Environmental and microbial factors influence affective and cognitive behavior in C57BL/6 sub-strains.

C57BL/6 mice are one of the most widely used inbred strains in biomedical research. Early separation of the breeding colony has led to the development of several sub-strains. Colony separation led to genetic variation development driving numerous phenotypic discrepancies.

Type 2 immunity: a two-edged sword in schistosomiasis immunopathology.

Schistosomiasis is the second most debilitating neglected tropical disease globally after malaria, with no available therapy to control disease-driven immunopathology. Although schistosomiasis induces a markedly heterogenous immune response, type 2 immunity is the dominating immune response following oviposition. While type 2 immunity has a crucial role in granuloma formation and host survival during the acute stage of disease, its chronic activation can result in tissue scarring, fibrosis, and organ impairment.

Effects of the Methyl Donors Supplementation on Hippocampal Oxidative Stress, Depression and Anxiety in Chronically High Fructose-treated Rats.

Evidence suggests that oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of anxiety and depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether methyl donors supplementation could exert beneficial effects on hippocampal oxidative stress, anxiety and depression in chronically high fructose-treated rats, a new animal model of anxiety and mood disorders. Rats were divided into two groups and treated for 10 weeks as follows: Group 1 represents the control group and Group 2 was treated with 23% fructose.

Melatonin modulates copper-induced anxiety-like, depression-like and memory impairments by acting on hippocampal oxidative stress in rat.

Copper (Cu) is a heavy metal with the ability to induce, at high levels, neurobehavioral alterations, and oxidative stress (OS). On the other hand, melatonin (Mel) is a neurohormone that protects neurons from OS and has a modulatory effect on several behavioral processes. The present experiment was aimed to examine the effect of Mel treatment on Cu-induced anxiety-like, depression-like behaviors, memory impairment, and OS in hippocampus.

IL-4Rα deletion disrupts psychomotor performance and reference memory in mice while sparing behavioural phenotype associated with spatial learning.

Contribution of immune mediators, interleukin-4 and interferon gamma to cognitive functioning is receiving increasing attention. However, the fundamental question about how heterodimeric interleukin-4 receptor alpha- and interferon gamma- producing myeloid cells converge to influence hippocampal-dependent spatial memory tasks through immunomodulation of multisensory inputs from other brain areas remains unexplored. Here, we show that mice lacking interleukin-4 receptor alpha are able to successfully learn spatial tasks, while reference memory is impaired.