1,721,069 research outputs found
Neurotrophins' modulation by olive polyphenols
No full textPolyphenols are probably the most known and investigated molecules of nutritional interest as micronutrients present in abundance in our diet. Some of the most important food sources of polyphenols in the Mediterranean diet are olives and olive oil. A growing body of evidence from animal models to clinical studies indicates that polyphenol compounds may have neuroprotective effects in several pathologies of the nervous system through the control of oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis and mitochondrial dysfunction
Paternal alcohol exposure in mice alters brain NGF and BDNF and increases ethanol-elicited preference in male offspring
Get PDFEthanol (EtOH) exposure during pregnancy induces cognitive and physiological deficits in the offspring. However, the role of paternal alcohol exposure (PAE) on offspring EtOH sensitivity and neurotrophins has not received much attention. The present study examined whether PAE may disrupt nerve growth factor (NGF) and/or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and affect EtOH preference/rewarding properties in the male offspring. CD1 sire mice were chronically addicted for EtOH or administered with sucrose. Their male offsprings when adult were assessed for EtOH preference by a conditioned place preference paradigm. NGF and BDNF, their receptors (p75(NTR) , TrkA and TrkB), dopamine active transporter (DAT), dopamine receptors D1 and D2, pro-NGF and pro-BDNF were also evaluated in brain areas. PAE affected NGF levels in frontal cortex, striatum, olfactory lobes, hippocampus and hypothalamus. BDNF alterations in frontal cortex, striatum and olfactory lobes were found. PAE induced a higher susceptibility to the EtOH rewarding effects mostly evident at the lower concentration (0.5 g/kg) that was ineffective in non-PAE offsprings. Moreover, higher ethanol concentrations (1.5 g/kg) produced an aversive response in PAE animals and a significant preference in non-PAE offspring. PAE affected also TrkA in the hippocampus and p75(NTR) in the frontal cortex. DAT was affected in the olfactory lobes in PAE animals treated with 0.5 g/kg of ethanol while no differences were found on D1/D2 receptors and for pro-NGF or pro-BDNF. In conclusion, this study shows that: PAE affects NGF and BDNF expression in the mouse brain; PAE may induce ethanol intake preference in the male offspring
Nerve growth factor, stress and diseases
No full textStress is a constant threat for homeostasis and is represented by different extrinsic and intrinsic stimuli (stressors, Hans Selye's 'noxious agents'), such as aggressive behavior, fear, diseases, physical activity, drugs, surgical injury, and environmental and physiological changes. Our organism responds to stress activating the adaptive stress system to activate compensatory responses for restoring homeostasis. Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) was discovered as a signaling molecule involved in survival, protection, differentiation, and proliferation of sympathetic and peripheral sensory neurons. NGF mediates stress with an important role in translating environmental stimuli into physiological and pathological feedbacks since NGF levels undergo important variations after exposure to stressful events. Psychological stress, lifestyle stress, and oxidative stress are well known to increase the risk of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, alcohol use disorders and metabolic disorders such as metabolic syndrome. This review reports recent works describing the activity of NGF in mental and metabolic disorders related to stress
Nerve growth factor in alcohol use disorders
Get PDFThe nerve growth factor (NGF) belongs to the family of neurotrophic factors. Initially discovered as a signaling molecule involved in the survival, protection, differentiation and proliferation of sympathetic and peripheral sensory neurons, it also participates in the regulation of the immune system and endocrine system. NGF biological activity is due to the binding of two classes of receptors: the tropomyosin-related kinase A (TrkA), and the low-affinity NGF pan-neurotrophin receptor p75. Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) are one of the most frequent mental disorders in developed countries, characterized by heavy drinking, despite the negative effects of alcohol on brain development and cognitive functions that cause individual's work, medical, legal, educational and social life problems. In addition, alcohol consumption during pregnancy disrupts the development of the fetal brain causing a wide range of neurobehavioral outcomes collectively known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The rationale of this review is to describe crucial findings on the role of NGF in humans and animals when exposed to prenatal, chronic alcohol consumption and also on binge drinking
SNARE proteins as molecular masters of interneuronal communication
Get PDFIn the beginning of the 20th century the groundbreaking work\ud
of Ramon y Cajal firmly established the neuron doctrine, according to which neurons are the basic structural and functional units of the nervous system. Von Weldeyer coined the term “neuron” in 1891, but the huge leap forward in\ud
neuroscience was due to Cajal’s meticulous microscopic observations of brain sections stained with an improved version of Golgi’s la reazione nera (black reaction). The latter improvement of Golgi’s technique made it possible to visualize the arborizations of single neurons that were “colored brownish black even to their finest branchlets, standing out with unsurpassable clarity upon a transparent yellow background. All was sharp as a sketch with Chinese ink”. The high quality of both the visualization of individual nerve cells and the work performed on studying the anatomy of the central nervous system lead Ramon y Cajal to the conclusion that axons output the nervous impulses to the dendrites or the soma of other target neurons
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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