The present study aimed to characterize the seizures produced by injections of Thiosemicarbazide (TSC), a glutamic acid decarboxylase inhibitor. It aimed also to evaluate the anticonvulsant effect of the antiseizure medications Phenobarbital (PHB), Valproate (VPA), and Phenytoin (PNT) and of the antipsychotics Chlorpromazine (CPZ) and Haloperidol (HAL) as well as the antidepressant SSRI, Fluoxetine (FXT). Male Wistar rats received TSC i.p. injections of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, and 20 mg/kg. The rat's changes in behavior and the onset latencies of seizures were recorded and compared using an ANOVA test whereas the incidences of seizures were compared using a c2 test. Seizure severity was categorized as Partial Myoclonic Seizures (PMS), Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures (GTCS), and Status Epilepticus (SE). At low doses, TSC induced a significant change in behavior indicating an anxiety-inducing effect. The threshold dose for PMS was 7.5 mg/kg and when the dose increased to 10 mg/kg, PMS progressed to GTCS. TSC 7.5 mg/kg dose also induced susceptibility to audiogenic seizure (p<0.005) while 10 and 20 mg/kg doses caused SE in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05). PHB (30 mg/kg), VPA (200 mg/kg), PNT (30 mg/kg), and VPA + PNT (100+15 mg/kg) prevented SE and significantly reduced the incidence of TSC 10 mg/kg-induced PMS (p<0.05) and GTCS (p<0.001). These treatments also increased the onset latencies of seizures (p<0.001). HAL (1 mg/kg), CPZ (1 and 2 mg/kg), and FXT (1 and 2 mg/kg) significantly reduced the incidence of PMS (p<0.05) and GTCS (p<0.01). The occurrence of SE was completely inhibited by FXT (p<0.001). All doses of HAL, CPZ, and FXT increased onset latencies of GTCS (p<0.01) while HAL (1.5 mg/kg), CPZ (2 mg/kg), and FXT (1 and 2 mg/kg) also increased onset latencies of PMS (p<0.05). Our study validated TSC-induced seizures in rats as a dose-dependent model of PMS, GTCS, and SE.
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) typically, occurs in patients over 55 years of age and can cause a significant loss of productivity. SAH also has a high mortality rate and those who survive often suffer from early and secondary brain injuries that can result from the condition. By gaining a better understanding of the pathophysiology of SAH, it may be possible to identify therapeutic agents to improve outcomes. Adropin is a novel peptide that is primarily secreted in the liver and brain. Research has shown that adropin can activate endothelial NO synthase through post-transcriptional mechanisms. Studies in animal models have demonstrated that therapies using synthetic adropin peptide or adropin overexpression can have positive effects on reducing infarct dimensions and enhancing neurological functioning. In this review, we aim to discuss the potential effect of Adropin on SAH and its potential as a therapeutic agent.
Characterization of Electromyogram (EMG) signals is important for identifying neuromuscular diseases. Although various techniques were implemented for classification, none of them were implemented in the complexity domain. In this study, characterization of EMG signals recorded from healthy, neuropathic and myopathic subjects has been performed in complexity domain based on Multiscale Entropy (MSE) method. To do this, the multiscale entropy method has been applied to an EMG database publicly available in PhysioNet. The complexity profile curves obtained with the MSE approach have shown promising classification among healthy subject, neuropathic and myopathic patients in terms of complexity. One way ANOVA test has shown statistically significant differences (p<0.01) among these three classes. Moreover, Support Vector Machine (SVM) has demonstrated a classification accuracy of 86.1% for characterizing EMG signals of neuromuscular disorders. Furthermore, myopathic and neuropathic patients have been recognized with 66.7% sensitivity at 95.8% specificity and 100% sensitivity at 100% specificity respectively.
Brain ischemia is the second most deadly disease in the world and it has already been proven that mild and moderate physical exercises minimize the deleterious effects of this disease on the brain. Curcumin has also been considered a neuroprotective substance. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of high-resistance training and curcumin on the brain and motor performance of rats with cerebral ischemia using a model of bilateral common carotid artery occlusion. Functional tests were performed to analyze rats' motor performance, namely parallel bar test and misstep test. For nerve tissue analysis, Nissl staining and neuronal counting were performed in the cerebral cortex, striatum and hippocampus of the brains. Two protocols of high-intensity physical training were performed for six weeks, five days a week, from 20 to 40 min. The results demonstrated that there were significant differences in the parallel bar test and misstep test regarding the number of errors committed by the trained animals in comparison to the sedentary ones and the group that received curcumin. With respect to the number of neurons in the cortex and striatum, a lower neuronal density was observed in the trained animals. Thus, the animals of the sedentary group and the group that received curcumin exhibited better motor performance and higher neuronal density in the areas assessed, demonstrating that high-intensity physical exercise increased brain injury and worsened animals' motor performance.
This study aims to evaluate the reliability of an anatomy-topographic location method for the anatomical references that form the inferior frontal gyrus and compare the findings of both studied brain hemisphere as well as the genre. Two different pulse sequences-gradient-echo T1 (T1 GRE) and reversal recovery gradient-echo T1 (T1 IR GRE) were used for such purpose. The sample consisted of 30 healthy individuals with a mean age 25.3±7.04 years, 16 women (53%) and 14 men (46%). A methodology adapted to identify the limits of the structure forming the inferior frontal gyrus was used. The reliability of the method was evaluated by the level of agreement on intra-examiner and inter-examiner analysis. There was a satisfactory degree of agreement-good, very good or excellent for most references evaluated both on intra-observer and inter-observer analysis. The only exception was the left orbital part on intra -examiner analysis in T1 IR GRE (Kappa test, p>0, 05). No differences were observed between the findings regarding gender. When evaluating the performance between sequences T1 GRE performed better in the independent identification of the structures of the analyzed hemispheres (Kappa test technique Jackniffe, p<0.05). The method proved to be reliable for identifying the structures that make up the inferior frontal gyrus. There was no difference between the morphological aspects related to brain hemisphere and gender. Comparing the performance of the sequences, T1 GRE functioned better. However, further studies are needed to confirm such findings.
