Publications by authors named "Andrew Chih-Wei Huang"

The present study examined how P2X7 receptor knockout (KO) modulates central post-stroke pain (CPSP) induced by lesions of the ventrobasal complex (VBC) of the thalamus in behaviors, molecular levels, and electrical recording tests. Following the experimental procedure, the wild-type and P2X7 receptor KO mice were injected with 10 mU/0.2 μL type IV collagenase in the VBC of the thalamus to induce an animal model of stroke-like thalamic hemorrhage.

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Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by impairments in developmental-behavioral inhibition, resulting in impulsivity and hyperactivity. Recent research has underscored cortical inhibition deficiencies in ADHD via the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic system, which is crucial for maintaining excitatory-inhibitory balance in the brain. This study explored postnatal changes in parvalbumin (PV) immunoreactivity, indicating GABAergic interneuron types, in the prefrontal (PFC) and motor (MC) cortices of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), an ADHD animal model.

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Cancer patients regularly suffer from the behavioral symptoms of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Particularly, it is involved in Pavlovian conditioning. Lithium chloride (LiCl) was used as the unconditioned stimulus (US) and contingent with the tastant, for example, a saccharin solution (i.

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Introduction: Understanding the modulations of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the valence of the stimulus from rewarding and aversive status to neutral status is crucial for the development of novel treatments for drug addiction. This study addressed this issue and examined whether optogenetic ChR2 photostimulation in the cingulate, prelimbic, and infralimbic cortices of the mPFC regulated the valence of saccharin solution consumption from the rewarding property, the aversive property induced by morphine's conditioning, and the neutral states saccharin extinction processes after morphine's conditioning.

Methods: All rats received virus infection, buried optical fiber, optical stimulation, water deprivation, and saccharin solution consumption phases.

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Central post-stroke pain is a severe persistent pain disease that affects 12% of stroke survivors (CPSP). These patients may have a cognitive impairment, depression, and sleep apnea, which leave them open to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. However, there has been little research on whether the neurohormone melatonin can effectively reduce pain in CPSP conditions.

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To re-examine the paradoxical effect hypothesis of abused drugs, the present study concerned whether different doses of morphine disparately affect neuronal activity and associations among the subareas of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC: cingulate cortex 1-Cg1, prelimbic cortex-PrL, infralimbic cortex-IL), the subregions of the nucleus accumbens (NAc; both core and shell), and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) following conditioned taste aversion (CTA) and conditioned place preference (CPP). All rats were given a 0.1% saccharin solution for 15-min, and they were intraperitoneally injected with saline or 20, 30, or 40 mg/kg morphine to form the aversive CTA learning.

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Environmental enrichment (EE) involves the presentation of various sensory, physical, social, and cognitive stimuli in order to alter neural activity in specific brain areas, which can ameliorate methamphetamine (MAMPH)-induced behavioral sensitization and comorbid anxiety symptoms. No previous studies have comprehensively examined which EE components are critical for effectively reducing MAMPH-induced behavioral sensitization and anxiety. This study examined different housing conditions, including standard housing (SH, No EE), standard EE (STEE), physical EE (PEE), cognitive EE (CEE), and social EE (SEE).

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Introduction: A force transducer or automatic scoring system is not sufficient to detect small or fine seizure activity. To improve previous assessments of epileptic behavior, a novel coil method was developed to detect an early behavioral marker for epileptic seizures.

Methods: The present study used the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor antagonist pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) to induce seizure activity and epileptic behavior in mice.

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A growing body of evidence showed that environmental enrichment (EE) ameliorated footshock-induced fear behavior of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, no research comprehensively tested the effect of EE, cue, and the combination of EE and cue in footshock-induced fear behavior of PTSD symptoms. The present study addressed this issue and examined whether the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC, including the cingulate cortex 1 (Cg1), prelimbic cortex (PrL), and infralimbic cortex (IL)), the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and the hippocampus (e.

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Background: Central post-stroke pain (CPSP) is a type of neuropathic pain caused by dysfunction in the spinothalamocortical pathway. However, no animal studies have examined comorbid anxiety and depression symptoms. Whether the typical pharmacological treatments for CPSP, which include antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and anticonvulsants, can treat comorbid anxiety and depression symptoms in addition to pain remains unclear? The present study ablated the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus (VBC) to cause various CPSP symptoms.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that causes cognitive impairment and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. Previously, little research has thus far investigated whether methamphetamine (MAMPH) can enhance cognitive function or ameliorate AD symptoms. This study examined whether a low dose of MAMPH can induce conditioned taste aversion (CTA) learning, or can increase plasma corticosterone levels, neural activity, and neural plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) (responsible for cognitive function), the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the amygdala (related to rewarding and aversive emotion), and the hippocampus (responsible for spatial learning).

