Reshaping the Cortical Connectivity Gradient by Long-Term Cognitive Training During Development / 神经科学通报·英文版

The organization of the brain follows a topological hierarchy that changes dynamically during development. However, it remains unknown whether and how cognitive training administered over multiple years during development can modify this hierarchical topology. By measuring the brain and behavior of school children who had carried out abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) training for five years (starting from 7 years to 12 years old) in pre-training and post-training, we revealed the reshaping effect of long-term AMC intervention during development on the brain hierarchical topology. We observed the development-induced emergence of the default network, AMC training-promoted shifting, and regional changes in cortical gradients. Moreover, the training-induced gradient changes were located in visual and somatomotor areas in association with the visuospatial/motor-imagery strategy. We found that gradient-based features can predict the math ability within groups. Our findings provide novel insights into the dynamic nature of network recruitment impacted by long-term cognitive training during development.

Protective Effect of 3-hydroxybutyrate Derivate on the Apoptosis of PC12 / 医药导报

Objective To investigate the protective effect of 3-hydroxybutyrate derivate( methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate and ethyl-3-hydroxybutyrate)on the apoptosis of PC12 induced by FBS deficiency. Methods Methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate and ethyl-3-hydroxybutyrate were prepared by chemical degradation. PC12 cells were divided into different groups:medium with FBS as negative control,medium without FBS as positive control,medium with different concentrations of methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate or ethyl-3-hydroxybutyrate without FBS as sample groups. The shape and viability of cells in each group were analyzed by optical microscope and MTT. Results Compared with the negative control,cells in the positive control group demonstrated a large number of apoptosis,smaller and thinner morphology,and lower activity. However,the activity of cells was improved in the sample groups.Low concentration(0. 01 and 0. 001 mg·mL-1)of methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate and ethyl-3-hydroxybutyrate showed a protective effect on cell apoptosis,and 1 mg · mL-1 had the best protection effect. Conclusion High purity methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate and ethyl-3-hydroxybutyrate can be produced by chemical method,and both chemicals present good effect on protecting the PC12 from apoptosis.