Whereas Picasso’s work in ceramics, wood and bronze is rather well known, the body of his sculptures in glass remains an object of little research. In fact, as a thorough analysis reveals, they ...rarely find mention in publications or catalogues on Picasso and seldom are included in exhibitions or retrospectives on the great Spanish artist. This may on the one hand be attributed to a still prevailing perception of glass as a medium for industrial, functional or everyday purposes—hence discounting the material in terms of artistic output—while on the other to controversies of authorship, related to the question of ideation versus creation. Unlike ceramics or bronze, the realisation of blown glass sculpture hinges on the involvement of the maestro vetraio as the mediator between thought and form—thus resulting in a distancing between artwork and artist conditioned by the nature of the medium. Against this background, the paper aims at a better understanding of Picasso’s vision of sculpture through an examination of his creations in the vitreous medium. On these grounds, a closer look at Picasso’s works in glass is meant to highlight his unique ‘hand’ in terms of idiom, line and form.
Corticosteroid-mediated stress responses require the activation of complex brain circuits involving mitochondrial activity, but the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are scantly known. The ...endocannabinoid system is implicated in stress coping, and it can directly regulate brain mitochondrial functions via type 1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptors associated with mitochondrial membranes (mtCB1). In this study, we show that the impairing effect of corticosterone in the novel object recognition (NOR) task in mice requires mtCB1 receptors and the regulation of mitochondrial calcium levels in neurons. Different brain circuits are modulated by this mechanism to mediate the impact of corticosterone during specific phases of the task. Thus, whereas corticosterone recruits mtCB1 receptors in noradrenergic neurons to impair NOR consolidation, mtCB1 receptors in local hippocampal GABAergic interneurons are required to inhibit NOR retrieval. These data reveal unforeseen mechanisms mediating the effects of corticosteroids during different phases of NOR, involving mitochondrial calcium alterations in different brain circuits.
Display omitted
•Corticosterone impairs novel object recognition through mitochondrial CB1 receptors•mtCB1 in locus coeruleus noradrenergic cells mediates consolidation impairment•mtCB1 in hippocampal GABAergic neurons mediates impairment of retrieval•Mitochondrial calcium signaling is required for both effects of corticosterone
Skupio et al. demonstrate that corticosterone impairs the consolidation and retrieval of novel object recognition through the activation of mitochondria-associated CB1 (mtCB1) receptors in locus coeruleus noradrenergic and hippocampal GABAergic neurons, respectively. Furthermore, this study shows that alterations in mitochondrial calcium signaling participate in these effects of corticosterone.
