Blast overpressure induces shear-related injuries in the brain of rats exposed to a mild traumatic brain injury.

Background: Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a significant cause of injury in the military operations of Iraq and Afghanistan, affecting as many as 10-20% of returning veterans. However, how blast waves affect the brain is poorly understood. To understand their effects, we analyzed the brains of rats exposed to single or multiple (three) 74.

Haploinsufficiency of Cyfip1 produces fragile X-like phenotypes in mice.

Background: Copy number variation (CNV) at the 15q11.2 region, which includes a gene that codes for CYFIP1 (cytoplasmic FMR1 interacting protein 1), has been implicated in autism, intellectual disability and additional neuropsychiatric phenotypes. In the current study we studied the function of Cyfip1 in synaptic physiology and behavior, using mice with a disruption of the Cyfip1 gene.

Blast exposure induces post-traumatic stress disorder-related traits in a rat model of mild traumatic brain injury.

Blast related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a major cause of injury in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A striking feature of the mild TBI (mTBI) cases has been the prominent association with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, because of the overlapping symptoms, distinction between the two disorders has been difficult.

Haploinsufficiency of Gtf2i, a gene deleted in Williams Syndrome, leads to increases in social interactions.

Identifying genes involved in social behavior is important for autism research. Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is a developmental syndrome with unique neurocognitive features, including low IQ, deficits in visuospatial and visual-motor abilities, hypersensitivity to sounds, hypersociability, and increased general anxiety. The syndrome is caused by a recurrent hemizygous deletion of the 7q11.

Slc25a12 disruption alters myelination and neurofilaments: a model for a hypomyelination syndrome and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders.

Background: SLC25A12, a susceptibility gene for autism spectrum disorders that is mutated in a neurodevelopmental syndrome, encodes a mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carrier (aspartate-glutamate carrier isoform 1 [AGC1]). AGC1 is an important component of the malate/aspartate shuttle, a crucial system supporting oxidative phosphorylation and adenosine triphosphate production.

Methods: We characterized mice with a disruption of the Slc25a12 gene, followed by confirmatory in vitro studies.

Increased locomotor activity in mice lacking the low-density lipoprotein receptor.

While the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) is best known for its role in regulating serum cholesterol, LDLR is expressed in brain, suggesting that it may play a role in CNS function as well. Here, using mice with a null mutation in LDLR (LDLR-/-), we investigated whether the absence of LDLR affects a series of behavioral functions. We also utilized the fact that plasma cholesterol levels can be regulated in LDLR-/- mice by manipulating dietary cholesterol to investigate whether elevated plasma cholesterol might independently affect behavioral performance.

Peripheral triiodothyronine (T(3)) levels during escapable and inescapable footshock.

Changes in peripheral thyroid hormone levels are associated with changes in human affective disorders, particularly depression. In the current study we used an animal stress paradigm, proposed to be an animal model of depression, to examine peripheral T(3) levels during and after escapable or inescapable stress in adult male rats. In this model, one animal can control the termination of foot-shock stress by performing a lever press, and therefore experiences escapable stress.