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14 pages, 1838 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Grape-Seed-Derived Procyanidin Attenuates Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment by Suppressing MMP-9 Activity and Related Blood–Brain-Barrier Damage

by Chao Song, Chao Gao and Zhenxin Wang

Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 571; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci12050571 - 28 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1795

Abstract

(1) Background: Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is often observed in cancer patients and impairs their life quality. Grape-seed-orientated procyanidin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, yet its effects in preventing CICI have not been investigated. (2) Method: Adult male mice [...] Read more.

(1) Background: Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is often observed in cancer patients and impairs their life quality. Grape-seed-orientated procyanidin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, yet its effects in preventing CICI have not been investigated. (2) Method: Adult male mice received 2.3 mg/kg cisplatin or saline injections for three cycles consisting of five daily injections followed by 5 days of rest. Procyanidin or saline was administered 1 h prior to cisplatin treatment. Cognitive testing, gelatin zymography, and blood–brain-barrier (BBB) penetration tests were performed after treatment cessation. RAW264.7 cells were treated by stimulated supernatant of SHSY5Y cells. In addition, high-mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) expression and MMP-9 activity were tested. (3) Results: Repeated cisplatin treatment increased BBB penetration, MMP-9 activity, impaired performance in contextual fear conditioning, and novel object recognition tasks. The knockout of MMP-9 rescues cognitive impairment and cisplatin-induced upregulation of HMGB1 in SHSY5Y cells. HMGB1/TLR4/IP3K/AKT signaling contributes to the increased MMP-9 activity in RAW264.7 cells. Procyanidin treatment attenuates MMP-9 activity, BBB damage, and CICI. (4) Conclusions: The results indicated that MMP-9 activation and BBB disruption is involved in CICI. Procyanidin may effectively alleviate the harmful effects of cisplatin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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14 pages, 2214 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Depicting People in Visual Cues Affects Alcohol Cue Reactivity in Male Alcohol-Dependent Patients

by Abdulqawi Alarefi, Xunshi Wang, Rui Tao, Qinqin Rui, Guoqing Gao, Ying Wang, Liangjun Pang, Chialun Liu and Xiaochu Zhang

Brain Sci. 2022, 12(3), 307; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci12030307 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2090

Abstract

Cue reactivity is often used to study alcohol cues brain responses. Standardized image sets are used, but the effect of viewing people interacting with the alcohol drink remains unclear, which is associated with the factors of alcohol cues that influence the degree of [...] Read more.

Cue reactivity is often used to study alcohol cues brain responses. Standardized image sets are used, but the effect of viewing people interacting with the alcohol drink remains unclear, which is associated with the factors of alcohol cues that influence the degree of response to alcohol stimuli. The present study used fMRI to investigate the reactivity of alcohol dependence (AD) inpatients to alcohol cues with or without human drinking behavior. Cues with a human interacting with a drink were hypothesized to increase sensorimotor activation. In total, 30 AD inpatients were asked to view pictures with a factorial design of beverage types (alcoholic vs. non-alcoholic beverages) and cue types (with or without drink action). Whole-brain analyses were performed. A correlation analysis was conducted to confirm whether the whole-brain analysis revealed cue-related brain activations correlated with problem drinking duration. The left lingual gyrus showed significant beverage types through cue type interaction, and the bilateral temporal cortex showed significant activation in response to alcohol cues depicting human drinking behavior. The right and left lingual gyrus regions and left temporal cortex were positively correlated with problem drinking duration. Sensorimotor activations in the temporal cortex may reflect self-referential and memory-based scene processing. Thus, our findings indicate these regions are associated with alcohol use and suggest them for cue exposure treatment of alcohol addiction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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11 pages, 9937 KiB

Open AccessArticle

MRI-Based Radiomic Machine-Learning Model May Accurately Distinguish between Subjects with Internet Gaming Disorder and Healthy Controls

by Xu Han, Lei Wei, Yawen Sun, Ying Hu, Yao Wang, Weina Ding, Zhe Wang, Wenqing Jiang, He Wang and Yan Zhou

Brain Sci. 2022, 12(1), 44; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci12010044 - 29 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1943

Abstract

Purpose To identify cerebral radiomic features related to the diagnosis of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and construct a radiomics-based machine-learning model for IGD diagnosis. Methods A total of 59 treatment-naïve subjects with IGD and 69 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited [...] Read more.

