Mutual information of multiple rhythms in schizophrenia
In this study, we investigated multiple oscillatory interactions in schizophrenia using a novel approach based on information theory. This method allowed us to investigate interactions from a new perspective, where two or more rhythm interactions could be analyzed at the same time. We calculated the mutual information of multiple rhythms (MIMR) for EEG segments registered in resting state. Following previous studies, we focused on rhythm interactions between theta, alpha, and gamma. The results showed that, in general, MIMR was higher in patients than in controls for alpha –gamma and theta–gamma couplings. This finding...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - December 13, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Twelve weeks of physical exercise breaks with coordinative exercises at the workplace increase the sulcal depth and decrease gray matter volume in brain structures related to visuomotor processes
AbstractPhysical exercise can evoke changes in the brain structure. Consequently, these can lead to positive impacts on brain health. However, physical exercise studies including coordinative exercises are rare. Therefore, in this study, we investigated how 12 weeks of physical exercise breaks (PEBs) with coordinative exercises, focusing mainly on juggling tasks, affected the brain structure. The participants were randomly allocated to an intervention group (IG,n = 16; 42.8 ± 10.2 years) and a control group (CG,n = 9; 44.2 ± 12.3 years). The IG performed the PEBs with coordinative exercises twice per ...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - December 9, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Ventral and dorsal aspects of the inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus support verbal semantic access and visually-guided behavioural control
AbstractThe Inferior Frontal Occipital Fasciculus (IFOF) is a major anterior-to-posterior white matter pathway in the ventral human brain that connects parietal, temporal and occipital regions to frontal cortex. It has been implicated in a range of functions, including language, semantics, inhibition and the control of action. The recent research shows that the IFOF can be sub-divided into a ventral and dorsal branch, but the functional relevance of this distinction, as well as any potential hemispheric differences, are poorly understood. Using DTI tractography, we investigated the involvement of dorsal and ventral subdivi...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - December 9, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Structure –function relationship of the pituitary gland in anorexia nervosa and intense physical activity
AbstractPatients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and athletes share intense physical activity and pituitary hormonal disturbances related to absolute (AN) or relative (athletes) undernutrition. Pituitary gland (PG) structure evaluations in those conditions are scarce, and did not differentiate anterior from posterior lobe. We evaluated the structure –function relationship of anterior and posterior PG in AN and athletes, and potential reversibility of this alteration in a group of weight-recovered patients (AN_Rec). Manual delineation of anterior (AP) and posterior (PP) PG was performed on T1-weighted MR images in 17 women wit...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - December 8, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Induction of excitatory brain state governs plastic functional changes in visual cortical topology
AbstractAdult visual plasticity underlying local remodeling of the cortical circuitry in vivo appears to be associated with a spatiotemporal pattern of strongly increased spontaneous and evoked activity of populations of cells. Here we review and discuss pioneering work by us and others about principles of plasticity in the adult visual cortex, starting with our study which showed that a confined lesion in the cat retina causes increased excitability in the affected region in the primary visual cortex accompanied by fine-tuned restructuring of neuronal function. The underlying remodeling processes was further visualized wi...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - December 2, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Relative contribution of lateral vestibular neuron and abducens internuclear neuron inputs to the discharge activity of medial rectus motoneurons
AbstractMedial rectus motoneurons mediate nasally directed horizontal eye movements. These motoneurons receive two major excitatory inputs, from the abducens internuclear neurons (ABD Ints) and neurons of the lateral vestibular nucleus whose axons course through the ascending tract of Deiters (ATD). In the present work, we have recorded in the alert chronic cat preparation the discharge activity of these two premotor neurons simultaneously with eye movements, to discern their relative contribution to the firing pattern of medial rectus motoneurons. ABD Int discharge was accurately correlated with eye movements, displaying ...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 30, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Should one go for individual- or group-level brain parcellations? A deep-phenotyping benchmark
AbstractThe analysis and understanding of brain characteristics often require considering region-level information rather than voxel-sampled data. Subject-specific parcellations have been put forward in recent years, as they can adapt to individual brain organization and thus offer more accurate individual summaries than standard atlases. However, the price to pay for adaptability is the lack of group-level consistency of the data representation. Here, we investigate whether the good representations brought by individualized models are merely an effect of circular analysis, in which individual brain features are better rep...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 27, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Selective vulnerability of motor neuron types and functional groups to degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: review of the neurobiological mechanisms and functional correlates
AbstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative condition characterised by a progressive loss of motor neurons controlling voluntary muscle activity. The disease manifests through a variety of motor dysfunctions related to the extent of damage and loss of neurons at different anatomical locations. Despite extensive research, it remains unclear why some motor neurons are especially susceptible to the disease, while others are affected less or even spared. In this article, we review the neurobiological mechanisms, neurochemical profiles, and morpho-functional characteristics of various motor neuron g...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 24, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Childhood development of brain white matter myelin: a longitudinal T1w/T2w-ratio study
AbstractMyelination of human brain white matter (WM) continues into adulthood following birth, facilitating connection within and between brain networks. In vivo MRI studies using diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) suggest microstructural properties of brain WM increase over childhood and adolescence. Although DWI metrics, such as fractional anisotropy (FA), could reflect axonal myelination, they are not specific to myelin and could also represent other elements of WM microstructure, for example, fibre architecture, axon diameter and cell swelling. Little work exists specifically examining myelin development. The T1w/T2w rat...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 20, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Neonatal olfactory bulbectomy causes dendritic spine retraction in dorsal hippocampal CA3 neurons in female rats and spatial learning deficits in male rats
The objective of the present study was to evaluate learning and memory capacity and dendritic spine density in dorsal hippocampal CA3 neurons. Seven-day-old male and female Wistar rats were subjected to nOBX by suction, we included an intact group as a control (CON) and a sham-operated group (SHAM), too. Spatial learning and memory were measured at 56 days of age using a Morris water maze. A different cohort of experimental groups was used to measure dendritic spine density by Golgi-Cox impregnation. Male rats with nOBX showed a pronounced spatial learning deficit than female rats. Also, there was a significant decrease ...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 9, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Altered functional brain networks in coronary heart disease: independent component analysis and graph theoretical analysis
This study aimed to explore the association of CHD with functional connectivity and topological properties of brain networks. A total of 27 patients with CHD and 44 healthy controls (HCs) participated in this study and underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scan. Intra- and internetwork functional connectivity alterations were explored using independent component analysis in CHD patients. Furthermore, graph theoretical analysis was adopted to assess abnormalities in small-world properties and network efficiency metrics of brain networks. Compared to HCs, CHD patients exhibited increased f...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 9, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
ProbaStem, a pipeline towards the first high-resolution probabilistic atlas of the whole human brainstem
AbstractThe brainstem plays an essential role in many vital functions, such as autonomic control, consciousness and sleep, motricity, somatic afferent function, and cognition. Its involvement in several neurological diseases and the definition of brainstem targets for deep brain stimulation (DBS) explain the need for brainstem atlases describing its structural organization and connectivity from several modalities, from histology to ultrahigh field ex vivo MRI. Nonetheless, these atlases are often limited to a subpart of the brainstem or only include a single subject, the brainstem variability being considered low. This pap...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - November 4, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
KIBRA single nucleotide polymorphism is associated with hippocampal subfield volumes and cognition across development
AbstractThe hippocampus (Hc) consists of cytoarchitectonically and functionally distinct subfields: dentate gyrus (DG), cornu ammonis (CA1-3), and subiculum. In adults, a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs17070145, C → T) inKIBRA, a gene encoding the eponymous (KIdney-BRAin) protein, is associated with variability in Hc subfield volumes and episodic memory. T-allele carriers have larger DG and CA volumes and better episodic memory compared to C-homozygotes. Little is known, however, aboutKIBRA’s role in the development of the brain and cognition. In a sample of children, adolescents, and young adults (N = 176, ag...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - October 18, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Adult neurogenesis and “immature” neurons in mammals: an evolutionary trade-off in plasticity?
AbstractNeuronal plasticity can vary remarkably in its form and degree across animal species. Adult neurogenesis, namely the capacity to produce new neurons from neural stem cells through adulthood, appears widespread in non-mammalian vertebrates, whereas it is reduced in mammals. A growing body of comparative studies also report variation in the occurrence and activity of neural stem cell niches between mammals, with a general trend of reduction from small-brained to large-brained species. Conversely, recent studies have shown that large-brained mammals host large amounts of neurons expressing typical markers of neurogene...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - October 13, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
Neuroanatomical correlates of aggressiveness: a case –control voxel- and surface-based morphometric study
AbstractAggression occurs across the population ranging on a symptom continuum. Most previous studies have used magnetic resonance imaging in clinical/forensic samples, which is associated with several confounding factors. The present study examined structural brain characteristics in two healthy samples differing only in their propensity for aggressive behavior. Voxel- and surface-based morphometry (SBM) analyses were performed on 29 male martial artists and 32 age-matched male controls. Martial artists had significantly increased mean gray matter volume in two frontal (left superior frontal gyrus and bilateral anterior c...
Source: Anatomy and Embryology - October 11, 2023 Category: Anatomy Source Type: research
