OBJECTIVE: Exposure to high intensity, low frequency noise (HI-LFN) causes vibroacoustic disease (VAD), with memory deficit as a primary non-auditory symptomatic effect of VAD. However, the underlying mechanism of the memory deficit is unknown. This study aimed to characterize potential mechanisms involving morphological changes of neurons and nerve fibers in the hippocampus, after exposure to HI-LFN. METHODS: Adult wild-type and transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 4 knockout (TRPV4^-/-) mice were used for construction of the HI-LFN injury model. The new object recognition task and the Morris water maze test were used to measure the memory of these animals. Hemoxylin and eosin and immunofluorescence staining were used to examine morphological changes of the hippocampus after exposure to HI-LFN. RESULTS: The expression of TRPV4 was significantly upregulated in the hippocampus after HI-LFN exposure. Furthermore, memory deficits correlated with lower densities of neurons and neurofilament-positive nerve fibers in the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) and dentate gyrus (DG) hippocampal areas in wild-type mice. However, TRPV4^-/- mice showed better performance in memory tests and more integrated neurofilament-positive nerve fibers in the CA1 and DG areas after HI-LFN exposure. CONCLUSION TRPV4 up-regulation induced neurofilament positive nerve fiber injury in the hippocampus, which was a possible mechanism for memory impairment and cognitive decline resulting from HI-LFN exposure. Together, these results identified a promising therapeutic target for treating cognitive dysfunction in VAD patients.
Animals ; Mice ; TRPV Cation Channels/metabolism* ; Intermediate Filaments/metabolism* ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Neurons/metabolism* ; Memory Disorders/metabolism*

Androgen receptor(AR) plays an important role in modulating the effects of androgen on target cells. It is well known that AR is mainly existed in testis. This paper reviewed the distribution of AR and its mRNA in prostate, epididymis, skin of penis, and some other tissues in non-genital system and tumors, such as the skin of scalp, hippocampus, fat, gastric cancer, cancer of larynx, and so on. Besides, this paper also reviewed the detection methods to AR, and further investigated the function of androgen.
Androgens ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Penis ; metabolism ; Prostate ; metabolism ; Receptors, Androgen ; metabolism ; Testis ; metabolism ; Tissue Distribution ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Animals ; Epilepsy ; immunology ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; immunology ; metabolism

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by hyperexcitability in the brain. Its pathogenesis is classically associated with an imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Calretinin (CR) is one of the three major types of calcium-binding proteins present in inhibitory GABAergic neurons. The functions of CR and its role in neural excitability are still unknown. Recent data suggest that CR neurons have diverse neurotransmitters, morphologies, distributions, and functions in different brain regions across various species. Notably, CR neurons in the hippocampus, amygdala, neocortex, and thalamus are extremely susceptible to excitotoxicity in the epileptic brain, but the causal relationship is unknown. In this review, we focus on the heterogeneous functions of CR neurons in different brain regions and their relationship with neural excitability and epilepsy. Importantly, we provide perspectives on future investigations of the role of CR neurons in epilepsy.
Amygdala/metabolism* ; Calbindin 2/metabolism* ; Epilepsy ; GABAergic Neurons ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Humans

Gene transcription and new protein synthesis regulated by epigenetics play integral roles in the formation of new memories. However, as an important part of epigenetics, the function of chromatin remodeling in learning and memory has been less studied. Here, we showed that SMARCA5 (SWI/SNF related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily A, member 5), a critical chromatin remodeler, was responsible for hippocampus-dependent memory maintenance and neurogenesis. Using proteomics analysis, we found protein expression changes in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) after the knockdown of SMARCA5 during contextual fear conditioning (CFC) memory maintenance in mice. Moreover, SMARCA5 was revealed to participate in CFC memory maintenance via modulating the proteins of metabolic pathways such as nucleoside diphosphate kinase-3 (NME3) and aminoacylase 1 (ACY1). This work is the first to describe the role of SMARCA5 in memory maintenance and to demonstrate the involvement of metabolic pathways regulated by SMARCA5 in learning and memory.
Mice ; Animals ; Memory ; Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Transcription Factors/metabolism* ; Chromatin/metabolism* ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of aquaporin 4 (AQP4) after microwave exposure and the correlation with the brain injury by radiation.

