This comprehensive review synthesizes the latest advancements in understanding inflammatory disorders affecting cerebral small vessels, a distinct yet understudied category within cerebral small vessel diseases (SVD). Unlike classical SVD, these inflammatory conditions exhibit unique clinical presentations, imaging patterns, and pathophysiological mechanisms, posing significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Highlighting their heterogeneity, this review spans primary angiitis of the central nervous system, cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation, systemic vasculitis, secondary vasculitis, and vasculitis in autoinflammatory diseases. Key discussions focus on emerging insights into immune-mediated processes, neuroimaging characteristics, and histopathological distinctions. Furthermore, this review underscores the importance of standardized diagnostic frameworks, individualized immunomodulation approaches, and novel targeted therapies to address unmet clinical demands.
Humans ; Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases/pathology* ; Inflammation/pathology* ; Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy/pathology* ; Vasculitis, Central Nervous System/pathology* ; Vasculitis/pathology*

In the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), astrocytes are the ubiquitous glial cells that have complex morphological and molecular characteristics. These fascinating cells play essential neurosupportive and homeostatic roles in the healthy CNS and undergo morphological, molecular, and functional changes to adopt so-called 'reactive' states in response to CNS injury or disease. In recent years, interest in astrocyte research has increased dramatically and some new biological features and roles of astrocytes in physiological and pathological conditions have been discovered thanks to technological advances. Here, we will review and discuss the well-established and emerging astroglial biology and functions, with emphasis on their potential as therapeutic targets for CNS injury, including traumatic and ischemic injury. This review article will highlight the importance of astrocytes in the neuropathological process and repair of CNS injury.
Astrocytes/drug effects* ; Humans ; Animals ; Central Nervous System/pathology* ; Central Nervous System Diseases/physiopathology*

Objective To analyze the disease spectrum and clinicopathological characteristics of central nervous system(CNS)diseases diagnosed based on pathological findings in Tibet. Methods We collected the data of all the cases with CNS lesions in Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital from January 2013 to December 2020.The clinicopathological features were analyzed via light microscopy,immunohistochemical staining,and special staining. Results A total of 383 CNS cases confirmed by pathological diagnosis were enrolled in this study,with a male-to-female ratio of 188∶195 and an average age of(40.03±17.39)years(0-74 years).Among them,127(33.2%)cases had non-neoplastic diseases,with a male-to-female ratio of 82∶45 and an average age of(31.99±19.29)years;256(66.8%)cases had neoplastic diseases,with a male-to-female ratio of 106∶150 and an average age of(44.01±14.87)years.The main non-neoplastic diseases were nervous system infectious diseases,cerebral vascular diseases,meningocele,cerebral cyst,and brain trauma.Among the infectious diseases,brain abscess,granulomatous inflammation,cysticercosis,and hydatidosis were common.The main neoplastic diseases included meningioma,pituitary adenoma,neuroepithelial tumor,schwannoma,metastatic tumor,and hemangioblastoma.The meningioma cases consisted of 95.4%(103/108)cases of grade Ⅰ,3.7%(4/108)cases of grade Ⅱ,and only 1(1/108,0.9%)case of grade Ⅲ.Among the neuroepithelial tumor cases,the top three were glioblastoma,grade Ⅲ diffuse glioma,and ependymoma. Conclusions There are diverse CNS diseases confirmed by pathological diagnosis in Tibet,among which non-neoplastic diseases account for 1/3 of all the cases.Infectious and vascular diseases are the most common non-neoplastic diseases in Tibet,and tuberculosis and parasitic infections are relatively common.The types and proportion of brain tumors in Tibet are different from those in other regions of China,and meningioma is the most common in Tibet,with higher proportion than neuroepithelial tumor.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Brain Neoplasms/diagnosis* ; Central Nervous System Diseases/pathology* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Ependymoma ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Meningeal Neoplasms ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Tibet/epidemiology* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: Astrocyte dysfunctions are related to several central nervous system (CNS) pathologies. Transcriptomic profiling of human mRNAs to investigate astrocyte functions may provide the basic molecular-biological data pertaining to the cellular activities of astrocytes. METHODS: Human Primary astrocytes (HPAs) and human neural stem cell line (HB1.F3) were used for differential digital gene analysis. In this study, a massively parallel sequencing platform, next-generation sequencing (NGS), was used to obtain the digital gene expression (DGE) data from HPAs. A comparative analysis of the DGE from HPA and HB1.F3 cells was performed. Sequencing was performed using NGS platform, and subsequently, bioinformatic analyses were implemented to reveal the identity of the pathways, relatively up- or down-regulated in HPA cells. RESULTS: The top, novel canonical pathways up-regulated in HPA cells than in the HB1.F3 cells were “Cyclins and cell cycle regulation,” “Integrin signaling,” “Regulation of eIF4 and p70S6K signaling,” “Wnt/β-catenin signaling,” “mTOR signaling,” “Aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling,” “Hippo signaling,” “RhoA signaling,” “Signaling by Rho family GTPases,” and “Glioma signaling” pathways. The down-regulated pathways were “Cell cycle: G1/S checkpoint regulation,” “eIF2 signaling,” “Cell cycle: G2/M DNA damage checkpoint regulation,” “Telomerase signaling,” “RhoGDI signaling,” “NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response,” “ERK/MAPK signaling,” “ATM signaling,” “Pancreatic adenocarcinoma signaling,” “VEGF signaling,” and “Role of CHK proteins in cell cycle checkpoint control” pathways. CONCLUSION: This study would be a good reference to understand astrocyte functions at the molecular level, and to develop a diagnostic test, based on the DGE pattern of astrocytes, as a powerful, new clinical tool in many CNS diseases.
Adenocarcinoma ; Astrocytes ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Central Nervous System ; Central Nervous System Diseases ; Computational Biology ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; DNA Damage ; Gene Expression ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Humans ; Neural Stem Cells ; Oxidative Stress ; Pathology ; Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 70-kDa ; RNA, Messenger