Purpose To identify cerebral radiomic features related to the diagnosis of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and construct a radiomics-based machine-learning model for IGD diagnosis. Methods A total of 59 treatment-naïve subjects with IGD and 69 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and underwent anatomic and diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The features of the morphometric properties of gray matter and diffusion properties of white matter were extracted for each participant. After excluding the noise feature with single-factor analysis of variance, the remaining 179 features were included in an all-relevant feature selection procedure within cross-validation loops to identify features with significant discriminative power. Random forest classifiers were constructed and evaluated based on the identified features. Results No overall differences in the total brain volume (1,555,295.64 ± 152,316.31 mm³ vs. 154,491.19 ± 151,241.11 mm³), total gray (709,119.83 ± 59,534.46 mm³ vs. 751,018.21 ± 58,611.32 mm³) and white (465,054.49 ± 51,862.65 mm³ vs. 470,600.22 ± 47,006.67 mm³) matter volumes, and subcortical region volume (63,882.71 ± 5110.42 mm³ vs. 64,764.36 ± 4332.33 mm³) between the IGD and HC groups were observed. The mean classification accuracy was 73%. An altered cortical shape in the bilateral fusiform, left rostral middle frontal (rMFG), left cuneus, left parsopercularis (IFG), and regions around the right uncinate fasciculus (UF) and left internal capsule (IC) contributed significantly to group discrimination. Conclusions: Our study found the brain morphology alterations between IGD subjects and HCs through a radiomics-based machine-learning method, which may help revealing underlying IGD-related neurobiology mechanisms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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15 pages, 2263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Sensory Deprivation of Nasal Respiratory on Behavior of C57BL/6J Mice

by Yongji Zhu, Yujing Ye, Chenyang Zhou, Siqi Sun, Jingjing Zhang, Zixuan Zhao, Tingting Sun, Jing Li, Jing Yang, Weiyun Li and Shanshan Li

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(12), 1626; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11121626 - 09 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2878

Abstract

Nasal breathing is a dynamic cortical organizer involved in various behaviors and states, such as locomotion, exploration, memory, emotion, introspection. However, the effect of sensory deprivation of nasal respiratory breath (NRD) on behavior remain poorly understood. Herein, general locomotor activity, emotion, learning and [...] Read more.

Nasal breathing is a dynamic cortical organizer involved in various behaviors and states, such as locomotion, exploration, memory, emotion, introspection. However, the effect of sensory deprivation of nasal respiratory breath (NRD) on behavior remain poorly understood. Herein, general locomotor activity, emotion, learning and memory, social interaction, and mechanical pain were evaluated using a zinc sulfate nasal irrigation induced nasal respiratory sensory deprivation animal model (ZnSO₄-induced mouse model). In the open field test, the elevated O-maze test, and forced swim test, NRD mice exhibited depressive and anxiety-like behaviors. In memory-associated tests, NRD mice showed cognitive impairments in the hippocampal-dependent memory (Y maze, object recognition task, and contextual fear conditioning (CFC)) and amygdala-dependent memory (the tone-cued fear conditioning test (TFC)). Surprisingly, NRD mice did not display deficits in the acquisition of conditional fear in both CFC and TFC tests. Still, they showed significant memory retrieval impairment in TFC and enhanced memory retrieval in CFC. At the same time, in the social novelty test using a three-chamber setting, NRD mice showed impaired social and social novelty behavior. Lastly, in the von Frey filaments test, we found that the pain sensitivity of NRD mice was reduced. In conclusion, this NRD mouse model showed a variety of behavioral phenotypic changes, which could offer an important insight into the behavioral impacts of patients with anosmia or those with an impaired olfactory bulb (OB) (e.g., in COVID-19, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, etc.). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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13 pages, 3325 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Depression-like Behaviors in Mice

by Yue Kong, Guiqin He, Xiaolin Zhang and Jin Li

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(11), 1514; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11111514 - 15 Nov 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2135

Abstract

Peripheral inflammation plays a key role in the development of depression-like behaviors. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. Here, we found that the level of citrullinated histone H3 (cit-H3) significantly increased in the plasma of wildtype mice treated with lipopolysaccharide [...] Read more.

Peripheral inflammation plays a key role in the development of depression-like behaviors. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. Here, we found that the level of citrullinated histone H3 (cit-H3) significantly increased in the plasma of wildtype mice treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which indicated that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were formed. Moreover, the LPS-induced depression-like and asocial behaviors were significantly alleviated in the mice deficient of NETs. Mechanistically, NETs formation aggravated peripheral inflammation by increasing the concentrations of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in plasma, which are major proinflammatory cytokines that can enter the brain, resulting in microglia activation and reduced astrocytes. Following this, increased TNF-α and IL-1β were released into brain, inducing neuroinflammation and finally depression-like behaviors. Prohibiting NETs by PAD4 ablation significantly prevented LPS-induced microglia activation and the loss of astrocytes. Our results propose the role for peripheral NETs in LPS-induced depression-like behavior, and that NETs might be a potential target to prevent inflammation-induced major depressive disorder. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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11 pages, 1365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modulation of Visual Working Memory Performance via Different Theta Frequency Stimulations

by Xue Guo, Ziyuan Li, Liangyou Zhang and Qiang Liu

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(10), 1358; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11101358 - 15 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2280

Abstract

Previous studies have found that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can significantly enhance individuals’ working memory performance. However, it is still unclear whether the memory performance enhancement was attributed to the quantity or the quality of working memory. The current study applies tACS [...] Read more.

