Neuropeptide carnosine is exclusively accumulated in excitable tissues of vertebrataes, which is explained by its ability to scavenge free radicals. In heart and brain (tissues especially adopted for high level of oxygen consumption) from 30% (brain) to 95% (heart) of carnosine is present in N-acetylated form. We have compared an ability of both compounds to prevent oxidation of human serum lipoproteins, to decrease damaging effect of hypochlorite on rabbit erythrocytes, and to protect eucaryotic DNA against OH-radical breakage. In these in vitro models, N-acetylcarnosine (0.5-2.5 mM) was less effective than carnosine itself. However, in the in vivo hypobaric hypoxia test N-acetylcarnosine (100 mg/kg body weight), injected intraperitoneally to adult Wistar rats 1 hr before hypobaric hypoxia, protected animals from oxidative damage even better than carnosine. The viability of control, carnosine, and N-acetylcarnosine treated animals was 71%, 83% and 86%, respectively. Better in vivo effect of N-acetylcarnos...

The priming of pop-out (PoP) is a psychophysical phenomenon characterizing the role of target feature repetition on search speed during visual search tasks in which the target pops out. Its main manifestation is a decrease in reaction time (RT) for tria...

The 3-prime untranslated region (UTR) of an mRNA can be instrumental in regulating its translation, stability, and subcellular localization. Translocation of mRNA destined for synapses are often dependent upon 3-prime UTR sequences. The fragile X mental...

Recent work from our laboratory indicates that inactivating the dorsal agranular insular cortex (AId) attenuates cued reinstatement but has no effect on cocaine-prime reinstatement in a cocaine self-administration paradigm. Moreover, we found that AId i...

Brain aging and Alzheimer's disease demonstrate the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein plaques, tau protein tangles, and neuroinflammation. Plaques, Tangles and Inflammation (“PTI") is the trilogy that contributes directly to accelerated memory loss a...

Data on comparative neuroanatomy across cetacean (dolphin, porpoise, and whale) species is relatively scarce. Here we present a neuroanatomical study of two odontocete species from different families: the killer whale (Orcinus orca) and the Amazon River dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), from Delphinidae and Platanistidae, respectively. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was used to examine adult postmortem brains of these two species. MRI allows visualization of brain structures in normal 3D arrangement without the artifacts associated with histological procedures. Additionally, 3D MRI datasets are compatible with geometric morphometric analyses not possible with histological samples. MR images were acquired on a 1.5 T GE high-gradient MRI scanner equipped with 8.3 software. Axial and coronal T-1 weighted scans were obtained as 2 mm thick contiguous sections with a matrix size of 512 x 512 and an in-plane resolution of 32 x 32 cm yielding a voxel size of 0.63 x 0.63 x 2.0 mm. Axial, coronal, and sagittal T-2 slice...

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Amyloid β (Aβ) immunotherapy reduced cerebral Aβ in APP tg mice but resulted in meningoencephalitis in 6% of AD patients in a clinical trial (AN1792). In both mice and men, the predominant B cell epitope is located in Aβ1-15 region, while the T cell epitope is in the mid- or C-terminal region of Aβ. Thus, an Aβ immunogen containing the B cell epitope but lacking the T cell epitope may induce an effective humoral response but avoid a cellular immune response. Previously, we showed that priming with Aβ1-40/42 and boosting with Aβ1-15 resulted in anti-Aβ titers in WT mice. Here, we have extended those findings to J20 APP-tg mice by priming with Aβ1-40/42 and boosting with either Aβ1-15 or dendrimeric Aβ1-15 (dAβ1-15) peptide, composed of 16 copies of Aβ1-15 on a branched lysine core. J20 APP tg mice (4-5 mo old) received a s.c. injection of 100μg Aβ1-40/42 followed by 6 months of weekly intranasal immunization with 100μg of either Aβ1-15, dAβ1-15, or Aβ1-40/42 plus 5μg adjuvant LT(R192TG). Vehicle controls an...

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Enriched environments may have a transgenerational influence on brain plasticity, while sleep deprivation increases sensitivity to pain according to new studies published in eNeuro and JNeurosci.