The Synergistic Enhancing-Memory Effect of Donepezil and S 38093 (a Histamine H Antagonist) Is Mediated by Increased Neural Activity in the Septo-hippocampal Circuitry in Middle-Aged Mice.

Donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, induces only moderate symptomatic effects on memory in Alzheimer's disease patients. An alternative strategy for treatment of cognitive symptoms could be to act simultaneously on both histaminergic and cholinergic pathways, to create a synergistic effect. To that aim, 14 month old C57/Bl6 mice were administered per oesophagy during nine consecutive days with Donepezil (at 0.

Social harassment induces anxiety-like behaviour in crayfish.

Social interactions leading to dominance hierarchies often elicit psychological disorders in mammals including harassment and anxiety. Here, we demonstrate that this sequence also occurs in an invertebrate, the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. When placed in the restricted space of an aquarium, crayfish dyads generally fight until one of the opponents suddenly escapes, thereafter clearly expressing a submissive behaviour.

Cellular reactions and compensatory tissue re-organization during spontaneous recovery after spinal cord injury in neonatal mice.

Following incomplete spinal cord injuries, neonatal mammals display a remarkable degree of behavioral recovery. Previously, we have demonstrated in neonatal mice a wholesale re-establishment and reorganization of synaptic connections from some descending axon tracts (Boulland et al.: PLoS One 8 (2013)).

Impact of sleep apnea syndrome on survival in patients with multiple system atrophy.

Introduction: Sleep apnea is very frequent in multiple system atrophy (MSA) and may contribute to the poor prognosis. The aim of the present study was to prospectively assess the relation between sleep apnea and survival in 30 consecutive MSA patients recruited at the French Reference Center for MSA.

Methods: Patients with "probable" MSA according to current consensus diagnosis criteria were enrolled in this prospective cohort study.

The Effect of Cochlear Damage on the Sensitivity to Harmonicity.

Objectives: A sum of simultaneous pure tones with harmonic relationships (i.e., simple frequency ratios) is normally heard as a single sound, with a single pitch, even when its components are fully resolved in the auditory periphery.

Behavioral effects of chronic stress in the Fmr1 mouse model for fragile X syndrome.

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a pervasive developmental disorder due to a mutation in the FMR1 X-linked gene. Despite its clear genetic cause, the expression of FXS symptoms is known to be modulated by environmental factors, including stress. Furthermore, several studies have shown disturbances in stress regulatory systems in FXS patients and Fmr1 mice.

Genetic Dissection of Variation in Hippocampal Intra- and Infrapyramidal Mossy Fibers in the Mouse.

This chapter describes the genetic analysis of a morphometric neuroanatomic trait. We used the extended BXD family of recombinant inbred mouse strains with the intent to analyze the genetic bases of heritable differences in hippocampal neurocircuitry and to identify Quantitative Trait Loci that underlie these variations. A detailed description of a GeneNetwork analysis is provided using data for the intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber (IIPMF) terminal fields which are strongly correlated with spatial navigation/radial maze learning.

Memories of Opiate Withdrawal Emotional States Correlate with Specific Gamma Oscillations in the Nucleus Accumbens.

Affective memories associated with the negative emotional state experienced during opiate withdrawal are central in maintaining drug taking, seeking, and relapse. Nucleus accumbens (NAC) is a key structure for both acute withdrawal and withdrawal memories reactivation, but the NAC neuron coding properties underpinning the expression of these memories remain largely unknown. Here we aimed at deciphering the role of NAC neurons in the encoding and retrieval of opiate withdrawal memory.

Hallucinations in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease: an analysis of sensory modalities involved and the repercussion on patients.

Hallucinations have been described in various clinical populations, but they are neither disorder nor disease specific. In schizophrenia patients, hallucinations are hallmark symptoms and auditory ones are described as the more frequent. In Parkinson's disease, the descriptions of hallucination modalities are sparse, but the hallucinations do tend to have less negative consequences.

Omics analysis of mouse brain models of human diseases.

The identification of common gene/protein profiles related to brain alterations, if they exist, may indicate the convergence of the pathogenic mechanisms driving brain disorders. Six genetically engineered mouse lines modelling neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders were considered. Omics approaches, including transcriptomic and proteomic methods, were used.

Selective dentate gyrus disruption causes memory impairment at the early stage of experimental multiple sclerosis.

Memory impairment is an early and disabling manifestation of multiple sclerosis whose anatomical and biological substrates are still poorly understood. We thus investigated whether memory impairment encountered at the early stage of the disease could be explained by a differential vulnerability of particular hippocampal subfields. By using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, we identified that early memory impairment was associated with selective alteration of the dentate gyrus as pinpointed in vivo with diffusion-tensor-imaging (DTI).

Analysis of morphine responses in mice reveals a QTL on Chromosome 7.

In this study we identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on mouse Chromosome 7 associated with locomotor activity and rearing post morphine treatment. This QTL was revealed after correcting for the effects of another QTL peak on Chromosome 10 using composite interval mapping. The positional candidate genes are and .

Neuropeptide Evolution: Chelicerate Neurohormone and Neuropeptide Genes may reflect one or more whole genome duplications.

