Traumatic brain injury (TBI) poses a significant threat to children's health. Cognitive rehabilitation for pediatric TBI has the potential to improve the quality of life following the injury. Virtual ...reality (VR) can provide enriched cognitive training in a life-like but safe environment. However, existing VR applications for pediatric TBIs have primarily focused on physical rehabilitation.
This study aims to design and develop an integrative hardware and software VR system to provide rehabilitation of executive functions (EF) for children with TBI, particularly in 3 core EF: inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.
The VR training system was developed by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in best practices of VR design, developmental psychology, and pediatric TBI rehabilitation. Pilot usability testing of this novel system was conducted among 10 healthy children and 4 children with TBIs.
Our VR-based interactive cognitive training system was developed to provide assistive training on core EF following pediatric TBI. Pilot usability testing showed adequate user satisfaction ratings for both the hardware and software components of the VR system.
This project designed and tested a novel VR-based system for executive function rehabilitation that is specifically adapted to children following TBI.
The attaching and effacing (A/E) pathogens enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli, enteropathogenic E coli and Citrobacter rodentium colonise intestinal tracts, attach to enterocytes, collapse infected ...cell microvilli and alter numerous host cell processes during infection. Enterocyte alterations result in numerous small molecules being released from host cells that likely contribute to diarrhoeal phenotypes observed during these infections. One possible route for small molecules to be released from intestinal cells may be through functional gap junction hemichannels. Here we examine the involvement of these hemichannels during the diarrhoeal disease caused by A/E pathogens in vivo.
Mice were infected with the diarrhoea-causing murine A/E pathogen C rodentium for 7 days. Connexin43 (Cx43) protein levels and immunolocalization in the colon were initially used to determine alterations during A/E bacterial infections in vivo. Connexin mimetic peptides and connexin permeable tracer molecules were used to gage the presence and function of unpaired connexin hemichannels. The role of Cx43 in diarrhoea generation was assessed by comparing infections of wild-type mice to Cx43 mutant mice and determining the water abundance in the colonic luminal material.
We demonstrate that Cx43 protein levels are increased in colonocytes during in vivo A/E bacterial infections, resulting in functionally open connexon hemichannels in apical membranes of infected cells. moreover, infected Cx43 +/- mice do not suffer from diarrhoeal disease.
This study provides the first evidence that functional connexon hemichannels can occur in the intestine and are a novel molecular mechanism of water release during infectious diarrhoea.
Recently, hippocampal neuropeptide Y (
NPY) gene therapy has been shown to effectively suppress both acute and chronic seizures in animal model of epilepsy, thus representing a promising novel ...antiepileptic treatment strategy, particularly for patients with intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). However, our previous studies show that recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV)-NPY treatment in naive rats attenuates long-term potentiation (LTP) and transiently impairs hippocampal learning process, indicating that negative effect on memory function could be a potential side effect of
NPY gene therapy.
Here we report how rAAV vector-mediated overexpression of NPY in the hippocampus affects rapid kindling, and subsequently explore how synaptic plasticity and transmission is affected by kindling and NPY overexpression by field recordings in CA1 stratum radiatum of brain slices. In animals injected with rAAV-NPY, we show that rapid kindling-induced hippocampal seizures
in vivo are effectively suppressed as compared to rAAV-empty injected (control) rats. Six to nine weeks later, basal synaptic transmission and short-term synaptic plasticity are unchanged after rapid kindling, while LTP is significantly attenuated
in vitro. Importantly, transgene NPY overexpression has no effect on short-term synaptic plasticity, and does not further compromise LTP in kindled animals. These data suggest that epileptic seizure-induced impairment of memory function in the hippocampus may not be further affected by rAAV-NPY treatment, and may be considered less critical for clinical application in epilepsy patients already experiencing memory disturbances.
