Neuroscience
January 26, 2026
Batoul Darwish, Jad El Masri, Lina Hourieh et al.
Exposure to nitrous oxide gas reduced anxiety-related symptoms and enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis in male rats with PTSD-like behavior induced by the single prolonged stress (SPS) model. SPS-exposed rats showed reduced exploratory performance in the Y-maze test, increased anxiety behavior in the elevated plus maze, and decreased neurogenesis compared to sham controls. Nitrous oxide exposure counteracted these effects, aligning with prior research suggesting it as a promising therapeutic avenue for PTSD and other psychological disorders. The authors propose nitrous oxide as a therapeutic approach for treating cognitive and anxiety-related symptoms of PTSD through its effects on hippocampal neurogenesis, but note that further research is needed to understand potential benefits, risks, and long-term impacts.
Neuroscience
January 9, 2025
Alireza Mohammad Hosseini, Hossein Khaleghzadeh-Ahangar, Atena Rahimi
Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60% of dementia cases, and no cure exists. Recent research suggests psychedelics may reduce neuroinflammation by activating 5HT2A receptors, lowering proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-6. Additionally, psychedelics may promote neuroplasticity by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels through sigma-1 receptor stimulation. This review examines these potential effects on Alzheimer's disease from neuroinflammatory and neuroplasticity perspectives.
Neuroscience
December 17, 2024
Erin B Rousseau, Hannah D Jackson, Suman Guha et al.
Delivering molecularly targeted therapies to specific brain regions is difficult because neurons vary in type and function. A miniaturized, implantable drug delivery system that allows real-time adjustment of treatments is described. Using this method, a drug (U-50488) that activates kappa opioid receptors was infused into the dorsal medial nucleus accumbens shell of the brain. Infusions into the dorsal region caused a reward-like conditioned place preference, while infusions just 1 mm more ventral caused conditioned place aversion. This precision may aid other neurotherapeutic interventions.
Neuroscience
November 22, 2024
Richard Ambron
Pain from an injury requires both long-term potentiation (LTP) in a subset of pyramidal neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex and the creation of electromagnetic waves in the surrounding area. LTP sensitizes synaptic transmission and changes the phenotype of the neurons, sustaining the waves and pain. The waves disseminate information about pain to distant brain areas and can influence LTP induction. According to leading theories, the waves communicate with the mind, where painfulness is experienced, supporting the view that the material brain and immaterial mind are separate. This challenges the idea that consciousness can be duplicated by mimicking brain activities.
Neuroscience
October 1, 2022
Mengke Zhang, Dongbin Lyu, Fan Wang et al.
Ketamine may rapidly relieve depression by improving neuroplasticity, activating autophagy, and inhibiting ferroptosis in the habenular nucleus. In rats subjected to chronic restraint stress, depression-like behaviors improved after ketamine treatment. The treatment increased autophagy-related proteins and reduced markers of ferroptosis, while enhancing neural plasticity in the habenular nucleus. These findings suggest a mechanism for ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects.
Neuroscience
August 2, 2012
S Savage, A Mattsson, L Olson
The cortical cholinergic innervation, important for memory and cognition, may be involved in schizophrenia. Using the dissociative drug phencyclidine (PCP) to model schizophrenia in rats, researchers monitored rapid effects of low doses (2 and 3 mg/kg) on neural activation via c-fos mRNA in cortical areas. PCP induced c-fos mRNA across nearly all cortical areas without altering BDNF or Nogo receptor mRNA levels. Unilateral lesioning of cholinergic projections to the cortex by 192-IgG-saporin in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis caused a striking ipsilateral decrease in PCP-induced c-fos induction, restricted to denervated areas. The findings suggest that PCP acts through cholinergic input to activate cortical neurons, supporting a role for the cholinergic system in schizophrenia symptoms.
Neuroscience
March 29, 2012
K Sekar, W M Findley, R R Llinás
Whether consciousness is all-or-none or graded remains debated. In a magnetoencephalography (MEG) study using sub-threshold, threshold, and supra-threshold duration inputs, averaged evoked responses showed a gradual increase in amplitude with increasing perceptual strength. However, single-trial analyses demonstrated that stimulus perception correlated with an all-or-none response, the temporal precision of which increased systematically as perception transitioned from ambiguous to robust states. Due to poor signal-to-noise resolution, whether perception-related responses were invariant in amplitude could not be unambiguously demonstrated. The findings strongly suggest that visual perception of simple stimuli is associated with an all-or-none cortical-evoked response whose temporal precision varies with perceptual strength.
Neuroscience
June 16, 2010
E A Hackler, N E Byun, C K Jones et al.
In rats, the compound BINA, which potentiates the mGluR2 receptor, reduced hyperactivity and brain activation caused by the NMDA antagonist PCP, a model of schizophrenia symptoms. BINA suppressed PCP-induced blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals in the prefrontal cortex, caudate-putamen, nucleus accumbens, and mediodorsal thalamus. These findings support mGluR2 as a viable target for schizophrenia treatment.
Neuroscience
November 9, 2007
N Benturquia, S Le Guen, C Canestrelli et al.
Nitrous oxide, a gas that blocks NMDA receptors, did not produce a rewarding effect on its own but impaired the acquisition of morphine-induced conditioned place preference and blocked the expression of both cocaine- and morphine-induced conditioned place preference in mice. The effects lasted for four days after exposure. No changes were observed in tests of attention, anxiety, depression, locomotion, or anhedonia, indicating the gas's effects were specific to the conditioned place preference. The findings suggest nitrous oxide may have clinical potential for treating morphine and cocaine addiction.
Neuroscience
January 1, 2001
J Marksteiner, U Weiss, C Weis et al.
Phencyclidine (PCP) alters levels of secretoneurin, a peptide derived from secretogranin II, in specific brain regions of rats. A single dose of PCP (10 mg/kg) caused a transient decrease in secretoneurin in the prefrontal cortex after 4 hours, followed by an increase after 12 hours. Repeated daily PCP for five days elevated secretoneurin levels in cortical areas and increased the number of neurons containing secretoneurin and its messenger RNA, while chromogranin A and B remained unchanged. The authors suggest these changes may reflect synaptic alterations relevant to schizophrenia.