Exploring Parkinson's Disease-Associated Depression: Role of Inflammation on the Noradrenergic and Serotonergic Pathways.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a multifactorial disease, with genetic and environmental factors contributing to the disease onset. Classically, PD is a movement disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway and intraneuronal aggregates mainly constituted of the protein α-synuclein. However, PD patients also display non-motor symptoms, including depression, which have been linked to functional abnormalities of non-dopaminergic neurons, including serotonergic and noradrenergic ones.

Pectus bar removal - why, when, where and how.

Objective: Despite its less invasive nature, the widespread use of the minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) procedure has been associated with a significant number of serious complications. On the other hand, Pectus bar removal (PBR) is often considered a simple procedure and often scheduled in an outpatient setting. However, several studies report near-fatal complications not only during bar placement, but also during bar removal.

Effects of aging on the secretory apparatus in the right atrial cardiomyocytes of rats.

The cardiac atria secrets polypeptide hormones usually called natriuretic peptides (NPs). These substances play a relevant role in the blood pressure regulation. The objective of the study was to estimate the effects of aging on the secretory apparatus of NPs in cardiomyocytes of the right atrium.

Depression in Parkinson's Disease: The Contribution from Animal Studies.

Besides being better known for causing motor impairments, Parkinson's disease (PD) can also cause many nonmotor symptoms, like depression and anxiety, which can cause significant loss of life quality and may not respond to regular drugs treatment. In this review, we discuss the depression in PD, based on data from studies in humans and rodents. Depression frequency seems higher in PD patients than in general population, despite high variation in data due to diagnosis disparities.

Life-threatening complications and mortality of minimally invasive pectus surgery.

Unlabelled: The prevalence and type of life-threatening complications related to the minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) and bar removal are unknown and underreported. The purpose of this communication is to make surgeons aware of the risk of these life threatening complications as well as the modifications which have been developed to prevent them.

Methods: Data related to life-threatening complications of Pectus Excavatum (PE) patients was obtained from four sources: 1.

Classification and Characteristics of Pain Associated with Parkinson's Disease.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and pain are among the most common nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). The correlation between pain and PD has been recognized since its classic descriptions. Pain occurs in about 60% of PD patients, two to three times more frequent in this population than in age matched healthy individuals.

Abnormal Cerebrovascular Reactivity in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Background. Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is an important nonmotor manifestation of Parkinson's disease (PD). Changes in cerebrovascular reactivity may contribute to this manifestation and can be monitored using transcranial Doppler.

Work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in pediatric minimally invasive surgery: a multicentric survey comparing laparoscopic and sils ergonomy.

Purpose: Surgeons are at risk for developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms (WMS). The present study aims to compare laparoscopy and SILS ergonomy among pediatric surgeons.

Methods: A questionnaire formed by 17 questions was mailed to 14 pediatric surgeons, seven with a large experience in laparoscopy and seven in SILS.

Work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in paediatric laparoscopic surgery. A multicenter survey.

Background: Surgeons are at risk for developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms (WMS). The present study aims to examine the physical factors and their association with WMS among pediatric laparoscopic surgeons.

Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 21 questions was created and mailed to 25 pediatric laparoscopic surgeons (LG).

Anosmia does not impair the anxiolytic-like effect of lavender essential oil inhalation in mice.

Aim: The inhalation of Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) essential oil has anxiolytic-like effects in animal models and humans, but its mechanism of action is still not fully understood. The inhalation of essential oils can induce anxiolytic effects through the central nervous system (e.g.

Anxiolytic-like effect of lavender essential oil inhalation in mice: participation of serotonergic but not GABAA/benzodiazepine neurotransmission.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) inhalation has been used in folk medicine for the treatment of anxiety, and clinical and animal studies have corroborated its anxiolytic effect, although its mechanism of action is still not fully understood.

Aims Of The Study: The objective of the present study was to determine whether the GABAA/benzodiazepine complex or serotonin neurotransmission mediates the anxiolytic-like effect of lavender essential oil.

Materials And Methods: Male Swiss mice were subjected to the marble-burying test after being exposed to the aroma of lavender essential oil (1-5%), amyl acetate (5%; used as a behaviorally neutral odor), or distilled water for 15 min via inhalation.

Quantification of left ventricular myocardial collagen system in children, young adults, and the elderly.

Studies on the collagen system of the human myocardium are still limited compared to those on small laboratory animals. The aim of this work was to observe the collagen tissue of the myocardium of the human heart as a function of age. The types of collagen, as well as the density of collagen tissue and the diameter of collagen fibrils, were examined.

Hemiparkinsonian rats rotate toward the side with the weaker dopaminergic neurotransmission.

