Rats have elaborate cognitive capacities for playing Hide & Seek. Playing Hide & Seek strongly engages medial prefrontal cortex and the activity of prefrontal cortex neurons reflects the structure of the game. We wondered if prefrontal neurons would also show a mirroring of play-related neural activity. Specifically, we asked how does the activity in the rat medial prefrontal cortex differ when the animal plays itself versus when it observes others playing. Consistent with our previous work, when the animal plays itself we observed medial prefrontal cortex activity that was sharply locked to game events. Observing play, however, did not lead to a comparable activation of rat medial prefrontal cortex. Firing rates during observing play were lower than during real play. The modulation of responses in medial prefrontal cortex by game events was strong during playing Hide & Seek, but weak during observing Hide & Seek. We conclude the rat prefrontal cortex does not mirror play events under our experimental conditions.
Objectives: We studied the acceptability, feasibility, tolerability, and preliminary effectiveness of combined cue exposure and anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) on the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on cannabis craving in cannabis use disorder (CUD).
Methods: We randomly assigned 48 participants equally in 4 groups: A, tDCS and cannabis cue exposure; B, tDCS and neutral image; C, sham tDCS and cue exposure; and D, sham tDCS and neutral image. The images were validated by Delphi consensus.
Traumatic stress exposure increases noradrenaline (NA) release, which contributes to anxiety and impaired risk-appraisal. Guanfacine, a selective alpha-2A adrenergic receptor agonist, has been used to treat stress-related disorders characterised by impaired prefrontal cortex function. By acting on both presynaptic inhibitory autoreceptors and postsynaptic heteroreceptors, guanfacine attenuates stress reactivity and enhances cognition.
Ketamine displays efficacious rapid-acting antidepressant (RAAD) activity in the rat chronic mild stress (CMS) model. It rapidly reverses anhedonia (CMS-induced sucrose consumption deficit) and attenuates working memory deficit (novel object recognition: NOR) following both systemic (intraperitoneal, i.p.
Miniature fluorescence microscopes (miniscopes) are one of the most powerful and versatile tools for recording large scale neural activity in freely moving rodents with single cell resolution. Recent advances in the design of genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) allow to target distinct neuronal populations with non-overlapping emission spectral profiles. However, conventional miniscopes are limited to a single excitation, single focal plane imaging, which does not allow to compensate for chromatic aberration and image from two spectrally distinct calcium indicators.
Background: Poststroke irritability (PSI) is common among stroke survivors and can lead to a poor quality of life, difficulties in social interactions, criticism from caregivers, and caregiver stress. The planned study will evaluate the clinical, neuropsychological, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates of PSI in a cohort of stroke survivors. In addition, the study will examine the 15-month progression of PSI.
