Publications by authors named "Xiaolin Kou"

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease with limited disease-modifying treatments. Drug repositioning strategy has now emerged as a promising approach for anti-AD drug discovery. Using 5×FAD mice and Aβ-treated neurons in culture, we tested the efficacy of Y-2, a compounded drug containing the antioxidant Edaravone (Eda), a pyrazolone and (+)-Borneol, an anti-inflammatory diterpenoid from cinnamon, approved for use in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients.

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Studies have shown that protein phosphorylation plays an important role in morphine abuse. However, the neurobiological mechanism of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) underlying the morphine-priming process is still unclear. Here we constructed T29-2-Cre; PP2Afl/fl conditional knockout mice (KO) and investigated the role of hippocampal PP2A in morphine priming.

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Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating disease, and there is currently no specific pharmacological treatment that can improve clinical outcomes. Y-2 sublingual tablets, each containing 30 mg edaravone and 6 mg (+)-borneol, is undergoing a phase III clinical trial for treatment of ischemic stroke in China. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the efficacy and potential mechanism of Y-2 in a rat model of collagenase IV injection induced ICH.

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Drug abuse is a dramatic challenge for the whole society because of high relapse rate. Environmental cues are crucial for the preference memory of drug abuse. Extinction therapy has been developed to inhibit the motivational effect of drug cues to prevent the reinstatement of morphine abuse.

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Article Synopsis
  • Exposure therapy is a way to help people with PTSD, but sometimes people still feel scared even after the therapy works.
  • Scientists found that a specific protein (nNOS) and its partner (CAPON) in the brain make it hard to remember that fear can go away.
  • By changing how nNOS and CAPON work together, they can help mice keep their extinction memory better, suggesting a new method for treating PTSD in humans.
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Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability worldwide, but no drug provides functional recovery during the repair phase. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that environmental enrichment (EE) promotes stroke recovery by enhancing network excitability. However, the complexities of utilizing EE in a clinical setting limit its translation.

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Posttraumatic stress disorder subjects usually show impaired recall of extinction memory, leading to extinguished fear relapses. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying the impaired recall of extinction memory. We show here that the activity of dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) to infralimbic (IL) cortex circuit is essential for the recall of fear extinction memory in male mice.

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The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), which serves as a hub, receives dense projections from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and projects to the lateral division of central amygdala (CeL). The infralimbic (IL) cortex plays a crucial role in encoding and recalling fear extinction memory. Here, we found that neurons in the PVT and IL were strongly activated during fear extinction retrieval.

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Article Synopsis
  • Environmental enrichment (EE) helps in stroke recovery by promoting brain healing and repair, but the exact way it works is still not fully understood.
  • Researchers studied HDAC2, a protein that slows down brain recovery, and found that it increases after a stroke.
  • They discovered that EE lowers HDAC2 levels, helping mice recover better from strokes, and suggest that targeting HDAC2 could be a new way to improve recovery for people who have had strokes.
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Article Synopsis
  • The high rate of relapse in drug abuse presents a major challenge, with environmental factors significantly influencing this issue.
  • Using a morphine conditioned place preference model, researchers identified that the interaction between neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is crucial for morphine-induced relapse.
  • Interfering with the nNOS-PSD-95 connection reduced relapse and corrected related CREB dysfunction, indicating that targeting this pathway could help prevent drug relapse.
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Protein phosphorylation plays an important role in learning and memory. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a serine/threonine phosphatase involved in the regulation of neural synaptic plasticity. Here, to determine if PP2A is necessary for successful learning and memory, we have utilized a Tg (Camk2a-cre) T29-2Stl mice to specific knock down the expression of hippocampal PP2A in mice.

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WD repeat protein 1 (Wdr1), known as a cofactor of actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin, is conserved among eukaryotes, and it plays a critical role in the dynamic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. However, the function of Wdr1 in the central nervous system remains elusive. Using Wdr1 conditional knockout mice, we demonstrated that Wdr1 plays a significant role in regulating synaptic plasticity and memory.

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