Publications by authors named "Guang-Jing Zou"

Article Synopsis
  • Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that alters the brain's reward system, specifically affecting the nucleus accumbens (NAc), but the role of the protein LASP1 in this process is not fully understood.
  • In experiments with male mice, researchers found that repeated meth exposure increased LASP1 levels in the NAc, and manipulating LASP1 expression changed drug-seeking behavior and the levels of certain synapse-related proteins.
  • The study suggests that LASP1 is a key player in how methamphetamine influences addiction and offers potential avenues for developing treatments for meth addiction.
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According to the behavioral tagging theory, various stages of fear memory, such as contextual fear conditioning, memory retrieval, and fear extinction, can be facilitated by the exploration of a novel open field (OF). A critical time window of efficacy exists for this process. Novel exploration closely adjacent to weak learning may interfere with the setting of the learning tag, leading to a negative effect.

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The high rate of relapse to compulsive methamphetamine (MA)-taking and seeking behaviors after abstinence constitutes a major obstacle to the treatment of MA addiction. Perineuronal nets (PNNs), essential components of the extracellular matrix, play a critical role in synaptic function, learning, and memory. Abnormalities in PNNs have been closely linked to a series of neurological diseases, such as addiction.

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Excessive or inappropriate fear responses can lead to anxiety-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies have shown that microglial activation occurs after fear conditioning and that microglial inhibition impacts fear memory. However, the role of microglia in fear memory recall remains unclear.

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Cognitive behavioral therapy, rooted in exposure therapy, is currently the primary approach employed in the treatment of anxiety-related conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In laboratory settings, fear extinction in animals is a commonly employed technique to investigate exposure therapy; however, the precise mechanisms underlying fear extinction remain elusive. Casein kinase 2 (CK2), which regulates neuroplasticity via phosphorylation of its substrates, has a significant influence in various neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as in the process of learning and memory.

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Exposure therapy is the most effective approach of behavioral therapy for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But fear is easy to reappear even after successful extinction. So, identifying novel strategies for augmenting exposure therapy is rather important.

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Overweight induced by high-fat diet (HFD) represents one of the major health concerns in modern societies, which can cause lasting peripheral and central metabolic disorders in all age groups. Specifically, childhood obesity could lead to life-long impact on brain development and functioning. On the other hand, environmental enrichment (EE) has been demonstrated to be beneficial for learning and memory.

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Background: The long interspersed element-1 (L1) participates in memory formation, and DNA methylation patterns of L1 may suggest resilience or vulnerability factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), of which the principal manifestation is a pathological exacerbation of fear memory. However, the unique roles of L1 in the reconsolidation of fear memory remain poorly understood.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the role of L1 in the reconsolidation of context-dependent fear memory.

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Major depression disorder is one of the most common psychiatric disorders that greatly threaten the mental health of a large population worldwide. Previous studies have shown that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress plays an important role in the pathophysiology of depression, and current research suggests that brain-derived neurotrophic factor precursor (proBDNF) is involved in the development of depression. However, the relationship between ER and proBDNF in the pathophysiology of depression is not well elucidated.

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Article Synopsis
  • Stress impacts decision-making in humans, and studying food-foraging behavior in rats can help clarify this relationship and its neurobiological underpinnings.
  • In an experiment, restraint stress caused rats to show anxiety-like behaviors and decreased overall food foraging compared to controls, while still preferring sugary food.
  • Brain analysis revealed that stress affected neuronal activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, suggesting that stressed rats opted for less competitive food sources due to altered brain function.
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Stress plays a crucial role in several psychiatric disorders, including anxiety. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we used acute stress (AS) and chronic restraint stress (CRS) models to develop anxiety-like behavior and investigate the role of miR-150 in the hippocampi of mice.

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