Publications by authors named "Rainer Schwarting"

Introduction: Bradykinesia, characterized by slowed movement, stands out as a primary symptom observed in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Nonetheless, there are instances where PD patients exhibit sudden and effective movements despite the presence of bradykinesia. This phenomenon, referred to as paradoxical kinesia, has remained a subject of interest for neuroscientists, who have struggled to unravel its underlying neural mechanisms for decades.

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  • Continuous drug treatment is vital for managing chronic conditions like pain and mental health disorders, as highlighted by the significance of associative learning, or Pavlovian conditioning, in drug effects.
  • The review discusses various psychostimulants and treatments, examining their conditioned effects, dosing regimens, testing environments, and neural mechanisms involved.
  • It emphasizes key findings, addresses research gaps, and proposes future directions to enhance understanding and optimization of patient treatment.
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Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is a worldwide public health problem, associated with severe psychosocial and economic impacts. Currently, no FDA-approved treatment is available for CUD. However, an emerging body of evidence from clinical and preclinical studies suggests that biperiden, an M1 muscarinic receptor antagonist, presents potential therapeutic use for CUD.

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Ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) are emitted by both young pups and adult rats to convey positive or negative emotional states. These USV manifestations are contingent on factors including developmental stage, situational requirements, and individual dispositions. Pups emit 40-kHz USV when separated from their mother and litter, which function to elicit maternal care.

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Rats communicate through auditory signals in the ultrasonic range, so-called ultrasonic vocalizations (USV). Short, high-frequency 50-kHz USV are associated with positive affective states and are emitted in appetitive situations, often rewarding social interactions, such as rough-and-tumble play and mating. Exaggerated levels of 50-kHz USV emission can be observed in response to psychostimulants, most notably d-amphetamine (AMPH).

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Background: Healthy brain development depends on early social practices and experiences. The risk gene is implicated in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders, in which key characteristics include deficits in social functioning and communication. Recently, we reported sex-dependent impairments in social behavior and ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in juvenile heterozygous (HET) rats.

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encodes the pore-forming α1C subunit of the L-type Ca channel, Cav1.2. Mutations and polymorphisms of the gene are associated with neuropsychiatric and cardiac disease.

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Many rodent species emit and detect vocalizations in the ultrasonic range. Rats use three classes of ultrasonic vocalizations depending on developmental stage, experience and the behavioral situation. Calls from one class emitted by juvenile and adult rats, the so-called 50-kHz calls, are typical for appetitive and social situations.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder mainly characterized by bradykinesia and akinesia. Interestingly, these motor disabilities can depend on the patient emotional state. Disabled PD patients remain able to produce normal motor responses in the context of urgent or externally driven situations or even when exposed to appetitive cues such as music.

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  • Expectations play a key role in maintaining mental disorders, and psychological treatments aim to modify these expectations, even when faced with contrary evidence.
  • Understanding why patients hold onto dysfunctional expectations and how to create situations that violate these expectations is crucial for effective treatment.
  • The article presents a model detailing factors that influence the outcomes of expectation violations, emphasizes the importance of individual personality traits in shaping treatment plans, and provides recommendations to enhance treatment effectiveness and minimize risks of failure.
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Rats, which are highly social animals, are known to communicate using ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in different frequency ranges. Calls around 50 kHz are related to positive affective states and promote social interactions. Our previous work has shown that the playback of natural 50-kHz USV leads to a strong social approach response toward the sound source, which is related to activation in the nucleus accumbens.

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Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic mood disorder characterized by manic and depressive episodes. Dysregulation of neuroplasticity and calcium homeostasis are frequently observed in BD patients, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we show that miR-499-5p regulates dendritogenesis and cognitive function by downregulating the BD risk gene CACNB2.

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After unilateral lesion of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) by 6-OHDA rats exhibit lateralized deficits in spontaneous behavior or apomorphine-induced rotations. We investigated whether such lateralization is attenuated by either deep brain stimulation (DBS) or glutamatergic neurotransmission in the inferior colliculus (IC) of Wistar rats. Intracollicular DBS did not affect spontaneous lateralization but attenuated apomorphine-induced rotations.

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Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a severe form of neuropathic pain frequently associated with anxiety. The chronic constriction injury of the infraorbital nerve (CCI-ION) of rodents is a well-established model to study sensory alterations related to TN. However, few studies have addressed the emotional component of pain, which is fundamental to increase its translational capability.