BACKGROUND: Tauopathies, a class of neurodegenerative diseases that includes Alzheimer's disease (AD), are characterized by the deposition of neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau protein in the human brain. As abnormal alterations in histone acetylation and methylation show a cause and effect relationship with AD, we investigated the role of several Jumonji domain-containing histone demethylase (JHDM) genes, which have yet to be studied in AD pathology. METHODS: To examine alterations of several JHDM genes in AD pathology, we performed bioinformatics analyses of JHDM gene expression profiles in brain tissue samples from deceased AD patients. Furthermore, to investigate the possible relationship between alterations in JHDM gene expression profiles and AD pathology in vivo, we examined whether tissue-specific downregulation of JHDM Drosophila homologs (kdm) can affect tauR406W-induced neurotoxicity using transgenic flies containing the UAS-Gal4 binary system. RESULTS: The expression levels of JHDM1A, JHDM2A/2B, and JHDM3A/3B were significantly higher in postmortem brain tissue from patients with AD than from non-demented controls, whereas JHDM1B mRNA levels were downregulated in the brains of patients with AD. Using transgenic flies, we revealed that knockdown of kdm2 (homolog to human JHDM1), kdm3 (homolog to human JHDM2), kdm4a (homolog to human JHDM3A), or kdm4b (homolog to human JHDM3B) genes in the eye ameliorated the tauR406W-engendered defects, resulting in less severe phenotypes. However, kdm4a knockdown in the central nervous system uniquely ameliorated tauR406W-induced locomotion defects by restoring heterochromatin. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that downregulation of kdm4a expression may be a potential therapeutic target in AD.
Acetylation ; Alzheimer Disease ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Computational Biology ; Diptera ; Down-Regulation ; Drosophila melanogaster ; Drosophila ; Heterochromatin ; Histones ; Humans ; Locomotion ; Methylation ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Neurofibrillary Tangles ; Pathology ; Phenotype ; RNA, Messenger ; tau Proteins ; Tauopathies ; Transcriptome

The aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Postmortem analyses of α-syn pathology, especially that of PD, have suggested that aggregates progressively spread from a few discrete locations to wider brain regions. The neuron-to-neuron propagation of α-syn has been suggested to be the underlying mechanism by which aggregates spread throughout the brain. Many cellular and animal models has been created to study cell-to-cell propagation. Recently, it has been shown that a single injection of preformed fibrils (PFFs) made of recombinant α-syn proteins into various tissues and organs of many different animal species results in widespread α-syn pathology in the central nervous system (CNS). These PFF models have been extensively used to study the mechanism by which aggregates spread throughout the brain. Here, we review what we have learned from PFF models, describe the nature of PFFs and the neuropathological features, neurophysiological characteristics, and behavioral outcomes of the models.
alpha-Synuclein ; Animals ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Dementia ; Lewy Bodies ; Models, Animal ; Multiple System Atrophy ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Parkinson Disease ; Pathology