Four genomes and two transcriptomes from six Chelicerate species were analyzed for the presence of neuropeptide and neurohormone precursors and their GPCRs. The genome from the spider Stegodyphus mimosarum yielded 87 neuropeptide precursors and 101 neuropeptide GPCRs. High neuropeptide transcripts were also found in the trancriptomes of three other spiders, Latrodectus hesperus, Parasteatoda tepidariorum and Acanthoscurria geniculata.

The ideomotor recycling theory for tool use, language, and foresight.

The present theoretical framework highlights a common action-perception mechanism for tool use, spoken language, and foresight capacity. On the one hand, it has been suggested that human language and the capacity to envision the future (i.e.

The effect of high-fat diet consumption on appetitive instrumental behavior in rats.

Evidence now indicates that the chronic consumption of high-calorie foods, such as a high-fat diet (HFD), is associated with impaired control over food-seeking, yet the extent of this alteration is not fully understood. Using different reinforcement schedules, we evaluated whether HFD intake from weaning to adulthood modifies instrumental responding and induces a shift from goal-directed actions to habitual responding. We first observed reduced instrumental performance and motivation for a food reward in HFD-fed rats trained under schedules of reinforcement that facilitate habitual responding [Random Interval (RI)].

Validation study of the Medication Adherence Rating Scale. Results from the FACE-SZ national dataset.

Objective: The Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) is one of the most widely used measurements of adherence in schizophrenia (SZ). However, the data available regarding its psychometric properties are scarce. The aim of this study was to provide new data regarding the psychometric properties of the MARS in a multicenter community-dwelling sample of SZ patients.

Determination of Adherence Profiles in Schizophrenia Using Self-Reported Adherence: Results From the FACE-SZ Dataset.

Objective: Medication nonadherence is one of the most important, and potentially modifiable, prognostic factors in the outcome of patients with schizophrenia. The aim of this article is to propose a new classification of adherence profiles according to the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) in a large community-dwelling sample of French patients with schizophrenia to provide a new tool to help clinicians in daily practice.

Methods: 319 community-dwelling patients from a national network of 10 Schizophrenia Expert Centers were interviewed between January 2009 and January 2014.

Behavioral Neuroadaptation to Alcohol: From Glucocorticoids to Histone Acetylation.

A prime mechanism that contributes to the development and maintenance of alcoholism is the dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and the release of glucocorticoids (cortisol in humans and primates, corticosterone in rodents) from the adrenal glands. In the brain, sustained, local elevation of glucocorticoid concentration even long after cessation of chronic alcohol consumption compromises functional integrity of a circuit, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the hippocampus (HPC), and the amygdala (AMG). These structures are implicated in learning and memory processes as well as in orchestrating neuroadaptive responses to stress and anxiety responses.

Central and peripheral nervous system excitability in restless legs syndrome.

Neurophysiological techniques have been applied in restless legs syndrome (RLS) to obtain direct and indirect measures of central and peripheral nervous system excitability, as well as to probe different neurotransmission pathways. Data converge on the hypothesis that, from a pure electrophysiological perspective, RLS should be regarded as a complex sensorimotor disorder in which cortical, subcortical, spinal cord, and peripheral nerve generators are all involved in a network disorder, resulting in an enhanced excitability and/or decreased inhibition. Although the spinal component may have dominated in neurophysiological assessment, possibly because of better accessibility compared to the brainstem or cerebral components of a hypothetical dysfunction of the diencephalic A11 area, multiple mechanisms, such as reduced central inhibition and abnormal peripheral nerve function, contribute to the pathogenesis of RLS similarly to some chronic pain conditions.

Allatostatin A Signalling in Drosophila Regulates Feeding and Sleep and Is Modulated by PDF.

Feeding and sleep are fundamental behaviours with significant interconnections and cross-modulations. The circadian system and peptidergic signals are important components of this modulation, but still little is known about the mechanisms and networks by which they interact to regulate feeding and sleep. We show that specific thermogenetic activation of peptidergic Allatostatin A (AstA)-expressing PLP neurons and enteroendocrine cells reduces feeding and promotes sleep in the fruit fly Drosophila.

Activity/rest cycle and disturbances of structural backbone of cerebral networks in aging.

Objective: Although aging is associated with alterations of both activity/rest cycle and brain structure, few studies have evaluated associations between these processes. The aim of this study was to examine relationship between activity/rest cycle quality and brain structural integrity in aging subjects by exploring both grey and white matter compartments.

Material And Methods: Fifty-eight elderly subjects (76±0.

The ideomotor recycling theory for language.

For language acquisition and processing, the ideomotor theory predicts that the comprehension and the production of language are functionally based on their expected perceptual effects (i.e., linguistic events).

Feasibility and validity of mobile cognitive testing in the investigation of age-related cognitive decline.

Mobile cognitive testing may be used to help characterize subtle deficits at the earliest stages of cognitive decline. Despite growing interest in this approach, comprehensive information concerning its feasibility and validity has been lacking in elderly samples. Over a one-week period, this study applied mobile cognitive tests of semantic memory, episodic memory and executive functioning in a cohort of 114 elderly non-demented community residents.

Mood Influences the Concordance of Subjective and Objective Measures of Sleep Duration in Older Adults.

Objective/background: Sleep plays a central role in maintaining health and cognition. In most epidemiologic studies, sleep is evaluated by self-report questionnaires but several reports suggest that these evaluations might be less accurate than objective measures such as polysomnography or actigraphy. Determinants of the discrepancy between objective and subjective measures remain to be investigated.