The Neurological and Hemodynamics Safety of an Airway Clearance Technique in Patients with Acute Brain Injury: An Analysis of Intracranial Pressure Pulse Morphology Using a Non-Invasive Sensor.

Patients with acute brain injury (ACI) often require mechanical ventilation (MV) and are subject to pulmonary complications, thus justifying the use of Airway Clearance Techniques (ACTs), but their effects on intracranial pressure (ICP) are unknown. This study investigates the neurological and hemodynamics safety of an ACT called ventilator hyperinflation (VHI) in patients with ACI. This was a randomized clinical equivalence trial, which included patients aged ≥ 18 years with a clinical diagnosis of hemorrhagic stroke, with symptom onset within 48 h.

Fish-oil supplementation decreases Indoleamine-2,3-Dioxygenase expression and increases hippocampal serotonin levels in the LPS depression model.

Aim: To test the hypothesis that the antidepressant-like effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is related to the Indoleamine-2,3-Dioxygenase (IDO) inhibition.

Methods: Animals were supplemented for 50 days with 3.0 g/kg of Fish Oil (FO) or received water (Control group - C), via gavage.

Neuroprotective effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the 6-OHDA model of Parkinson's disease is mediated by a reduction of inducible nitric oxide synthase.

Objective: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by deterioration of the nigrostriatal system and associated with chronic neuroinflammation. Glial activation has been associated with regulating the survival of dopaminergic neurons and is thought to contribute to PD through the release of proinflammatory and neurotoxic factors, such as reactive nitric oxide (NO) that triggers or exacerbates neurodegeneration in PD. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) exert protective effects, including antiinflammatory, antiapoptotic, and antioxidant activity, and may be promising for delaying or preventing PD by attenuating neuroinflammation and preserving dopaminergic neurons.

Maternal Omega-3 Supplement Improves Dopaminergic System in Pre- and Postnatal Inflammation-Induced Neurotoxicity in Parkinson's Disease Model.

Evidence suggests that idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is the consequence of a neurodevelopmental disruption, rather than strictly a consequence of aging. Thus, we hypothesized that maternal supplement of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFA) may be associated with neuroprotection mechanisms in a self-sustaining cycle of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-model of PD. To test this hypothesis, behavioral and neurochemical assay were performed in prenatally LPS-exposed offspring at postnatal day 21.

The Antidepressant-Like Effect of Fish Oil: Possible Role of Ventral Hippocampal 5-HT1A Post-synaptic Receptor.

The pathophysiology of depression is not completely understood; nonetheless, numerous studies point to serotonergic dysfunction as a possible cause. Supplementation with fish oil rich docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA) during critical periods of development produces antidepressant effects by increasing serotonergic neurotransmission, particularly in the hippocampus. In a previous study, the involvement of 5-HT1A receptors was demonstrated and we hypothesized that fish oil supplementation (from conception to weaning) alters the function of post-synaptic hippocampal 5-HT1A receptors.

Fish oil improves anxiety-like, depressive-like and cognitive behaviors in olfactory bulbectomised rats.

Depression is increasingly present in the population, and its pathophysiology and treatment have been investigated with several animal models, including olfactory bulbectomy (Obx). Fish oil (FO) supplementation during the prenatal and postnatal periods decreases depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors. The present study evaluated the effect of FO supplementation on Obx-induced depressive-like behavior and cognitive impairment.

Does Parkinson's disease and type-2 diabetes mellitus present common pathophysiological mechanisms and treatments?

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease afflicting about 1% of people over 65 years old and 4-5% of people over 85 years. It is proposed that a cascade of deleterious factors is set in motion within that neuron made not of one, but rather of multiple factors such as free radicals, excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and apoptosis to cite only some of the most salient. In this scenario, chronic systemic inflammation, as well as impaired mitochondrial metabolism, have also been suspected of playing a role in the development of type-2 diabetes, and the possibility of a shared pathophysiology of PD and type-2 diabetes has been proposed.

REM sleep deprivation generates cognitive and neurochemical disruptions in the intranigral rotenone model of Parkinson's disease.

The recently described intranigral rotenone model of Parkinson's disease (PD) in rodents provides an interesting model for studying mechanisms of toxin-induced dopaminergic neuronal injury. The relevance of this model remains unexplored with regard to sleep disorders that occur in PD. On this basis, the construction of a PD model depicting several behavioral and neurochemical alterations related to sleep would be helpful in understanding the association between PD and sleep regulation.

Multiple intranigral unilateral LPS infusion protocol generates a persistent cognitive impairment without cumulative dopaminergic impairment.