Taurine is an abundant, β-amino acid with diverse cytoprotective activity. In some species, taurine is an essential nutrient but in man it is considered a semi-essential nutrient, although cells lacking taurine show major pathology. These findings have spurred interest in the potential use of taurine as a therapeutic agent. The discovery that taurine is an effective therapy against congestive heart failure led to the study of taurine as a therapeutic agent against other disease conditions. Today, taurine has been approved for the treatment of congestive heart failure in Japan and shows promise in the treatment of several other diseases. The present review summarizes studies supporting a role of taurine in the treatment of diseases of muscle, the central nervous system, and the cardiovascular system. In addition, taurine is extremely effective in the treatment of the mitochondrial disease, mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS), and offers a new approach for the treatment of metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, and inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis. The review also addresses the functions of taurine (regulation of antioxidation, energy metabolism, gene expression, ER stress, neuromodulation, quality control and calcium homeostasis) underlying these therapeutic actions.
Acidosis, Lactic ; Arthritis ; Brain Diseases ; Calcium ; Cardiovascular System ; Central Nervous System ; Cytoprotection ; Energy Metabolism ; Gene Expression ; Heart Failure ; Japan ; MELAS Syndrome ; Metabolic Diseases ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Pathology ; Quality Control ; Taurine*

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), a heterogenous group of membrane-bound particles, are virtually secreted by all cells and play important roles in cell-cell communication. Loaded with proteins, mRNAs, non-coding RNAs and membrane lipids from their donor cells, these vesicles participate in normal physiological and pathogenic processes. In addition, these subcellular vesicles are implicated in the progression of neurodegenerative disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that intercellular communication via EVs is responsible for the propagation of key pathogenic proteins involved in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's diseases, Alzheimer's diseases and other neurodegenerative disorders. For therapeutic perspective, EVs present advantage over other synthetic drug delivery systems or cell therapy; ability to cross biological barriers including blood brain barrier (BBB), ability to modulate inflammation and immune responses, stability and longer biodistribution with lack of tumorigenicity. In this review, we summarized the current state of EV research in central nervous system in terms of their values in diagnosis, disease pathology and therapeutic applications.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Extracellular Vesicles* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Membrane Lipids ; Neurodegenerative Diseases* ; Pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; RNA, Untranslated ; Tissue Donors

Enterovirus 71 frequently involves the central nervous system and may present with a variety of neurologic manifestations. Here, we aimed to describe the clinical features, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) profiles of patients presenting with neurologic complications of enterovirus 71 infection. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 31 pediatric patients hospitalized with acute neurologic manifestations accompanied by confirmed enterovirus 71 infection at Ulsan University Hospital between 2010 and 2014. The patients' mean age was 2.9 ± 5.5 years (range, 18 days to 12 years), and 80.6% of patients were less than 4 years old. Based on their clinical features, the patients were classified into 4 clinical groups: brainstem encephalitis (n = 21), meningitis (n = 7), encephalitis (n = 2), and acute flaccid paralysis (n = 1). The common neurologic symptoms included myoclonus (58.1%), lethargy (54.8%), irritability (54.8%), vomiting (48.4%), ataxia (38.7%), and tremor (35.5%). Twenty-five patients underwent an MRI scan; of these, 14 (56.0%) revealed the characteristic increased T2 signal intensity in the posterior region of the brainstem and bilateral cerebellar dentate nuclei. Twenty-six of 30 patients (86.7%) showed CSF pleocytosis. Thirty patients (96.8%) recovered completely without any neurologic deficits; one patient (3.2%) died due to pulmonary hemorrhage and shock. In the present study, brainstem encephalitis was the most common neurologic manifestation of enterovirus 71 infection. The characteristic clinical symptoms such as myoclonus, ataxia, and tremor in conjunction with CSF pleocytosis and brainstem lesions on MR images are pathognomonic for diagnosis of neurologic involvement by enterovirus 71 infection.
Acute Disease ; Brain/diagnostic imaging ; Central Nervous System Diseases/etiology/*pathology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Encephalitis/pathology ; Enterovirus A, Human/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Enterovirus Infections/drug therapy/*pathology/virology ; Feces/virology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins/administration & dosage ; Infant ; Injections, Intravenous ; Leukocytes/cytology ; Leukocytosis/cerebrospinal fluid/pathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; RNA, Viral/genetics/metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Seasons

von Economo neuron (VEN) is a bipolar neuron characterized by a large spindle-shaped soma. VEN is generally distributed in the layer V of anterior insular lobe and anterior cingulate cortex. Fork neuron is another featured bipolar neuron. In recent years,many studies have illustrated that VEN and fork neurons are correlated with complicated cognition such as self-consciousness and social emotion. Studies in the development and morpholigies of these two neurons as well as their pathological changes in various neurological and psychiatric disorders have found that the abnormal number and functions of VEN can cause corresponding dysfunctions in social recognition and emotions both during the neuro-developmental stages of childhood and during the nerve degeneration in old age stage. Therefore, more attentions should be paid on the research of VEN and fork neurons in neuropsychiatric diseases.
Central Nervous System Diseases ; pathology ; Cerebral Cortex ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; Neurons