Mosesgeertsen2841
The central nervous system controls feeding behavior and energy expenditure in response to various internal and external stimuli to maintain energy balance. AZD2171 Here we report that the newly identified transcription factor zinc finger and BTB domain containing 16 (Zbtb16) is induced by energy deficit in the paraventricular (PVH) and arcuate (ARC) nuclei of the hypothalamus via glucocorticoid (GC) signaling. In the PVH, Zbtb16 is expressed in the anterior half of the PVH and co-expressed with many neuronal markers such as corticotropin-releasing hormone (Crh), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Trh), oxytocin (Oxt), arginine vasopressin (Avp), and nitric oxide synthase 1 (Nos1). Knockdown (KD) of Zbtb16 in the PVH results in attenuated cold-induced thermogenesis and improved glucose tolerance without affecting food intake. In the meantime, Zbtb16 is predominantly expressed in agouti-related neuropeptide/neuropeptide Y (Agrp/Npy) neurons in the ARC and its KD in the ARC leads to reduced food intake. We further reveal that chemogenetic stimulation of PVH Zbtb16 neurons increases energy expenditure while that of ARC Zbtb16 neurons increases food intake. Taken together, we conclude that Zbtb16 is an important mediator that coordinates responses to energy deficit downstream of GCs by contributing to glycemic control through the PVH and feeding behavior regulation through the ARC, and additionally reveal its function in controlling energy expenditure during cold-evoked thermogenesis via the PVH. As a result, we hypothesize that Zbtb16 may be involved in promoting weight regain after weight loss.Regaining communication abilities in patients who are unable to speak or move is one of the main goals in decoding brain waves for brain-computer interface (BCI) control. Many BCI approaches designed for communication rely on attention to visual stimuli, commonly applying an oddball paradigm, and require both eye movements and adequate visual acuity. These abilities may, however, be absent in patients who depend on BCI communication. We have therefore developed a response-based communication BCI, which is independent of gaze shifts but utilizes covert shifts of attention to the left or right visual field. We recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) from 29 channels and coregistered the vertical and horizontal electrooculogram. Data-driven decoding of small attention-based differences between the hemispheres, also known as N2pc, was performed using 14 posterior channels, which are expected to reflect correlates of visual spatial attention. Eighteen healthy participants responded to 120 statements by covertly directing attention to one of two colored symbols (green and red crosses for "yes" and "no," respectively), presented in the user's left and right visual field, respectively, while maintaining central gaze fixation. On average across participants, 88.5% (std 7.8%) of responses were correctly decoded online. In order to investigate the potential influence of stimulus features on accuracy, we presented the symbols with different visual angles, by altering symbol size and eccentricity. The offline analysis revealed that stimulus features have a minimal impact on the controllability of the BCI. Hence, we show with our novel approach that spatial attention to a colored symbol is a robust method with which to control a BCI, which has the potential to support severely paralyzed people with impaired eye movements and low visual acuity in communicating with their environment.The decline in visual function due to normal aging impacts various aspects of our daily lives. Previous reports suggest that the aging retina exhibits mislocalization of photoreceptor terminals and reduced amplitudes of scotopic and photopic electroretinogram (ERG) responses in mice. These abnormalities are thought to contribute to age-related visual impairment; however, the extent to which visual function is impaired by aging at the organismal level is unclear. In the present study, we focus on the age-related changes of the optokinetic responses (OKRs) in visual processing. Moreover, we investigated the initial and late phases of the OKRs in young adult (2-3 months old) and aging mice (21-24 months old). The initial phase was evaluated by measuring the open-loop eye velocity of OKRs using sinusoidal grating patterns of various spatial frequencies (SFs) and moving at various temporal frequencies (TFs) for 0.5 s. The aging mice exhibited initial OKRs with a spatiotemporal frequency tuning that was slightly ditial and late phases of OKRs. Moreover, it implies that the abnormalities of the visual function in the normal aging mice are at least partly due to mislocalization of photoreceptor synapses.Neuronal-glial interactions are critical for brain homeostasis, and disruption of this process may lead to excessive glial activation and inadequate pro-inflammatory responses. Abnormalities in neuronal-glial interactions have been reported in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), where lithium has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects, including the up-regulation of cytoprotective proteins. In the present study, we characterize by Gene Ontology (GO) the signaling pathways related to neuronal-glial interactions in response to lithium in a triple-transgenic mouse model of AD (3×-TgAD). Mice were treated for 8 months with lithium carbonate (Li) supplemented to chow, using two dose ranges to yield subtherapeutic working concentrations (Li1, 1.0 g/kg; and Li2, 2.0 g/kg of chow), or with standard chow (Li0). The hippocampi were removed and analyzed by proteomics. A neuronal-glial interaction network was created by a systematic literature search, and the selected genes were submitted to STRING, a fnclude that neuronal-glial interactions are implicated in the neuroprotective response mediated by lithium in the hippocampus of AD-transgenic mice. The effect of lithium on homeostatic pathways mediated by the interaction between neurons and glial cells are implicated in membrane permeability, protein synthesis and DNA repair, which may be relevant for the survival of nerve cells amidst AD pathology.