Previous studies have found that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can significantly enhance individuals’ working memory performance. However, it is still unclear whether the memory performance enhancement was attributed to the quantity or the quality of working memory. The current study applies tACS over the right parietal cortex at slower (4 Hz) and faster (7 Hz) frequencies to participants with high and low working memory capacities in a color recall memory task. This enabled us to explore the tACS effects on the quantity and quality of the working memory for individuals with different memory capacities. The results revealed that slower frequency (4 Hz) tACS enhanced the quality of memory representations, and faster frequency (7 Hz) tACS principally impaired the quantity of working memory. The underlying mechanism of this effect might be that tACS at different frequencies modulate the memory resources, which then selectively affect the quantity and quality of memory representations. Importantly, individual traits, as well as memory strategies, may be crucial factors to consider when testing the effect of tACS on working memory performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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18 pages, 2204 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Benefits of Music Listening for Induced State Anxiety: Behavioral and Physiological Evidence

by Binxin Huang, Xiaoting Hao, Siyu Long, Rui Ding, Junce Wang, Yan Liu, Sijia Guo, Jing Lu, Manxi He and Dezhong Yao

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(10), 1332; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11101332 - 09 Oct 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4258

Abstract

Background: Some clinical studies have indicated that neutral and happy music may relieve state anxiety. However, the brain mechanisms by which these effective interventions in music impact state anxiety remain unknown. Methods: In this study, we selected music with clinical effects for therapy, [...] Read more.

Background: Some clinical studies have indicated that neutral and happy music may relieve state anxiety. However, the brain mechanisms by which these effective interventions in music impact state anxiety remain unknown. Methods: In this study, we selected music with clinical effects for therapy, and 62 subjects were included using the evoked anxiety paradigm. After evoking anxiety with a visual stimulus, all subjects were randomly divided into three groups (listening to happy music, neutral music and a blank stimulus), and EEG signals were acquired. Results: We found that different emotional types of music might have different mechanisms in state anxiety interventions. Neutral music had the effect of alleviating state anxiety. The brain mechanisms supported that neutral music ameliorating state anxiety was associated with decreased power spectral density of the occipital lobe and increased brain functional connectivity between the occipital lobe and frontal lobe. Happy music also had the effect of alleviating state anxiety, and the brain mechanism was associated with enhanced brain functional connectivity between the occipital lobe and right temporal lobe. Conclusions: This study may be important for a deep understanding of the mechanisms associated with state anxiety music interventions and may further contribute to future clinical treatment using nonpharmaceutical interventions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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10 pages, 1178 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceBrief Report

Safety Evaluation of Employing Temporal Interference Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in Human Studies

by Yi Piao, Ru Ma, Yaohao Weng, Chuan Fan, Xinzhao Xia, Wei Zhang, Ginger Qinghong Zeng, Yan Wang, Zhuo Lu, Jiangtian Cui, Xiaoxiao Wang, Li Gao, Bensheng Qiu and Xiaochu Zhang

Brain Sci. 2022, 12(9), 1194; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci12091194 - 05 Sep 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3292

Abstract

Temporal interference transcranial alternating current stimulation (TI-tACS) is a new technique of noninvasive brain stimulation. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of TI-tACS in stimulating brain areas in a selective manner. However, its safety in modulating human brain neurons is still untested. In [...] Read more.

Temporal interference transcranial alternating current stimulation (TI-tACS) is a new technique of noninvasive brain stimulation. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of TI-tACS in stimulating brain areas in a selective manner. However, its safety in modulating human brain neurons is still untested. In this study, 38 healthy adults were recruited to undergo a series of neurological and neuropsychological measurements regarding safety concerns before and after active (2 mA, 20/70 Hz, 30 min) or sham (0 mA, 0 Hz, 30 min) TI-tACS. The neurological and neuropsychological measurements included electroencephalography (EEG), serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT), an abbreviated version of the California Computerized Assessment Package (A-CalCAP), a revised version of the Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS-R), a self-assessment scale (SAS), and a questionnaire about adverse effects (AEs). We found no significant difference between the measurements of the active and sham TI-tACS groups. Meanwhile, no serious or intolerable adverse effects were reported or observed in the active stimulation group of 19 participants. These results support that TI-tACS is safe and tolerable in terms of neurological and neuropsychological functions and adverse effects for use in human brain stimulation studies under typical transcranial electric stimulation (TES) conditions (2 mA, 20/70 Hz, 30 min). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuromodulation, Brain Plasticity and Psychiatric Diseases)

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