Search results for "senso."

Development of the whisker-to-barrel cortex system.

2018

This review provides an overview on the development of the rodent whisker-to-barrel cortex system from late embryonic stage to the end of the first postnatal month. During this period the system shows a remarkable transition from a mostly genetic-molecular driven generation of crude connectivity, providing the template for activity-dependent structural and functional maturation and plasticity, to the manifestation of a complex behavioral repertoire including social interactions. Spontaneous and sensory-evoked activity is present in neonatal barrel cortex and control the generation of the cortical architecture. Half a century after its first description by Woolsey and van der Loos the whiske…

Barrel cortex: What is it good for?

2017

The rodent whisker system, with barrel cortex as its most prominent structure, has evolved into a powerful model system to study sensory processing. However, despite the vast amount of data collected on barrel cortex neural activity patterns, as well as its circuitry and plasticity, the precise behavioral and cognitive operations for which this structure is needed are still elusive. Proposed functions of barrel cortex include detection, discrimination, coordination of whisker movements during exploratory locomotion or active touch, and associative learning. Departing from a definition of what exactly constitutes a function and how the involvement of a brain area in a specific task can be es…

2018

Chardonnay wines from Burgundy, obtained from musts with three levels of clarification (Low, Medium and High) during two consecutive vintages (2009 and 2010) and for two kinds of closures (screw caps and synthetic coextruded closures) were analyzed chemically and sensorially. Three bottles per turbidity level were opened in 2015 in order to assess the intensity of the reductive and/or oxidative aromas (REDOX sensory scores) by a trained sensory panel. The chemical analyses consisted in polyphenols and colloids quantification, followed by a proteomic characterization. For the two vintages, the REDOX sensory scores appeared to be driven both by the type of closure and to a lesser extent by th…

Minerality in wine: Towards the reality behind the myths

2018

Revue non indexée dans JCR. This article belongs to the Special Issue Wine Components and Chemical Mechanisms for Health; Tasting minerality in wine is highly fashionable, but it is unclear what this involves. The present review outlines published work concerning how minerality in wine is perceived and conceptualised by wine professionals and consumers. Studies investigating physico-chemical sources of perceived minerality in wine are reviewed also. Unusually, for a wine sensory descriptor, the term frequently is taken to imply a genesis: the sensation is the taste of minerals in the wine that were transported through the vine from the vineyard rocks and soils. Recent studies exploring tast…

Pasta experience: Eating with the five senses - a pilot study

2018

Dried pasta is the Italian food “par excellence”. Traditional foods have characteristics that can stimulate or evoke in the consumer sensorial stimuli and experiences, especially when these foods are consumed in a typical-traditional restaurant. Traditional restaurants can use sensory marketing as a promotional advantage, creating a unique and original atmosphere that can represent their main way of differentiation. The aims of this paper are to know consumer liking with regard to two high quality types of Sicilian pasta, common dried pasta, and whole-wheat pasta, consumed in three different venues of a typical-traditional Italian franchised restaurant, and to measure the influence of envir…

2018

During early development the structure and function of the cerebral cortex is critically organized by subplate neurons (SPNs), a mostly transient population of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons located below the cortical plate. At the molecular and morphological level SPNs represent a rather diverse population of cells expressing a variety of genetic markers and revealing different axonal-dendritic morphologies. Electrophysiologically SPNs are characterized by their rather mature intrinsic membrane properties and firing patterns. They are connected via electrical and chemical synapses to local and remote neurons, e.g., thalamic relay neurons forming the first thalamocortical input to the …

Nitric oxide/cGMP signaling via guanylyl cyclase isoform 1 modulates glutamate and GABA release in somatosensory cortex of mice

2017

Abstract In hippocampus, two guanylyl cyclases (NO-GC1 and NO-GC2) are involved in the transduction of the effects of nitric oxide (NO) on synaptic transmission. However, the respective roles of the NO-GC isoforms on synaptic transmission are less clear in other regions of the brain. In the present study, we used knock-out mice deficient for the NO-GC1 isoform (NO-GC1 KO) to analyze its role in the glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission at pyramidal neurons in layers II/III of somatosensory cortex. NO-GC1 KO slices revealed reduced frequencies of miniature excitatory- and inhibitory-postsynaptic currents, increased paired-pulse ratios and decreased input–output curves of evoked signa…

Genome-wide association meta-analysis of corneal curvature identifies novel loci and shared genetic influences across axial length and refractive err…

2020

Corneal curvature, a highly heritable trait, is a key clinical endophenotype for myopia - a major cause of visual impairment and blindness in the world. Here we present a trans-ethnic meta-analysis of corneal curvature GWAS in 44,042 individuals of Caucasian and Asian with replication in 88,218 UK Biobank data. We identified 47 loci (of which 26 are novel), with population-specific signals as well as shared signals across ethnicities. Some identified variants showed precise scaling in corneal curvature and eye elongation (i.e. axial length) to maintain eyes in emmetropia (i.e. HDAC11/FBLN2 rs2630445, RBP3 rs11204213); others exhibited association with myopia with little pleiotropic effects …

Impact of reducing fat, salt and sugar in commercial foods on consumer acceptability and willingness to pay in real tasting conditions: A home experi…

2017

International audience; Decreasing obesity or cardiovascular disease can be achieved by eating healthier foods with reduced contents of fat, salt and sugar. However, these ingredients have a significant impact on the sensory quality of the food products that contain these ingredients, especially cooked sausage, chorizo, dry sausage, cheese and muffins. In this study, consumer appreciation of these five commercialized products (non reformulated versions) and their respective reformulated versions with reduced contents of salt, fat and sugar was tested. An original home experiment was performed to assess consumer appreciation in natural consumption conditions. The experiment was divided into …

Altered synaptic phospholipid signaling in PRG-1 deficient mice induces exploratory behavior and motor hyperactivity resembling psychiatric disorders.

2017

Abstract Plasticity related gene 1 (PRG-1) is a neuron specific membrane protein located at the postsynaptic density of glutamatergic synapses. PRG-1 modulates signaling pathways of phosphorylated lipid substrates such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). Deletion of PRG-1 increases presynaptic glutamate release probability leading to neuronal over-excitation. However, due to its cortical expression, PRG-1 deficiency leading to increased glutamatergic transmission is supposed to also affect motor pathways. We therefore analyzed the effects of PRG-1 function on exploratory and motor behavior using homozygous PRG-1 knockout (PRG-1−/−) mice and PRG-1/LPA2–receptor double knockout (PRG-1−/−/LPA2−/−)…