Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and learning and memory deficits in Neuroinflammatory diseases.

Animal survival depends on cognitive abilities such as learning and memory to adapt to environmental changes. Memory functions require an enhanced activity and connectivity of a particular arrangement of engram neurons, supported by the concerted action of neurons, glia, and vascular cells. The deterioration of the cholinergic system is a common occurrence in neurological conditions exacerbated by aging such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease (PD).

Cotinine Plus Krill Oil Decreased Depressive Behavior, and Increased Astrocytes Survival in the Hippocampus of Mice Subjected to Restraint Stress.

Restraint stress (RS) is a condition affecting millions of people worldwide. The investigation of new therapies to alleviate the consequences of prolonged RS is much needed. Cotinine, a nicotine-derivative, has shown to prevent the decrease in cerebral synaptic density, working memory deficits, anxiety, and depressive-like behavior after prolonged restraint stress (RS) in mice.

Repetetive hindlimb movement using intermittent adaptive neuromuscular electrical stimulation in an incomplete spinal cord injury rodent model.

The long-term objective of this work is to understand the mechanisms by which electrical stimulation based movement therapies may harness neural plasticity to accelerate and enhance sensorimotor recovery after incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI). An adaptive neuromuscular electrical stimulation (aNMES) paradigm was implemented in adult Long Evans rats with thoracic contusion injury (T8 vertebral level, 155+/-2 Kdyne). In lengthy sessions with lightly anesthetized animals, hip flexor and extensor muscles were stimulated using an aNMES control system in order to generate desired hip movements.

Age-related differences in MK-801 induced behaviors in dopamine D3 receptor knock out mice.

It is not known if age plays an important role in the D(3) receptor regulation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist induced hyperactivity. Wild type (WT) and dopamine D(3) receptor mutant (D(3)R KO) mice were divided into young (under 7 months) and middle age (over 12 months) groups and tested for dizocilpine (MK-801)-induced hyperactivity and rearing. Mice were administered vehicle (saline, 1 ml/100g body weight, i.