Activity-based anorexia (ABA) model: Effects on brain neuroinflammation, redox balance and neuroplasticity during the acute phase.

Several evidences suggest that immuno-inflammatory responses are involved in the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa (AN). Herein we investigate the possible alteration of key mediators of inflammation, redox balance, and neuroplasticity in the brain of rats showing an anorexic-like phenotype. We modeled AN in adolescent female rats using the activity-based anorexia (ABA) paradigm and measured gene expression levels of targets of interest in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and dorsal hippocampus (DH).

Communal nesting shapes the sex-dependent glutamatergic response to early life stress in the rat prefrontal cortex.

Introduction: Early social environment, either positive or negative, shapes the adult brain. Communal nesting (CN), a naturalistic setting in which 2-3 females keep their pups in a single nest sharing care-giving behavior, provides high level of peer interaction for pups. Early social isolation (ESI) from dam and siblings represents, instead, an adverse condition providing no peer interaction.

Outcomes of early social experiences on glucocorticoid and endocannabinoid systems in the prefrontal cortex of male and female adolescent rats.

Social and emotional experiences differently shape individual's neurodevelopment inducing substantial changes in neurobiological substrates and behavior, particularly when they occur early in life. In this scenario, the present study was aimed at (i) investigating the impact of early social environments on emotional reactivity of adolescent male and female rats and (ii) uncovering the underlying molecular features, focusing on the cortical endocannabinoid (eCB) and glucocorticoid systems. To this aim, we applied a protocol of environmental manipulation based on early postnatal socially enriched or impoverished conditions.

Sex-specific behavioural, metabolic, and immunohistochemical changes after repeated administration of the synthetic cannabinoid AKB48 in mice.

Background And Purpose: AKB48 is a synthetic cannabinoid illegally sold for its psychoactive cannabis-like effects that have been associated with acute intoxication and whose effects are poorly known.

Experimental Approach: Using a behavioural, neurochemical, and immunohistochemical approach, we investigated the pharmaco-toxicological effects, pharmacokinetics, and neuroplasticity at cannabinoid CB receptors in the cerebellum and cortex induced by repeated AKB48 administration in male and female mice.

Key Results: The effects of AKB48 varied significantly depending on sex and treatment duration.

Early social isolation differentially affects the glucocorticoid receptor system and alcohol-seeking behavior in male and female Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats.

Adverse early life experiences during postnatal development can evoke long-lasting neurobiological changes in stress systems, thereby affecting subsequent behaviors including propensity to develop alcohol use disorder. Here, we exposed genetically selected male and female Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) and Wistar rats to mild, repeated social deprivation from postnatal day 14 (PND14) to PND21 and investigated the effect of the early social isolation (ESI) on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) system and on the propensity to drink and seek alcohol in adulthood. We found that ESI resulted in higher levels of GR gene and protein expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in male but not female msP rats.

Olfactory Bulbectomy Model of Depression Lowers Responding for Food in Male and Female Rats: The Modulating Role of Caloric Restriction and Response Requirement.

Depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a marked decrease in reward sensitivity. By using the olfactory bulbectomy (OBX) model of depression, it was shown that OBX rats display enhanced drug-taking and seeking behaviors in a self-administration paradigm than sham-operated (SHAM) controls, and sex is an important regulating factor. To reveal potential strain effects, we compared the operant behavior of male and female Sprague-Dawley and Wistar OBX and SHAM rats trained to self-administer palatable food pellets.

Effects of the Phenethylamine 2-Cl-4,5-MDMA and the Synthetic Cathinone 3,4-MDPHP in Adolescent Rats: Focus on Sex Differences.

The illicit drug market of novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) is expanding, becoming an alarming threat due to increasing intoxication cases and insufficient (if any) knowledge of their effects. Phenethylamine 2-chloro-4,5-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (2-Cl-4,5-MDMA) and synthetic cathinone 3,4-methylenedioxy-α-pyrrolidinohexanophenone (3,4-MDPHP) are new, emerging NPSs suggested to be particularly dangerous. This study verified whether these two new drugs (i) possess abuse liability, (ii) alter plasma corticosterone levels, and (iii) interfere with dopaminergic transmission; male and female adolescent rats were included to evaluate potential sex differences in the drug-induced effects.

Adolescent self-administration of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist JWH-018 induces neurobiological and behavioral alterations in adult male mice.

Rationale: The use of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) is growing among adolescents, posing major medical and psychiatric risks. JWH-018 represents the reference compound of SCRA-containing products.

Objectives: This study was performed to evaluate the enduring consequences of adolescent voluntary consumption of JWH-018.

K18- and CAG-hACE2 Transgenic Mouse Models and SARS-CoV-2: Implications for Neurodegeneration Research.

COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global pandemic that might lead to very serious consequences. Notably, mental status change, brain confusion, and smell and taste disorders along with neurological complaints have been reported in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, human brain tissue autopsies from COVID-19 patients show the presence of SARS-CoV-2 neuroinvasion, which correlates with the manifestation of meningitis, encephalitis, leukocyte infiltration, and neuronal damage.