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The paradoxical effects of reward and aversion with abused drugs may interact to produce drug addiction, which is the so-called paradoxical effect hypothesis of abused drugs. However, there is no research examining how the ventral tegmental area (VTA) or periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) regulates morphine's paradoxical effect of reward and aversion. The present study addresses this issue, utilizing a high concentration of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) via injections to destroy the VTA or the PAG.

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A growing body of evidence has shown that abused drugs could simultaneously induce the paradoxical effect-reward and aversion. Moreover, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), amygdala, and hippocampus were involved in this paradoxical effect by abused drugs. However, no research examined whether neuroinflammatory changes in the mPFC [including cingulate cortex area 1 (Cg1); prelimbic cortex (PrL); infralimbic cortex (IL)], basolateral amygdala, and hippocampus [e.

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Whether BDNF protein and BDNF mRNA expression of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC; cingulated cortex area 1 (Cg1), prelimbic cortex (PrL), and infralimbic cortex (IL)), amygdala, and hippocampus (CA1, CA2, CA3, and dentate gyrus (DG)) was involved in fear of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the situational reminder of traumatic memory remains uncertain. Footshock rats experienced an inescapable footshock (3 mA, 10 s), and later we have measured fear behavior for 2 min in the footshock environment on the situational reminder phase. In the final retrieval of situational reminder, BDNF protein and mRNA levels were measured.

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Do chronic fluoxetine treatments reduced footshock-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, including fear and comorbid depression, in the situational reminder phase? Moreover, are the subareas of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), including the cingulate cortex 1 (Cg1), prelimbic cortex (PrL), infralimbic cortex (IL), and basolateral amygdala (BLA), involved in the fluoxetine amelioration of PTSD symptoms? These two crucial issues were addressed in the present study. All mice were injected with chronic fluoxetine or normal saline treatments for the adaptation (14 days), footshock fear conditioning (1 day), and situational reminder (3 days) phases. After adaptation, the mice were subjected to footshock (2 mA, 10 seconds) or nonfootshock and stayed 2 min in a footshock box for 2 min for fear conditioning.

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The currents of optical stimulation devices with tethered or untethered systems have various disadvantages, including optical fiber breakage, disrupted animal movements, heavy batteries carried on heads, and high-frequency electromagnetic impacts. Our novel wireless remote control was developed to address these issues. The novel wireless device uses a magnetic resonance technique to modify the deficits of the conventional magnetic induction or radio-frequency power sources.

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The consequences of exciting or destroying the prelimbic cortex (PrL) or the basolateral amygdala (BLA) remain unclear, including the effects on morphine-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in the conditioning and extinction phases, plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels, and c-Fos/p-ERK expressions in the subareas of the medial prefrontal cortex (i.e., PrL, infralimbic cortex [IL], cingulate cortex 1 [Cg1]), basolateral amygdala (BLA), central amygdala (CeA), hippocampus (i.

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How the subregions of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell and core and stress are involved in behavioral sensitization induced by psychostimulants remains unclear. The present study manipulated methamphetamine (MAMPH) injections, lesions of the NAc shell or core, and footshock-treatment-induced stress to address this issue. The present data showed that during the acquisition phase, MAMPH injections, lesions of the NAc shell, and footshock treatments induced hyperactivity for the NAc shell.

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Clinical studies of drug addiction focus on the reward impact of abused drugs that produces compulsive drug-seeking behavior and drug dependence. However, a small amount of research has examined the opposite effect of aversion to abused drugs to balance the reward effect for drug taking. An aversive behavioral model of abused drugs in terms of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) was challenged by the reward comparison hypothesis (Grigson, 1997).

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Rationale: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurobehavioural disorders with morphological and functional brain abnormalities. However, there is a growing body of evidence that abnormalities in the immune and endocrine systems may also account for the ADHD pathogenesis.

Objectives: To test ADHD pathogenesis in neurological, immune and endocrine systems, this study examined the concentrations of cytokines, chemokines, oxidative stress markers, metabolic parameters, steroid hormones and steroidogenic enzymes in the serum and/or tissues of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs, animal model of ADHD) and Wistar Kyoto rats (WKYs, control animals).

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The objective of the present review paper was to comprehensively introduce the pain symptom and comorbidities of depression, anxiety, and learning and memory dysfunctions in the central poststroke pain (CPSP) of human and animal models. CPSP is a disease in which the lesion or dysfunction of the spinothalamocortical circuits is due to thalamic stroke hemorrhage. According to previous literature, CPSP patients experience impaired explicit and implicit learning and memory in addition to the pain symptom.

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In a clinical setting, anxiety disorder is highly correlated with bipolar I disorder in humans. However, the comorbidity of anxiety behavior and bipolar disorder still remains unclear in an animal model. This study utilized an ouabain-induced animal mode to examine anxiety and mania in an open field test.

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