METHODS70 male rats were exposed to microwave whose average power density was 0, 10, 30 and 100 mW/cm(2) respectively. Rats were sacrificed at 6 h, 1 d, 3 d and 7 d after exposure. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to detect the expression of AQP4 in protein level in rat hippocampus, and the expression of AQP4 in gene level was measured by in situ hybridization and RT-PCR.

RESULTSThe expression of AQP4 in rat hippocampus was abnormal after 10, 30, 100 mW/cm(2) microwave exposure. The protein level showed increased at first and then recovered at 10 and 30 mW/cm(2) groups, while increased progressively in 100 mW/cm(2) group within 14 d (P < 0.01). The gene expression of AQP4 was increased (0.51 +/- 0.02) at the beginning (6 h) and then regained after 10 mW/cm(2) microwave exposure, while in 30 and 100 mW/cm(2) groups, it rose to the peak at 7 d (0.46 +/- 0.02 and 0.43 +/- 0.08) and didn't get back (P = 0.004; P = 0.012).

CONCLUSIONMicrowave radiation can increase the expression of AQP4 in rat hippocampus. The change might participate in the process of increasing permeability of blood-brain barrier and lead to the brain edema after microwave radiation.

Animals ; Aquaporin 4 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; radiation effects ; Male ; Microwaves ; adverse effects ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Animals ; Epilepsy ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genes, MDR ; Hippocampus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Triazines ; pharmacology

Animals ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Long-Term Potentiation ; Male ; Neurogranin ; biosynthesis ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sleep Deprivation ; metabolism

The aim of this study was to investigate the harmful effects of acute hypoxia on mouse cerebral cortex and hippocampus and the underlying mechanism. Mouse model of acute hypoxia was constructed by using a sealed glass jar. Laser speckle contrast imaging was used to detect the changes of cerebral blood flow after different time duration of hypoxia. Total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) assay kits were used to detect oxidative stress in cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Immunofluorescent staining was used to detect neuroinflammatory response of microglia in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. One-step TUNEL method was used to detect neuronal apoptosis. The results showed that, compared with non-hypoxia (0 min hypoxia) group, 30 min hypoxia group exhibited decreased cerebral blood flow, higher percentage of CD68⁺/Iba1⁺ microglia, and increased neural apoptosis in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Compared with 30 min group, 60 min hypoxia group showed significantly decreased cerebral blood flow, increased MDA content in the cortex, as well as greater percentage of CD68⁺/Iba1⁺ microglia and neuronal apoptosis in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. These results suggest that acute hypoxia damages brain tissue in a time-dependent manner and the oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are important mechanisms.
Animals ; Cerebral Cortex/metabolism* ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Hypoxia ; Malondialdehyde ; Mice ; Oxidative Stress ; Superoxide Dismutase/pharmacology*

The effects of Jingui Shenqi Pills(Jingui) and Liuwei Dihuang Pills(Liuwei) which respectively tonify kidney Yang and kidney Yin on brain function have attracted great attention, while the differences of protein expression regulated by Jingui and Liuwei remain to be studied. This study explored the difference of protein expression profiles in the hippocampi of mice orally administrated with the two drugs for 7 days. The protein expression was quantified using LC-MS/MS. The results showed that among the 5 860 proteins tested, 151, 282 and 75 proteins responded to Jingui alone, Liuwei alone, and both drugs, respectively. The ratio of up-regulated proteins to down-regulated proteins was 1.627 in Jingui group while only 0.56 in Liuwei group. The proteins up-regulated by Jingui were mainly involved in membrane transport, synaptic vesicle cycle, serotonergic synapse, dopaminergic synapse and so on, suggesting that Jingui may play a role in promoting the transport of neurotransmitter in the nervous system. The proteins down-regulated by Liuwei were mainly involved in membrane transport, synapse, ion transport(potassium and sodium transport), neurotransmitter transport, innate and acquired immune responses, complement activation, inflammatory response, etc. In particular, Liuwei showed obvious down-regulation effect on the members of solute carrier(SLC) superfamily, which suggested that Liuwei had potential inhibitory effect on membrane excitation and transport. Finally, consistent results were obtained in the normal mouse and the mouse model with corticosterone-induced depressive-like behavior. This study provides an experimental basis for understanding the effect of Jingui and Liuwei on brain function from protein network.
Animals ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Mice ; Proteome/metabolism* ; Proteomics ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry