Alterations in dendritic length and branch and K / 解剖学报

Objective To study the morphology of olfactory bulb(OB) neurons and the change of related proteins, and explore the causes of olfactory dysfuction in Alzheimer' s disease(AD). Methods Golgi-Cox staining technique was used to evaluate the morphological changes of neurons in the OB and anterior piriform cortex (aPC) of APP/PS1 AD model mice. The morphology of neurons was determined by Sholl analysis. Western blotting was used to evaluate the levels of protein expression. Results The results of Golgi-Cox showed that the dendrite length and branch number reduced significantly in the OB neurons of 3-5-month-old APP/PS1 mice, an age that the mice did not show the pathological characteristics and cognitive impairment of AD. Western blotting analysis showed that levels of potassium chloride cotransporter 2(KCC2), a potassium chloride transporter crucial for neuronal morphology and synaptic function, decreased significantly in the OB of 3-5-month-old APP/PS1 mice. Conclusion Abnormal neuronal morphology and KCC2 signal might be the basis of early olfactory dysfunction in AD. Thus, maintaining normal KCC2 signal may be one of the keys to intervene the olfactory abnormalities in the early stage of AD.

A sketch of the overlap in the neural circuitry underlying psychological- and physical-pain / 生理学报

From the phenomenological point of view, pain can be classified into psychological-pain and physical-pain. Emerging evidence has shown that the psychological- and physical-pain recruit overlapping neural activity in regions associated with the affective component of pain, and share some common pain circuits, e.g., the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the anterior insula (AI) play important roles in both psychological- and physical-pain. Therefore, understanding the way in which psychological- and physical-pain demonstrate either similarity or discrepancy may provide new insights into the relationship between the two types of experiences and potential targets for treating psychological suffering. This review summarizes research progress that has been obtained through experiments conducted in human and nonhuman animals to discuss the similarity, discrepancy and interaction between psychological- and physical-pain. The important next steps, e.g., uncovering the mechanisms underlying the overlap of psychological- and physical-pain; and whether chronic psychological-pain shapes brain plasticity as physical-pain does, are also discussed.

A study on the level of N -terminal pro -B -type natriuretic peptide in evaluating the cardiac function of pregnant women with cardiac disease / 预防医学

Objective To explore the relationship between the cardiac function of pregnant women with cardiac disease and the level of N -terminal pro -B -type natriuretic peptide (NT -pro -BNP).Methods A total of 74 pregnant women with cardiac disease and 80 healthy pregnant women were enrolled in the study and the NT -pro -BNP was detected and compared.The concentrations of NT -pro -BNP in different trimester were compared among the healthy pregnant women, and the correlation between the cardiac function of pregnant women with cardiac disease and the level of NT -pro -BNP were analyzed.Results The median of concentrations of plasma NT -pro -BNP in pregnant women with cardiac disease was 352.50 pg/mL,which was significantly higher than that in healthy pregnant women 58.00 pg/mL(P <0.01 ).The cardiac function was positively correlated with the level of NT -pro -BNP (P <0.01 ).The concentration of plasma NT -pro -BNP during the late trimester(49.00 pg/mL)was significantly higher than that of the early trimester(49.00 pg/mL) among the healthy pregnant women (P <0.01 ).Conclusion It is of great clinical value for the concentration of plasma NT-pro -BNP in evaluating the cardiac function of pregnant women with cardiac disease,and the pregnancy may influence the cardiac function.