Inhibiting the activation of enteric glial cells alleviates intestinal inflammation and comorbid anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in the ulcerative colitis mice.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a common inflammatory bowel disease with a complex origin in clinical settings. It is frequently accompanied by negative emotional responses, including anxiety and depression. Enteric glial cells (EGCs) are important components of the gut-brain axis and are involved in the development of the enteric nervous system (ENS), intestinal neuroimmune, and regulation of intestinal motor functions.

Evaluating proxies for motion sickness in rodent.

Motions sickness (MS) occurs when the brain receives conflicting sensory signals from vestibular, visual and proprioceptive systems about a person's ongoing position and/or motion in relation to space. MS is typified by symptoms such as nausea and emesis and implicates complex physiological aspects of sensations and sensorimotor reflexes. Use of animal models has been integral to unraveling the physiological causality of MS.

Projections from anteromedial thalamus nucleus to the midcingulate cortex mediate pain and anxiety-like behaviors in mice.

Prior research has demonstrated the involvement of the midcingulate cortex (MCC) and its downstream pathway in pain regulation. However, the mechanism via which pain information is conveyed to the MCC remains unclear. The present study utilized immunohistochemistry, chemogenetics, optogenetics, and behavior detection methods to explore the involvement of MCC, anteromedial thalamus nucleus (AM), and AM-MCC pathway in pain and emotional regulation.

Assessing Chinese anatomists' perceptions and attitudes toward blended learning through faculty development training programs.

Background: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the faculty development program has partially shifted to online formats over the past two years, with a specific focus on professional training related to blended learning. The effectiveness of this training is closely tied to the perceptions and acceptability of blended learning among the trainees. This study aims to evaluate the perspectives of educators on blended learning, thereby assessing the efficacy of faculty training programs.

Potentiation of the lateral habenula-ventral tegmental area pathway underlines the susceptibility to depression in mice with chronic pain.

Chronic pain often develops severe mood changes such as depression. However, how chronic pain leads to depression remains elusive and the mechanisms determining individuals' responses to depression are largely unexplored. Here we found that depression-like behaviors could only be observed in 67.

Exosomes combined with biosynthesized cellulose conduits improve peripheral nerve regeneration.

Peripheral nerve injury is one of the more common forms of peripheral nerve disorders, and the most severe type of peripheral nerve injury is a defect with a gap. Biosynthetic cellulose membrane (BCM) is a commonly used material for repair and ligation of nerve defects with gaps. Meanwhile, exosomes from mesenchymal stem cells can promote cell growth and proliferation.

Chinese anatomy educators' perceptions of blended learning in anatomy education: A national survey in the post-COVID-19 era.

Blended learning, which combines face-to-face lectures with online learning, has emerged as a suitable teaching approach during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a national survey of anatomy educators in Mainland China to evaluate the changes in the implementation of blended learning in anatomical pedagogy. A total of 297 responses were collected from medical schools across all provinces.

Transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of the anterior cingulate cortex in neuropathic pain model rats.

Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) takes a heavy toll on individual life quality, yet gaps in its molecular characterization persist and effective therapy is lacking. This study aimed to provide comprehensive knowledge by combining transcriptomic and proteomic data of molecular correlates of NP in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a cortical hub responsible for affective pain processing.

Methods: The NP model was established by spared nerve injury (SNI) in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Collateral projections from the ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra pars compacta to the nucleus accumbens and insular cortex in the rat.

Midbrain dopaminergic (DAergic) regions including ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) are involved in diverse brain functions. Previous studies demonstrated that the VTA/SNc to nucleus accumbens (NAc) pathway is critical in reward and motivation. Moreover, DAergic innervations within the insular cortex (IC) are reported to play important roles in pain regulation.

Central medial thalamic nucleus dynamically participates in acute itch sensation and chronic itch-induced anxiety-like behavior in male mice.

Itch is an annoying sensation consisting of both sensory and emotional components. It is known to involve the parabrachial nucleus (PBN), but the following transmission nodes remain elusive. The present study identified that the PBN-central medial thalamic nucleus (CM)-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) pathway is essential for itch signal transmission at the supraspinal level in male mice.

The Downregulation of Opioid Receptors and Neuropathic Pain.

Neuropathic pain (NP) refers to pain caused by primary or secondary damage or dysfunction of the peripheral or central nervous system, which seriously affects the physical and mental health of 7-10% of the general population. The etiology and pathogenesis of NP are complex; as such, NP has been a hot topic in clinical medicine and basic research for a long time, with researchers aiming to find a cure by studying it. Opioids are the most commonly used painkillers in clinical practice but are regarded as third-line drugs for NP in various guidelines due to the low efficacy caused by the imbalance of opioid receptor internalization and their possible side effects.

Perspectives on pain in Down syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS) or trisomy 21 is a genetic condition often accompanied by chronic pain caused by congenital abnormalities and/or conditions, such as osteoarthritis, recurrent infections, and leukemia. Although DS patients are more susceptible to chronic pain as compared to the general population, the pain experience in these individuals may vary, attributed to the heterogenous structural and functional differences in the central nervous system, which might result in abnormal pain sensory information transduction, transmission, modulation, and perception. We tried to elaborate on some key questions and possible explanations in this review.

Projections from the Rostral Zona Incerta to the Thalamic Paraventricular Nucleus Mediate Nociceptive Neurotransmission in Mice.

Zona incerta (ZI) is an integrative subthalamic region in nociceptive neurotransmission. Previous studies demonstrated that the rostral ZI (ZIR) is an important gamma-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) source to the thalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVT), but whether the ZIR-PVT pathway participates in nociceptive modulation is still unclear. Therefore, our investigation utilized anatomical tracing, fiber photometry, chemogenetic, optogenetic and local pharmacological approaches to investigate the roles of the ZIR-PVT pathway in nociceptive neurotransmission in mice.