Abstract The anticonvulsive properties of neuropeptide Y (NPY) are opening up opportunity for the development of NPY gene transfer as a therapy for epilepsy. In order to pursue the potential clinical ...translation of this approach, the effects of somatic NPY gene transfer on other hippocampal functions need to be assessed. The present study characterized the behavioral effects of recombinant adeno-associated viral vector (rAAV)-mediated hippocampal NPY overexpression in adult male mice and also Y1 receptor knockout mice. In wild-type mice, there were no obvious adverse effects on the general health, motor function and cognition following rAAV-NPY treatment. Moreover, hippocampal NPY overexpression induced a moderate anxiolytic effect in the open field test and elevated plus maze. Intriguingly, the treatment also increased depressive-like behavior in the tail suspension test. Elevated hippocampal NPY levels in the absence of Y1 signalling had no effects on anxiety or cognition and actually improved the depressive-like phenotype observed in the wild-type mice treated with rAAV-NPY.
Understanding the mechanisms that microbes exploit to invade host cells and cause disease is crucial if we are to eliminate their threat. Although pathogens use a variety of microbial factors to ...trigger entry into non-phagocytic cells, their targeting of the host cell process of endocytosis has emerged as a common theme. To accomplish this, microbes often rewire the normal course of particle internalization, frequently usurping theoretical maximal sizes to permit entry and reconfiguring molecular components that were once thought to be required for vesicle formation. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of how toxins, viruses, bacteria, and fungi manipulate the host cell endocytic machinery to generate diseases. Additionally, we will reveal the advantages of using these organisms to expand our general knowledge of endocytic mechanisms in eukaryotic cells.
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a key regulator of energy homeostasis and is implicated in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Whereas it is known that hypothalamic administration of exogenous ...NPY peptides leads to increased body weight gain, hyperphagia, and many hormonal and metabolic changes characteristic of an obesity syndrome, the Y receptor(s) mediating these effects is disputed and unclear. To investigate the role of different Y receptors in the NPY-induced obesity syndrome, we used recombinant adeno-associated viral vector to overexpress NPY in mice deficient of selective single or multiple Y receptors (including Y1, Y2, and Y4). Results from this study demonstrated that long-term hypothalamic overexpression of NPY lead to marked hyperphagia, hypogonadism, body weight gain, enhanced adipose tissue accumulation, hyperinsulinemia, and other hormonal changes characteristic of an obesity syndrome. NPY-induced hyperphagia, hypogonadism, and obesity syndrome persisted in all genotypes studied (Y1−/−, Y2−/−, Y2Y4−/−, and Y1Y2Y4−/− mice). However, triple deletion of Y1, Y2, and Y4 receptors prevented NPY-induced hyperinsulinemia. These findings suggest that Y1, Y2, and Y4 receptors under this condition are not crucially involved in NPY’s hyperphagic, hypogonadal, and obesogenic effects, but they are responsible for the central regulation of circulating insulin levels by NPY.
Endogenous opioids, particularly dynorphins, have been implicated in regulation of energy balance, but it is not known how they mediate this in vivo. We investigated energy homeostasis in dynorphin ...knockout mice (Dyn(-/-) mice) and probed the interactions between dynorphins and the neuropeptide Y (NPY) system. Dyn(-/-) mice were no different from wild types with regards to body weight and basal and fasting-induced food intake, but fecal output was increased, suggesting decreased nutrient absorption, and they had significantly less white fat and lost more weight during a 24-h fast. The neuroendocrine and thermal responses to fasting were at least as pronounced in Dyn(-/-) as in wild types, and there was no stimulatory effect of dynorphin knockout on 24-h energy expenditure (kilocalories of heat produced) or physical activity. However, Dyn(-/-) mice showed increased circulating concentrations of 3,4-dihydroxyphenlacetic acid and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol, suggesting increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system. The respiratory exchange ratio of male but not female Dyn(-/-) mice was reduced, demonstrating increased fat oxidation. Interestingly, expression of the orexigenic acting NPY in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus was reduced in Dyn(-/-) mice. However, fasting-induced increases in pre-prodynorphin expression in the arcuate nucleus, the paraventricular nucleus, and the ventromedial hypothalamus but not the lateral hypothalamus were abolished by deletion of Y(1) but not Y(2) receptors. Therefore, ablation of dynorphins results in increases in fatty acid oxidation in male mice, reductions in adiposity, and increased weight loss during fasting, possibly via increases in sympathetic activity, decreases in intestinal nutrient absorption, and interactions with the NPYergic system.