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We have previously shown that rats emit high-frequency 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) during sign- and goal-tracking in a common Pavlovian conditioned approach task. Such 50 kHz calls are probably related to positive affect and are associated with meso-limbic dopamine function. In humans, the CACNA1C gene, encoding for the α subunit of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel Ca1.

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Rats are highly social animals known to communicate with ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) of different frequencies. Calls around 50 kHz are thought to represent a positive affective state, whereas calls around 22 kHz are believed to serve as alarm or distress calls. During playback of natural 50-kHz USV, rats show a reliable and strong social approach response toward the sound source.

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Background And Purpose: Currently, there is no effective drug to treat cocaine-use disorder, which affects millions of people worldwide. Benzodiazepines are potential therapeutic candidates, as microdialysis and voltammetry studies have shown that they can decrease dopamine concentrations in the nucleus accumbens of rodents and block the increase in dopamine levels and appetitive 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) induced by amphetamine in rats.

Experimental Approach: Here, we tested whether administration of 2.

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  • Anxiety disorders often stem from an inability to effectively erase fear memories, with the serotonergic system, particularly the 5-HT transporter (SERT), playing a key role in anxiety regulation.
  • The study assessed how a lack of SERT affects fear extinction in male and female rats through a specific fear conditioning approach, measuring immobility and 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV).
  • Findings revealed that SERT deficiency reduced 22-kHz USV during fear conditioning and influenced immobility levels, with distinct behavioral patterns emerging during extinction and recovery, and anxiety-related behavior showed the strongest predictive value for fear extinction outcomes.
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The top-ranked cross-disorder risk gene is strongly associated with multiple neuropsychiatric dysfunctions. In a recent series of studies, we applied a genomically informed approach and contributed extensively to the behavioral characterization of a genetic rat model haploinsufficient for the cross-disorder risk gene Because deficits in processing social signals are associated with reduced social functioning as commonly seen in neuropsychiatric disorders, we focused on socio-affective communication through 22-kHz and 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV). Specifically, we applied a reciprocal approach for studying socio-affective communication in sender and receiver by including rough-and-tumble play and playback of 22-kHz and 50-kHz USV.

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In rats, lisdexamfetamine (LDX) induces manic-like behaviors such as hyperlocomotion and increases in appetitive 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV), which are prevented by antimanic drugs, such as lithium. Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) and antioxidant activity have been associated with antimanic effects. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible antimanic-like effects of andrographolide (ANDRO), a GSK3β inhibitor, on LDX-induced hyperlocomotion and 50-kHz USV increases.

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Communication constitutes a fundamental component of mammalian social behavior. Rats are highly social animals and emit 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV), which function as social contact calls. Playback of 50-kHz USV leads to strong and immediate social approach responses in receiver rats, but this response is weak or even absent during repeated 50-kHz USV playback.

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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the colliculus inferior (IC) improves haloperidol-induced catalepsy and induces paradoxal kinesia in rats. Since the IC is part of the brain aversive system, DBS of this structure has long been related to aversive behavior in rats limiting its clinical use. This study aimed to improve intracollicular DBS parameters in order to avoid anxiogenic side effects while preserving motor improvements in rats.

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  • Rats produce 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) that indicate positive feelings, especially during reward anticipation, and are linked to dopamine activity.
  • The study explored whether these vocalizations occur during a conditioned approach task and if individual differences in USV emission relate to how rats engage with reward cues (sign-tracking vs. goal-tracking).
  • Results showed significant variation in USV emission among rats, with those that actively engaged with reward cues producing more 50-kHz calls, suggesting a connection between sign-tracking behavior and increased vocalizations.
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Rats display a rich social behavioral repertoire. An important component of this repertoire is the emission of whistle-like calls in the ultrasonic range, so-called ultrasonic vocalizations (USV). Long low-frequency 22-kHz USV occur in aversive situations, including aggressive interactions, predator exposure, and electric shocks during fear conditioning.

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  • - Advanced paternal age (APA) is linked to increased risk for neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and schizophrenia, with correlations found between APA and personality traits such as schizotypy and neuroticism in healthy individuals.
  • - The study reveals that higher paternal age is associated with increased gray matter volume in specific brain regions and suggests a connection between APA and brain connectivity through fiber tracts.
  • - In a rat model, APA led to social-communication deficits and behavioral issues, with alterations in microRNA expression observed in both human and rat subjects, indicating potential epigenetic mechanisms at play that affect brain development and social behavior.
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