input odorants. Current experimental techniques, however, do not enable a clear study of how the mitral-granule cell network sculpts odor inputs to represent odor information spatially and temporally. To address this critical step in the neural basis of odor recognition, we built a biophysical network model of mitral and granule cells, corresponding to 1/100th of the real system in the rat, and used direct experimental imaging data of glomeruli activated by various odors. The model allows the systematic investigation and g…

Cortical plasticity associated with Braille learning

1998

Blind subjects who learn to read Braille must acquire the ability to extract spatial information from subtle tactile stimuli. In order to accomplish this, neuroplastic changes appear to take place. During Braille learning, the sensorimotor cortical area devoted to the representation of the reading finger enlarges. This enlargement follows a two-step process that can be demonstrated with transcranial magnetic stimulation mapping and suggests initial unmasking of existing connections and eventual establishment of more stable structural changes. In addition, Braille learning appears to be associated with the recruitment of parts of the occipital, formerly `visual', cortex (V1 and V2) for tacti…

Individual Variations and Coping Style

2020

By current definition, animal welfare depends on the subjective experience of cognitive and emotional processes that are engendered as individuals succeed or fail in coping with a dynamically changing environment. A functional and evolutionary approach to emotion holds that adaptive qualities such as duration, severity, controllability, and predictability of stressful stimuli determine whether a particular event or outcome is experienced as rewarding or adverse. For instance, stress-induced behavioral inhibition can be seen as an adaptive strategy during chronic, unpredictable, or uncontrollable conditions that do not merit successful active coping. In teleost fishes, such behavior can be t…

Cajal–Retzius and subplate cells: transient cortical neurons and circuits with long-term impact

2020

Abstract The laminar and columnar organization of the mature cerebral cortex is determined by a variety of early developmental processes. Two distinct populations of early generated neurons play important roles in corticogenesis. Cajal–Retzius neurons, located in the marginal zone (later layer 1), control the formation of neocortical layers by releasing the extracellular matrix protein reelin, which serves as a guiding signal for migrating neurons. Subplate neurons in the lower neocortical layer play an active role in axonal pathfinding of thalamocortical connections and in transient synaptic circuits, influence early cortical plasticity and the maturation of the columnar architecture. Both…

Influence of the muscle mode of contraction on the exercise induced neuroplastic effects

2018

Along with cardiovascular and neuromuscular changes, mono-articular and locomotor exercises may induced neuroplastic changes from muscles involved, or non-involved, in the exercise. If the effect of exercise intensity or duration on neuroplastic changes has been previously investigated, the effect of the mode of muscle contraction remains unclear. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of the mode of muscle contraction on neuroplastic changes induced a locomotor or a single-joint exercise. The first study showed that the increase in the corticospinal excitability of a non-exercised hand muscle, observed after a walking/ running exercise, was not modulated by the knee extensor…