Adult single-nucleus neuronal transcriptomes of insulin signaling mutants reveal regulators of behavior and learning.

Gene expression in individual neurons can change during development to adulthood and can have large effects on behavior. Additionally, the insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) pathway regulates many of the adult functions of Caenorhabditis elegans, including learning and memory, via transcriptional changes. We used the deep resolution of single-nucleus RNA sequencing to define the adult transcriptome of each neuron in wild-type and daf-2 mutants, revealing expression differences between L4 larval and adult neurons in chemoreceptors, synaptic genes, and learning/memory genes.

Adult Single-nucleus Neuronal Transcriptomes of Insulin Signaling Mutants Reveal Regulators of Behavior and Learning.

Unlabelled: The insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) pathway regulates many of adult functions, including learning and memory . While whole-worm and tissue-specific transcriptomic analyses have identified IIS targets , a higher-resolution single-cell approach is required to identify changes that confer neuron-specific improvements in the long-lived insulin receptor mutant, . To understand how behaviors that are controlled by a small number of neurons change in mutants, we used the deep resolution of single-nucleus RNA sequencing to define each neuron type's transcriptome in adult wild-type and mutants.

Neuronal activation of G EGL-30/GNAQ late in life rejuvenates cognition across species.

Loss of cognitive function with age is devastating. EGL-30/GNAQ and G signaling pathways are highly conserved between C. elegans and mammals, and murine Gnaq is enriched in hippocampal neurons and declines with age.

Motor learning rapidly increases synaptogenesis and astrocytic structural plasticity in the rat cerebellum.

Motor-skill learning is associated with cerebellar synaptogenesis and astrocytic hypertrophy, but most of these assessments of cerebellar ultrastructure have been completed after one month of training. After one month of training, the motor-skills necessary to complete these tasks have been acquired for weeks. This experiment aimed to characterize cerebellar ultrastructure during the acquisition phase of motor-skill learning, at a point when performance is still improving.

Aerobic exercise increases sprouting angiogenesis in the male rat motor cortex.

Exercise is beneficial to brain health, and historically, the advantageous effects of exercise on the brain have been attributed to neuronal plasticity. However, it has also become clear that the brain vascular system also exhibits plasticity in response to exercise. This plasticity occurs in areas involved in movement, such as the motor cortex.

Wheel running for 26 weeks is associated with sustained vascular plasticity in the rat motor cortex.

Vascular pathologies represent the leading causes of mortality worldwide. The nervous system has evolved mechanisms to compensate for the cerebral hypoxia caused by many of these conditions. Vessel dilation and growth of new vessels are two prominent responses to hypoxia, both of which play a critical role in maintaining cerebral homeostasis.

Optimized Bexarotene Aerosol Formulation Inhibits Major Subtypes of Lung Cancer in Mice.

Bexarotene has shown inhibition of lung and mammary gland tumorigenesis in preclinical models and in clinical trials. The main side effects of orally administered bexarotene are hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia. We previously demonstrated that aerosolized bexarotene administered by nasal inhalation has potent chemopreventive activity in a lung adenoma preclinical model without causing hypertriglyceridemia.

Astrocytes and radial glia-like cells, but not neurons, display a nonapoptotic increase in caspase-3 expression following exercise.

Background: Exercise induces plasticity in the hippocampus, which includes increases in neurogenesis, the proliferation of new neurons, and angiogenesis, the sprouting of new capillaries from preexisting blood vessels. Following exercise, astrocytes also undergo morphological changes that parallel the events occurring in the neurovascular system. Interestingly, there have also been reports of apoptosis in the hippocampus following aerobic exercise.

Inactivation of the cerebellar fastigial nuclei alters social behavior in the rat.

Research has implicated the deep cerebellar nuclei in autism. This study questioned whether fastigial nuclei abnormalities account for some of the irregular social behaviors seen in autism. Bilateral cannulation surgery was performed on 13 rats.

Exercise pattern and distance differentially affect hippocampal and cerebellar expression of FLK-1 and FLT-1 receptors in astrocytes and blood vessels.

Aerobic exercise benefits the body and brain. In the brain, benefits include neuroprotection and improved cognition. These exercise-induced changes are attributed in part to angiogenesis: the growth of new capillaries from preexisting vessels.