Rats with unilateral lesion of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) have been used as a model of Parkinson's disease. Depending on the lesion protocol and on the drug challenge, these rats rotate in opposite directions. The aim of the present study was to propose a model to explain how critical factors determine the direction of these turns.

Effects of ventrolateral striatal inactivation on predatory hunting.

Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that insect hunting is associated with a distinct Fos up-regulation in the ventrolateral caudoputamen at intermediate rostro-caudal levels. It is largely known that ventrolateral striatum participates in the control of orofacial movements and forepaw usage accompanying feeding behavior, but there has been no study investigating its possible roles during predatory hunting. We have presently examined the role of the ventrolateral striatum during roach hunting by using the reversible blockade with lidocaine.

Pre-training to find a hidden platform in the Morris water maze can compensate for a deficit to find a cued platform in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

The bilateral intranigral infusion of 1 micromol 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) in adult male Wistar rats caused a specific and partial loss of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) dopamine neurons, a partial depletion of striatal dopamine, and a deficit to learn the intra-maze cued version of the Morris water maze. Pre-training the SNc rats in the spatial version of the water maze or simply maintaining the animals on the water maze platform reversed this deficit. This improvement was even observed when the order of the extra-maze cues presented to the rats during pre-training of the spatial version was changed during training of the intra-maze cued version.

Intrastriatal injection of hypoxanthine reduces striatal serotonin content and impairs spatial memory performance in rats.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of intrastriatal injection of hypoxanthine, a metabolite accumulated in Lesch-Nyhan disease, on rats' performance in the Morris water maze tasks, along with the monoamine content in striatum of rats. Male adult Wistar rats were divided in two groups: (1) saline-injected and (2) hypoxanthine-injected group. Seven days after solutions infusion, animals were trained in the Morris Water Maze or were sacrificed for evaluation of the striatal monoamine content.

Place learning strategy of substantia nigra pars compacta-lesioned rats.

The substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and the dorsal striatum are often considered to be necessary for stimulus-response (S-R) habit learning, whereas the dorsal hippocampus is considered to be necessary for relational (declarative) memory. Spatial learning is a kind of relational learning that occurs when a rat is released from different locations (variable start) in a water maze to find a submerged platform that is kept in a constant location. However, when the rat is always released from the same starting position (constant start), it can learn to find the platform oriented by a fixed configuration of cues, that is, by S-R learning.

Arnold-Chiari in a fetal rat model of dysraphism.

Unlabelled: Dysraphism is a defect in neural tube development, leading to dysplastic growth of the spinal cord and meninges. Myelomeningocele (MM) is just one of its forms. Hydrocephalus is among the most important alterations in MM and occurs as a consequence of Arnold-Chiari malformation (AC).

Comparison of bilaterally 6-OHDA- and MPTP-lesioned rats as models of the early phase of Parkinson's disease: histological, neurochemical, motor and memory alterations.

This study compares histological, neurochemical, behavioral, motor and cognitive alterations as well as mortality of two models of Parkinson's disease in which 100 microg 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) or 6 microg 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) was bilaterally infused into the central region of the substantia nigra, compact part, of adult male Wistar rats. Both neurotoxins caused a significant loss of nigral tyrosine hydroxylase-immunostained cells and striatal dopamine depletion, but 6-OHDA caused more widespread and intense cell loss, more intense body weight loss and more mortality than MPTP. Both 6-OHDA- and MPTP-lesioned rats presented similar deficits in performing a working memory and a cued version of the Morris water maze task and few exploratory/motor alterations in the open field and catalepsy tests.

Is the unilateral lesion of the left substantia nigra pars compacta sufficient to induce working memory impairment in rats?

Adult male Wistar rats with a substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) lesion induced by intranigral administration of 1 micromol 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) were used as a model of early phase Parkinson's disease (PD). This lesion caused a partial depletion of striatal dopamine (DA). The animals were submitted to a spatial working memory version of the water maze task in which they had to find a hidden (submersed) platform using online-maintained information that the platform remains in the same place during four consecutive trials, but that it is moved to another place every training day.

Evidence for the substantia nigra pars compacta as an essential component of a memory system independent of the hippocampal memory system.

The aim of the present study was to test if the nigrostriatal pathway is an essential component for a water maze cued task learning and if it works independently of the hippocampal memory system. This hypothesis was tested using an animal model of Parkinson's disease in which male Wistar rats were lesioned in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) by the intranigral infusion of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), thus causing a partial depletion of striatal dopamine. SNc-lesioned and sham-operated animals were implanted bilaterally with guide cannulae above the dorsal hippocampus in order to be tested after the administration of 0.