Inflammation in Parkinson's disease (PD) is a continuous process and might be implicated in the progression of neuronal degeneration. Taking this into account, we proposed a new protocol with multiple and consecutive intranigral lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration in order to analyze its effects on cognitive behavior. Additionally, striatal concentrations of the neurotransmitters dopamine (DA) and serotonin and their respective metabolites were assessed in three different time-points with the purpose of identifying the consecutive and cumulative effects of LPS infusions.

Fish oil has beneficial effects on behavior impairment and oxidative stress in rats subjected to a hepatic encephalopathy model.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a severe neuropsychiatric complication of liver failure, in which there is injury to brain cells, particularly neurons and glia. Brain cells and their function are greatly influenced by omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, essential components of cell membrane phospholipids in the brain that are crucial to normal function. This study assessed the effect of chronic fish oil (FO) supplementation (rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) on behavior and oxidative stress of Wistar rats subjected to HE due to a liver failure caused by thioacetamide (TAA) intoxication.

Motor and non-motor features of Parkinson's disease - a review of clinical and experimental studies.

Classically, Parkinson's disease (PD) is considered to be a motor system affliction and its diagnosis is based on the presence of a set of cardinal motor signs (e.g. rigidity, bradykinesia, rest tremor and postural reflex disturbance).

17β-estradiol replacement in young, adult and middle-aged female ovariectomized rats promotes improvement of spatial reference memory and an antidepressant effect and alters monoamines and BDNF levels in memory- and depression-related brain areas.

Clinical and experimental evidence suggest that estrogens have a major impact on cognition, presenting neurotrophic and neuroprotective actions in regions involved in such function. In opposite, some studies indicate that certain hormone therapy regimens may provoke detrimental effects over female cognitive and neurological function. Therefore, we decided to investigate how estrogen treatment would influence cognition and depression in different ages.

The role of 5-HT₁A receptors in fish oil-mediated increased BDNF expression in the rat hippocampus and cortex: a possible antidepressant mechanism.

Epidemiological and dietary studies show that nutritional deficit of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFA) is directly related to the prevalence and severity of depression. Supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) during critical periods of development (pregnancy and lactation) is essential for cortical maturation, synaptogenesis and myelination, and may also mitigate the risk for cognitive deficits and psychopathologies in young adults. The present study was performed to evaluate the involvement of serotonin (5-HT) receptors, particularly of 5-HT(1A), and hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the antidepressant effect of ω-3 PUFA supplementation.

Effect of different doses of estrogen on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system in two 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesion models of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease results from a degeneration of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and it is more prevalent in men than in women. Estrogen has neuroprotective action of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic (NSDA) neurons. It was investigated whether differences in plasma 17β-estradiol (E2) levels alter the degree of neuroprotection in NSDA neurons.

Chronic ω-3 fatty acids supplementation promotes beneficial effects on anxiety, cognitive and depressive-like behaviors in rats subjected to a restraint stress protocol.

Recent evidence has demonstrated dietary influence on the manifestation of different types of behaviors induced by stressor tasks. The present study examined the impact of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) supplementation in an early phase of the brain development with the goal of preventing or even attenuating the occurrence of stress-related behaviors such as depressive-like behaviors, anxiety and cognitive dysfunctions in male rats subjected to restraint stress. Our results indicated that the supplementation regimen successfully counteracted the anxiogenic effects of stress as evidenced by the rats' increased exploration time in the aversive arms of the elevated plus maze.

Evaluation of chronic omega-3 fatty acids supplementation on behavioral and neurochemical alterations in 6-hydroxydopamine-lesion model of Parkinson's disease.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 PUFAs) have been widely associated to beneficial effects over different neuropathologies, but only a few studies associate them to Parkinson's disease (PD). Rats were submitted to chronic supplementation (21-90 days of life) with fish oil, rich in omega-3 PUFAs, and were uni- or bilaterally lesioned with 4microg of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in the medial forebrain bundle. Although lipid incorporation was evidenced in neuronal membranes, it was not sufficient to compensate motor deficits induced by 6-OHDA.

Evaluation of estrogen neuroprotective effect on nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons following 6-hydroxydopamine injection into the substantia nigra pars compacta or the medial forebrain bundle.

Studies involving estrogen treatment of ovariectomized rats or mice have attributed to this hormone a neuroprotective effect on the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) neurons. We investigated the effect of estradiol replacement in ovariectomized rats on the survival of dopaminergic mesencephalic cell and the integrity of their projections to the striatum after microinjections of 1 microg of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the right SNpc or medial forebrain bundle (MFB). Estradiol replacement did not prevent the reduction either in the striatal concentrations of DA and metabolites or in the number of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons following lesion with 1 microg of 6-OHDA into the SNpc.