Objective: Chronic central administration of neuropeptide Y (NPY) has dramatic effects on energy balance; however, the exact role of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in this is unknown. ...The aim of this study was to further unravel the contribution of NPY signaling in the PVN to energy balance.
Research Methods and Procedures: Recombinant adeno‐associated viral particles containing NPY (rAAV‐NPY) were injected in the rat brain with coordinates targeted at the PVN. For three weeks, body weight, food intake, endocrine parameters, body temperature, and locomotor activity were measured. Furthermore, effects on insulin sensitivity and expression of NPY, agouti‐related protein (AgRP), and pro‐opiomelanocortin in the arcuate nucleus were studied.
Results: Food intake was increased specifically in the light period, and dark phase body temperature and locomotor activity were reduced. This resulted in obesity characterized by increased fat mass; elevated plasma insulin, leptin, and adiponectin; decreased AgRP expression in the arcuate nucleus; and decreased insulin sensitivity; whereas plasma corticosterone was unaffected.
Discussion: These data suggest that increased NPY expression targeted at the PVN is sufficient to induce obesity. Interestingly, plasma concentrations of leptin and insulin were elevated before a rise in food intake, which suggests that NPY in the PVN influences leptin and insulin secretion independently from food intake. This strengthens the role of the PVN in regulation of energy balance by NPY.
Neuropeptide Y, a neuropeptide abundantly expressed in the brain, has been implicated in the regulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-somatotropic axis and the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadotropic axis. ...Elevated hypothalamic neuropeptide Y expression, such as that occurs during fasting, is known to inhibit both of these axes. However, it is not known which Y receptor(s) mediate these effects. Here we demonstrate, using Y receptor knockout mice, that Y2 and Y4 receptors are separately involved in the regulation of these axes. Fasting-induced inhibition of hypothalamic GHRH mRNA expression and reduction of circulating IGF-I levels were observed in wild-type and Y4−/− mice but not Y2−/− or Y2−/−Y4−/− mice. In contrast, fasting-induced reduction of GnRH expression in the medial preoptic area and testis testosterone content were abolished in the absence of Y4 receptors. Colocalization of Y2 receptors and GHRH in the arcuate nucleus (Arc) suggests that GHRH mRNA expression in this region might be directly regulated by Y2 receptors. Indeed, hypothalamic-specific deletion of Y2 receptors in conditional knockout mice prevented the fasting-induced reduction in Arc GHRH mRNA expression. On the other hand, fasting-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA expression in the medial preoptic area is more likely indirectly influenced by Y4 receptors because no Y4 receptors could be detected on GnRH neurons in this region. Together these data show that fasting inhibits the somatotropic axis via direct action on Y2 receptors in the Arc and indirectly inhibits the gonadotropic axis via Y4 receptors.
Reduction in levels of sex hormones at menopause in women is associated with two common, major outcomes, the accumulation of white adipose tissue, and the progressive loss of bone because of excess ...osteoclastic bone resorption exceeding osteoblastic bone formation. Current antiresorptive therapies can reduce osteoclastic activity but have only limited capacity to stimulate osteoblastic bone formation and restore lost skeletal mass. Likewise, the availability of effective pharmacological weight loss treatments is currently limited. Here we demonstrate that conditional deletion of hypothalamic neuropeptide Y2 receptors can prevent ongoing bone loss in sex hormone-deficient adult male and female mice. This benefit is attributable solely to activation of an anabolic osteoblastic bone formation response that counterbalances persistent elevation of bone resorption, suggesting the Y2-mediated anabolic pathway to be independent of sex hormones. Furthermore, the increase in fat mass that typically occurs after ovariectomy is prevented by germ line deletion of Y2 receptors, whereas in male mice body weight and fat mass were consistently lower than wild-type regardless of sex hormone status. Therefore, this study indicates a role for Y2 receptors in the accumulation of adipose tissue in the hypogonadal state and demonstrates that hypothalamic Y2 receptors constitutively restrain osteoblastic activity even in the absence of sex hormones. The increase in bone formation after release of this tonic inhibition suggests a promising new avenue for osteoporosis treatment.
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