Search results for "Neuroimaging"
showing 10 items of 281 documents
Theragnostic Use of Radiolabelled Dota-Peptides in Meningioma: From Clinical Demand to Future Applications.
2019
Meningiomas account for approximately 30% of all new diagnoses of intracranial masses. The 2016 World Health Organization’s (WHO) classification currently represents the clinical standard for meningioma’s grading and prognostic stratification. However, watchful waiting is frequently the chosen treatment option, although this means the absence of a certain histological diagnosis. Consequently, MRI (or less frequently CT) brain imaging currently represents the unique available tool to define diagnosis, grading, and treatment planning in many cases. Nonetheless, these neuroimaging modalities show some limitations, particularly in the evaluation of skull base lesions. The emerging evidence supp…
Gray Matter NG2 Cells Display Multiple Ca2+-Signaling Pathways and Highly Motile Processes
2011
NG2 cells, the fourth type of glia in the mammalian CNS, receive synaptic input from neurons. The function of this innervation is unknown yet. Postsynaptic changes in intracellular Ca(2+)-concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) might be a possible consequence. We employed transgenic mice with fluorescently labeled NG2 cells to address this issue. To identify Ca(2+)-signaling pathways we combined patch-clamp recordings, Ca(2+)-imaging, mRNA-transcript analysis and focal pressure-application of various substances to identified NG2-cells in acute hippocampal slices. We show that activation of voltage-gated Ca(2+)-channels, Ca(2+)-permeable AMPA-receptors, and group I metabotropic glutamate-receptors provo…
Parallelized TCSPC for dynamic intravital fluorescence lifetime imaging : quantifying neuronal dysfunction in neuroinflammation
2013
Two-photon laser-scanning microscopy has revolutionized our view on vital processes by revealing motility and interaction patterns of various cell subsets in hardly accessible organs (e.g. brain) in living animals. However, current technology is still insufficient to elucidate the mechanisms of organ dysfunction as a prerequisite for developing new therapeutic strategies, since it renders only sparse information about the molecular basis of cellular response within tissues in health and disease. In the context of imaging, Forster resonant energy transfer (FRET) is one of the most adequate tools to probe molecular mechanisms of cell function. As a calibration-free technique, fluorescence lif…
Automatic Temporal Expectancy: A High-Density Event-Related Potential Study
2013
How we compute time is not fully understood. Questions include whether an automatic brain mechanism is engaged in temporally regular environmental structure in order to anticipate events, and whether this can be dissociated from task-related processes, including response preparation, selection and execution. To investigate these issues, a passive temporal oddball task requiring neither time-based motor response nor explicit decision was specifically designed and delivered to participants during high-density, event-related potentials recording. Participants were presented with pairs of audiovisual stimuli (S1 and S2) interspersed with an Inter-Stimulus Interval (ISI) that was manipulated acc…
CNS involvement in OFD1 syndrome: a clinical, molecular, and neuroimaging study
2014
Background Oral-facial-digital type 1 syndrome (OFD1; OMIM 311200) belongs to the expanding group of disorders ascribed to ciliary dysfunction. With the aim of contributing to the understanding of the role of primary cilia in the central nervous system (CNS), we performed a thorough characterization of CNS involvement observed in this disorder. Methods A cohort of 117 molecularly diagnosed OFD type I patients was screened for the presence of neurological symptoms and/or cognitive/behavioral abnormalities on the basis of the available information supplied by the collaborating clinicians. Seventy-one cases showing CNS involvement were further investigated through neuroimaging studies and neur…
In vivo Imaging of Fully Active Brain Tissue in Awake Zebrafish Larvae and Juveniles by Skull and Skin Removal.
2021
Understanding the ephemeral changes that occur during brain development and maturation requires detailed high-resolution imaging in space and time at cellular and subcellular resolution. Advances in molecular and imaging technologies have allowed us to gain numerous detailed insights into cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain development in the transparent zebrafish embryo. Recently, processes of refinement of neuronal connectivity that occur at later larval stages several weeks after fertilization, which are for example control of social behavior, decision making or motivation-driven behavior, have moved into focus of research. At these stages, pigmentation of the zebrafish skin inter…
A Focus on the Cerebellum: From Embryogenesis to an Age-Related Clinical Perspective
2021
The cerebellum and its functional multiplicity and heterogeneity have been objects of curiosity and interest since ancient times, giving rise to the urge to reveal its complexity. Since the first hypothesis of cerebellar mere role in motor tuning and coordination, much more has been continuously discovered about the cerebellum’s circuitry and functioning throughout centuries, leading to the currently accepted knowledge of its prominent involvement in cognitive, social, and behavioral areas. Particularly in childhood, the cerebellum may subserve several age-dependent functions, which might be compromised in several Central Nervous System pathologies. Overall, cerebellar damage may produce nu…
Verbal learning and memory and their associations with brain morphology and illness course in schizophrenia spectrum psychoses.
2012
The California Verbal Learning Test and structural brain imaging were administered to 57 subjects with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 94 controls in a general population sample. Cases had lower semantic cluster scores. Poorer verbal memory strategies were associated with longer duration of illness and heavier use of antipsychotic medication. After controlling for duration of illness, sex, and total gray matter, poorer verbal memory was associated with lower gray matter volume in the cingulate cortex, juxtapositional lobule, right superior temporal gyrus, and precuneus. After controlling for use of antipsychotic medication, there was an association between higher serial clustering and …
Music and Emotions in the Brain: Familiarity Matters
2011
The importance of music in our daily life has given rise to an increased number of studies addressing the brain regions involved in its appreciation. Some of these studies controlled only for the familiarity of the stimuli, while others relied on pleasantness ratings, and others still on musical preferences. With a listening test and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, we wished to clarify the role of familiarity in the brain correlates of music appreciation by controlling, in the same study, for both familiarity and musical preferences. First, we conducted a listening test, in which participants rated the familiarity and liking of song excerpts from the pop/rock repe…
Frontocingular Dysfunction in Bulimia Nervosa when Confronted with Disease-specific Stimuli
2011
Objective Bulimia nervosa (BN) is characterized by dysregulation of impulse control, in other words, uncontrolled eating. Functional neuroimaging studies have been sparse and have used variable methodologies. Method Thirteen medication-free female BN patients and 13 female healthy controls were investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging using a disease-specific food paradigm. Stimuli were rated after the scanning procedure. Results Bulimia nervosa patients showed increased fear ratings and a trend for increased disgust. Magnetic resonance imaging data of 10 BN patients could be analysed. Three BN patients had to be excluded from the analysis because of minimal blood oxygen level …