Involvement of enteric glial cells in colonic motility in a rat model of irritable bowel syndrome with predominant diarrhea.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is one of the important systems that regulate gastrointestinal function. The ENS is made up of enteric glial cells (EGCs) and neurons. For a long time, it was believed that the function of EGCs was only to give structural support to neurons.

Adeno-associated virus vector intraperitoneal injection induces colonic mucosa and submucosa transduction and alters the diversity and composition of the faecal microbiota in rats.

Background: Viral vector technology, especially recombinant adeno-associated virus vector (rAAV) technology, has shown great promise in preclinical research for clinical applications. Several studies have confirmed that rAAV can successfully transduce the enteric nervous system (ENS), and rAAV gene therapy has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of the early childhood blindness disease Leber congenital amaurosis and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). However, until now, it has not been possible to determine the effect of AAV9 on intestinal microbiota.

Blood-nerve barrier disruption and coagulation system activation induced by mechanical compression injury participate in the peripheral sensitization of trigeminal neuralgia.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and possible mechanisms of the blood-nerve barrier (BNB) and the coagulation-anticoagulation system in modulating the mechanical allodynia in a trigeminal neuralgia (TN) rat model induced by chronic compression of the trigeminal root entry zone (TREZ).

Methods: Von Frey filaments were applied to determine the orofacial mechanical allodynia threshold. The BNB permeability was evaluated by Evans blue extravasation test.

[Review on the speciation analysis methods of platinum group metals in environmental media].

Platinum group metals (PGMs) present a variety of forms in the environment, and analysis of speciation is essential for identifying their ecological risk. Here, we reviewed the methods for the morphological analysis of three major PGMs (platinum, palladium and rhodium) in the environment, including chemical sequential extraction, hyphenated techniques for instruments, computer simulations. We outlined the types, characteristics and applications of these methods, elaborated the weaknesses, and provided prospects for future development.

Morphological investigations of endomorphin-2 and spinoparabrachial projection neurons in the spinal dorsal horn of the rat.

It has been proved that endomorphin-2 (EM2) produced obvious analgesic effects in the spinal dorsal horn (SDH), which existed in our human bodies with remarkable affinity and selectivity for the μ-opioid receptor (MOR). Our previous study has demonstrated that EM2 made synapses with the spinoparabrachial projection neurons (PNs) in the SDH and inhibited their activities by reducing presynaptic glutamate release. However, the morphological features of EM2 and the spinoparabrachial PNs in the SDH have not been completely investigated.

A non-canonical retina-ipRGCs-SCN-PVT visual pathway for mediating contagious itch behavior.

Contagious itch behavior informs conspecifics of adverse environment and is crucial for the survival of social animals. Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and its receptor (GRPR) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus mediates contagious itch behavior in mice. Here, we show that intrinsically photosensitive retina ganglion cells (ipRGCs) convey visual itch information, independently of melanopsin, from the retina to GRP neurons via PACAP-PAC1R signaling.

Involvement of nitrergic neurons in colonic motility in a rat model of ulcerative colitis.

Background: The mechanisms underlying gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility with ulcerative colitis (UC) have not been fully elucidated. The enteric nervous system (ENS) plays an essential role in the GI motility. As a vital neurotransmitter in the ENS, the gas neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO) may impact the colonic motility.

A hyaluronic acid granular hydrogel nerve guidance conduit promotes regeneration and functional recovery of injured sciatic nerves in rats.

A hyaluronic acid granular hydrogel can promote neuronal and astrocyte colony formation and axonal extension in vitro, suggesting that the hydrogel can simulate an extracellular matrix structure to promote neural regeneration. However, in vivo experiments have not been conducted. In this study, we transplanted a hyaluronic acid granular hydrogel nerve guidance conduit to repair a 10-mm long sciatic nerve gap.

The analgesic effects of β-elemene in rats with neuropathic pain by inhibition of spinal astrocytic ERK activation.

Neuropathic pain takes a heavy toll on individual well-being, while current therapy is far from desirable. Herein, we assessed the analgesic effect of β-elemene, a chief component in the traditional Chinese medicine Curcuma wenyujin, and explored the underlying mechanisms at the level of spinal dorsal horn (SDH) under neuropathic pain. A spared nerve injury (SNI)-induced neuropathic pain model was established in rats.

Morphological features of endomorphin-2-immunoreactive ultrastructures in the dorsal root ganglion and spinal dorsal horn of the rat.

Endomorphin-2 (EM2)-immunoreactive (ir) fibers and terminals in the superficial laminae (lamina I and II) of the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) primarily come from neurons in the ipsilateral dorsal root ganglion (DRG), which are important for nociceptive information transmission and modulation. However, the morphological features of EM2-ir neurons and fibers in the DRG and terminals in the SDH under ultrastructural levels have not been completely revealed. The present study observed the distributions of EM2-ir neurons, fibers and terminals in the DRG and SDH and detected their ultrastructural features using immunoelectron microscopy.

Construction of Exosomes that Overexpress CD47 and Evaluation of Their Immune Escape.

Our general purpose was to provide a theoretical and practical foundation for the use of exosomes (EXOs) that have high levels of CD47 as stable and efficient drug carriers. Thus, we prepared EXOs from adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ADMSCs) that had high levels of CD47 (EXOs) and control EXOs (without CD47), and then compared their immune escape and their resistance to phagocytosis . Nanoflow cytometry was used to determine the CD47 level in these EXOs, and the amount of EXOs that remained in rat plasma at 3 h after intraperitoneal injection.