Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease accompanied by potentially debilitating complications creating major health problems for a significant population. Almost 20 million people worldwide develop diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) annually that begin with p...

Read science policy and advocacy news from the week of September 15, 2017

Virtual reality (VR) has gained popularity in recent years, integrating with conventional music stimulation, action observation (AO), and motor imagination (MI). It offers promising opportunities for developing innovative rehabilitation treatments, though the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. This study aims to compare brain activation and network mechanisms following the fusion of MS, AO, and MI with VR. 50 healthy participants were recruited and underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) synchronization with three virtual reality tasks: music stimulation (VRMS), action observation (VRAO), and motor imagery (VRMI). The results indicate that VRMS significantly enhances functional connectivity of the bilateral primary sensory cortex (S1), pre-motor cortex and supplementary motor area (PM&SMA) compared to VRAO and VRMI. Furthermore, the interaction among the bilateral PM&SMA, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and right primary motor cortex (M1) regions is notably st...

IBRO's Secretary-General discusses efforts to advance neuroscience.

The unique challenges and opportunities inherent within large-scale, collaborative projects were discussed during two workshops at Neuroscience 2019.

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Lactate plays an important role in brain energy metabolism. It contributes to normal brain development and to neuroprotection in diabetic hypoglycemia, but its role in neonatal hypoglycemia is unclear. Moreover, lactate can work as a signaling substance via the lactate receptor HCAR1 (Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 1). Recent studies indicate that HCAR1 is protective in mouse models of neonatal hypoxic ischemia and has a role in metabolic regulation in glial cells during hypoglycemia. Here we have studied potential impacts of HCAR1 on axonal and myelin development in the cerebral cortex and corpus callosum of young (p21) wild type (WT) mice and HCAR1 KO mice and in cortical organotypic brain slice cultures. The HCAR1 KO mice showed lower axonal area relative to WT in both cortex and corpus callosum. However, the myelin area was unaffected by HCAR1 KO. Using particle- and colocalization analysis we show that HCAR1 KO predominantly reduces axonal size in unmyelinated axons. Using an organotypic brain slice ...

The endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling system is robustly expressed in the cerebellum from embryonic developmental stages to adulthood. It plays a key role in regulating cerebellar synaptic plasticity and excitability, suggesting that impaired eCB signaling could lead to deficits in cerebellar adjustments of ongoing behaviors and cerebellar learning. Indeed, human mutations in DAGLα are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, we show that selective deletion of the eCB synthesizing enzyme diacylglycerol lipase alpha (Daglα) from mouse cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) alters motor and social behaviors, disrupts short-term synaptic plasticity in both excitatory and inhibitory synapses, and reduces PC activity during social exploration. Our results provide the first evidence for cerebellar-specific eCB regulation of social behaviors and implicate eCB regulation of synaptic plasticity and PC activity as the neural substrates contributing to these deficits.

Read science policy and advocacy news from the week of September 29, 2017.

Read science policy and advocacy news from the week of June 30, 2017.