Increased Voluntary Alcohol Consumption in Mice Lacking GABA Is Associated With Functional Changes in Hippocampal GABA Receptors.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid type B receptor (GABAR) has been extensively involved in alcohol use disorders; however, the mechanisms by which this receptor modulates alcohol drinking behavior remain murky. In this study, we investigate alcohol consumption and preference in mice lacking functional GABAR using the 2-bottle choice paradigm. We found that GABA, knockout (KO), and heterozygous (HZ) mice drank higher amounts of an alcoholic solution, preferred alcohol to water, and reached higher blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) compared to wild-type (WT) littermates.

New insights into methoxetamine mechanisms of action: Focus on serotonergic 5-HT receptors in pharmacological and behavioral effects in the rat.

Methoxetamine (MXE) is a dissociative substance of the arylcyclohexylamine class that has been present on the designer drug market as a ketamine-substitute since 2010. We have previously shown that MXE (i) possesses ketamine-like discriminative and positive rewarding effects in rats, (ii) affects brain processing involved in cognition and emotional responses, (iii) causes long-lasting behavioral abnormalities and neurotoxicity in rats and (iv) induces neurological, sensorimotor and cardiorespiratory alterations in mice. To shed light on the mechanisms through which MXE exerts its effects, we conducted a multidisciplinary study to evaluate the various neurotransmitter systems presumably involved in its actions on the brain.

Repeated exposure to JWH-018 induces adaptive changes in the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic pathways, glial cells alterations, and behavioural correlates.

Background And Purpose: Spice/K2 herbal mixtures, containing synthetic cannabinoids such as JWH-018, have been marketed as marijuana surrogates since 2004. JWH-018 has cannabinoid CB receptor-dependent reinforcing properties and acutely increases dopaminergic transmission selectively in the NAc shell. Here, we tested the hypothesis that repeated administration of JWH-018 (i) modulates behaviour, (ii) affects dopaminergic transmission and its responsiveness to motivational stimuli, and (iii) is associated with a neuroinflammatory phenotype.

Presenting Psychiatric and Neurological Symptoms and Signs of Brain Tumors before Diagnosis: A Systematic Review.

Brain tumors can present with various psychiatric symptoms, with or without neurological symptoms, an aspect that complicates the clinical picture. However, no systematic description of symptoms that should prompt a neurological investigation has been provided. This review aims to summarize available case reports describing patients with brain tumors showing psychiatric symptoms before brain tumor diagnosis, in order to provide a comprehensive description of these symptoms as well as their potential relationship with delay in the diagnosis.

Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Anxiety and Mood Disorders: Molecular Targets and Epigenetic Insights from Preclinical Research.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is the most abundant non-psychoactive component of cannabis; it displays a very low affinity for cannabinoid receptors, facilitates endocannabinoid signaling by inhibiting the hydrolysis of anandamide, and stimulates both transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 and 2 and serotonin type 1A receptors. Since CBD interacts with a wide variety of molecular targets in the brain, its therapeutic potential has been investigated in a number of neuropsychiatric diseases, including anxiety and mood disorders. Specifically, CBD has received growing attention due to its anxiolytic and antidepressant properties.

Gender-specific approach in psychiatric diseases: Because sex matters.

In both animals and human beings, males and females differ in their genetic background and hormonally driven behaviour and show sex-related differences in brain activity and response to internal and external stimuli. Gender-specific medicine has been a neglected dimension of medicine for long time, and only in the last three decades it is receiving the due scientific and clinical attention. Research has recently begun to identify factors that could provide a neurobiological basis for gender-based differences in health and disease and to point to gonadal hormones as important determinants of male-female differences.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A review about its efficacy in the treatment of alcohol, tobacco and cocaine addiction.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a chronic and relapsing disease characterized by craving, loss of control, tolerance and physical dependence. At present, the combination of pharmacotherapy and psychosocial intervention is the most effective management strategy in preventing relapse to reduce dropout rates and promote abstinence in SUD patients. However, only few effective medications are available.

The hypodopaminergic state ten years after: transcranial magnetic stimulation as a tool to test the dopamine hypothesis of drug addiction.

An altered dopamine transmission has been described for different types of addiction for a long time. Preclinical and clinical evidence support the hypodopaminergic hypothesis and underpin the need to increase dopamine transmission to obtain therapeutic benefit. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of prefrontal cortex shows efficacy in treating some forms of addiction.

Analysis of Opioid-Seeking Behavior Through the Intravenous Self-Administration Reinstatement Model in Rats.

The inability to maintain drug abstinence is often referred to as relapse and consists of a process by which an abstaining individual slips back into old behavioral patterns and substance use. Animal models of relapse have been developed over the last decades and significantly contributed to shed light on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying vulnerability to relapse. The most common procedure to study drug-seeking and relapse-like behavior in animals is the "extinction-reinstatement model.

Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) in Rats: From Conditioning to Reinstatement Test.

Opioid addiction in humans is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by discontinuous periods of drug use and abstinence resulting in dependence. With time, the probability of falling into renewed drug consumption becomes particularly high and constitutes a considerable problem in the management of opioid addicts. Opioid addiction represents an important health concern and animal models have been crucial in understanding the neurobiology and pathophysiology of this complex disease.