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Background: The chronic pain arising from knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent clinical manifestation. As a traditional Chinese approach, electroacupuncture (EA) has a positive influence in relieving chronic pain from KOA. The study aims to explore functional connectivity (FC) and effective connectivity (EC) alterations induced by EA in anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) rat model of KOA using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: After the establishment of ACLT, rats were randomly divided into the EA group and the sham-EA group. The EA group received EA intervention while the sham-EA group received sham-intervention for 3 weeks. Mechanical pain threshold (MPT) assessment was performed before and after intervention, and fMRI was conducted after intervention. Results: EA intervention effectively relieved pain in post-ACLT rats. Results of rest-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis revealed that compared with the sham-EA group, the EA group had higher FC between the right raphe and the left auditory cortex, the left caudate_ putamen and the left internal capsule (IC), as well as the right zona incerta (ZI) and the left piriform cortex, but lower FC between the right raphe and the left hippocampus ventral, as well as the right septum and the left septum. Furthermore, Granger causality analysis (GCA) found the altered EC between the right septum and the left septum, as well as the left IC and the right septum. Conclusion: The results confirmed the effect of EA on analgesia in post- ACLT rats. The alterations of FC and EC, mainly involving basal ganglia and limbic system neural connections, might be one of the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of EA, providing novel information about connectomics plasticity of EA following ACLT.
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Tongue coating affects cognition, and cognitive decline at early stage also showed relations to functional and structural remodeling of superior temporal sulcus (STS) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The potential correlation between disparate cognitive manifestations in aMCI patients with different tongue coatings, and corresponding mechanisms of STS remodeling remains uncharted. In this case-control study, aMCI patients were divided into thin coating (n = 18) and thick coating (n = 21) groups. All participants underwent neuropsychological evaluations and multimodal magnetic resonance imaging. Group comparisons were conducted in clinical assessments and neuroimaging measures of banks of the STS (bankssts). Generalized linear models were constructed to explore relationships between neuroimaging measures and cognition. aMCI patients in the thick coating group exhibited significantly poorer immediate and delayed recall and slower information processing speed (IPS) (P < 0.05), and decreased functional connectivity (FC) of bilateral bankssts with frontoparietal cortices (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected) compared to the thin coating group. It was found notable correlations between cognition encompassing recall and IPS, and FC of bilateral bankssts with frontoparietal cortices (P < 0.05, Bonferroni's correction), as well as interaction effects of group × regional homogeneity (ReHo) of right bankssts on the first immediate recall (P < 0.05, Bonferroni's correction). aMCI patients with thick coating exhibited poor cognitive performance, which might be attributed to decreased FC seeding from bankssts. Our findings strengthen the understanding of brain reorganization of STS via which tongue coating status impacts cognition in patients with aMCI.
Assuntos
Disfunção Cognitiva , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Lobo Temporal , Língua , Humanos , Disfunção Cognitiva/fisiopatologia , Masculino , Feminino , Idoso , Lobo Temporal/fisiopatologia , Lobo Temporal/diagnóstico por imagem , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Língua/fisiopatologia , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Testes Neuropsicológicos , Amnésia/fisiopatologia , Amnésia/diagnóstico por imagem , Rememoração Mental/fisiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Breast carcinoma-amplified sequence 2 (BCAS2) regulates ß-catenin gene splicing. The conditional knockout of BCAS2 expression in the forebrain (BCAS2 cKO) of mice confers impaired learning and memory along with decreased ß-catenin expression. Because ß-catenin reportedly regulates adult neurogenesis, we wondered whether BCAS2 could regulate adult neurogenesis via ß-catenin. METHODS: BCAS2-regulating neurogenesis was investigated by characterizing BCAS2 cKO mice. Also, lentivirus-shBCAS2 was intracranially injected into the hippocampus of wild-type mice to knock down BCAS2 expression. We evaluated the rescue effects of BCAS2 cKO by intracranial injection of adeno-associated virus encoding BCAS2 (AAV-DJ8-BCAS2) and AAV-ß-catenin gene therapy. RESULTS: To show that BCAS2-regulating adult neurogenesis via ß-catenin, first, BCAS2 cKO mice showed low SRY-box 2-positive (Sox2+) neural stem cell proliferation and doublecortin-positive (DCX+) immature neurons. Second, stereotaxic intracranial injection of lentivirus-shBCAS2 knocked down BCAS2 in the hippocampus of wild-type mice, and we confirmed the BCAS2 regulation of adult neurogenesis via ß-catenin. Third, AAV-DJ8-BCAS2 gene therapy in BCAS2 cKO mice reversed the low proliferation of Sox2+ neural stem cells and the decreased number of DCX+ immature neurons with increased ß-catenin expression. Moreover, AAV-ß-catenin gene therapy restored neuron stem cell proliferation and immature neuron differentiation, which further supports BCAS2-regulating adult neurogenesis via ß-catenin. In addition, cells targeted by AAV-DJ8 injection into the hippocampus included Sox2 and DCX immature neurons, interneurons, and astrocytes. BCAS2 may regulate adult neurogenesis by targeting Sox2+ and DCX+ immature neurons for autocrine effects and interneurons or astrocytes for paracrine effects. CONCLUSIONS: BCAS2 can regulate adult neurogenesis in mice via ß-catenin.
Assuntos
Células-Tronco Neurais , beta Catenina , Animais , Hipocampo , Camundongos , Proteínas de Neoplasias/metabolismo , Células-Tronco Neurais/metabolismo , Neurogênese/fisiologia , Neurônios/metabolismo , beta Catenina/genética , beta Catenina/metabolismoRESUMO
Digital signature and watermarking are effective image copyright protection techniques. However, these methods come with some inherent drawbacks, including the incapacity of carrying information and inevitable fidelity loss, respectively. To improve this situation, this paper proposes a neural network-based image batch copyright protection scheme, with which a copyright message bitstream can be extracted from each registered image while no modifications are introduced. Taking advantage of the pattern extraction capability and the error tolerance of the neural network, the proposed scheme achieves perfect imperceptibility and superior robustness. Moreover, the network's preference for diverse data content makes it especially appropriate for multiple images copyright verification. These claims will be further supported by the experimental results in this paper.