Publications by authors named "Yana Van Den Herrewegen"
Insights into the role astrocytes and microglia play in normal and diseased brain functioning has expanded drastically over the last decade. Recently, chemogenetic tools have emerged as cutting-edge techniques, allowing targeted and spatiotemporal precise manipulation of a specific glial cell type. As a result, significant advances in astrocyte and microglial cell function have been made, showing how glial cells can intervene in central nervous system (CNS) functions such as cognition, reward and feeding behavior in addition to their established contribution in brain diseases, pain, and CNS inflammation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle housing of laboratory mice is a common practice to meet experimental needs, or to avoid intermale aggression. However, single housing is considered to negatively affect animal welfare and may compromise the scientific validity of experiments. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of a cage with a cage divider, which avoids physical contact between mice while maintaining sensory contact, may be a potential refinement strategy for experiments in which group housing of mice is not possible.
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- Astrocytes have many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that influence synaptic activity and can release gliotransmitters, allowing for communication with neurons.
- The use of designer receptors activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) enables precise study of how astrocytes respond in different conditions, although there are still disagreements on their effects on calcium signaling and synaptic plasticity.
- This study investigates the effects of the DREADD agonist clozapine-N-oxide on astrocytes in mouse hippocampal slices, finding that Gq-DREADD activation increases astrocytic calcium events while both Gq and Gi DREADD activation lead to long-lasting synaptic potentiation.
Background: Current drugs for epilepsy affect seizures, but no antiepileptogenic or disease-modifying drugs are available that prevent or slow down epileptogenesis, which is characterized by neuronal cell loss, inflammation and aberrant network formation. Ghrelin and ghrelin receptor (ghrelin-R) agonists were previously found to exert anticonvulsant, neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects in seizure models and immediately after status epilepticus (SE). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess whether the ghrelin-R agonist macimorelin is antiepileptogenic in the pharmacoresistant intrahippocampal kainic acid (IHKA) mouse model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ghrelin system has received substantial recognition as a potential target for novel anti-seizure drugs. Ghrelin receptor (ghrelin-R) signaling is complex, involving Gα, Gα, Gα, and β-arrestin pathways. In this study, we aimed to deepen our understanding regarding signaling pathways downstream the ghrelin-R responsible for mediating anticonvulsive effects in a kindling model.
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- Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) leads to severe seizures and cognitive dysfunction, particularly affecting spatial memory in patients and animal models.
- The Morris water maze test, commonly used to assess spatial learning in rodents, has limitations like stress and swimming issues, which may skew results, especially in epileptic mice.
- In contrast, the Barnes maze, a dry-land test with milder stressors, shows that epileptic mice can learn the task but struggle to utilize efficient search strategies, suggesting it might be a more effective assessment tool for memory in TLE models.