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Coupled transcription and translation processes in bacteria cause indiscriminate translation of intact and truncated messenger RNAs, inevitably generating nonfunctional polypeptides. Here, we devised a synthetic protein quality control (ProQC) system that enables translation only when both ends of mRNAs are present and followed by circularization based on sequence-specific RNA-RNA hybridization. We demonstrate that the ProQC system dramatically improved the fraction of full-length proteins among all synthesized polypeptides by selectively translating intact mRNA and reducing abortive translation. As a result, full-length protein synthesis increased up to 2.5-fold without changing the transcription or translation efficiency. Furthermore, we applied the ProQC system for 3-hydroxypropionic acid, violacein and lycopene production by ensuring full-length expression of enzymes in biosynthetic pathways, resulting in 1.6- to 2.3-fold greater biochemical production. We believe that our ProQC system can be universally applied to improve not only the quality of recombinant protein production but also efficiencies of metabolic pathways.
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Engenharia Genética/métodos , Biossíntese de Proteínas/genética , Biossíntese de Proteínas/fisiologia , Bactérias/genética , Sequência de Bases/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Peptídeos/metabolismo , Proteínas/metabolismo , Controle de Qualidade , RNA Mensageiro/química , RNA Mensageiro/metabolismoRESUMO
Long-term space missions affect the gut microbiome of astronauts, especially the viability of some pathogens. Probiotics may be an effective solution for the management of gut microbiomes, but there is a lack of studies regarding the physiology of probiotics in microgravity. Here, we investigated the effects of microgravity on the probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) by comparing transcriptomic data during exponential and stationary growth phases under simulated microgravity and normal gravity. Microgravity conditions affected several physiological features of EcN, including its growth profile, biofilm formation, stress responses, metal ion transport/utilization, and response to carbon starvation. We found that some changes, such as decreased adhesion ability and acid resistance, may be disadvantageous to EcN relative to gut pathogens under microgravity, indicating the need to develop probiotics optimized for space flight.
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Escherichia coli/genética , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Probióticos , Transcriptoma , Ausência de Peso , Carbono/metabolismo , Biologia Computacional/métodos , Escherichia coli/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Regulação Bacteriana da Expressão Gênica , Canais Iônicos/metabolismo , Redes e Vias Metabólicas , Metais/metabolismo , Estresse FisiológicoRESUMO
Echiura is one of the most intriguing major subgroups of phylum Annelida because, unlike most other annelids, echiuran adults lack metameric body segmentation. Urechis unicinctus lives in U-shape burrows of soft sediments. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of U. unicinctus. Herein, we overviewed the developmental process from zygote to juvenile U. unicinctus using immunohistochemistry and F-actin staining for the nervous and muscular systems, respectively. Through F-actin staining, we found that muscle fibers began to form in the trochophore phase and that muscles for feeding were produced first. Subsequently, in the segmentation larval stage, the transversal muscle was formed in the shape of a ring in an anterior-to-posterior direction with segment formation, as well as a ventromedian muscle for the formation of a ventral nerve cord. After that, many muscle fibers were produced along the entire body and formed the worm-shaped larva. Finally, we investigated the spatiotemporal expression of Uun_st-mhc, Uun_troponin I, Uun_calponin, and Uun_twist genes found in U. unicinctus. During embryonic development, the striated and smooth muscle genes were co-expressed in the same region. However, the adult body wall muscles showed differential gene expression of each muscle layer. The results of this study will provide the basis for the understanding of muscle differentiation in Echiura.
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Anelídeos/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Desenvolvimento Muscular , Actinas/genética , Actinas/metabolismo , Animais , Músculos/metabolismo , Sistema Nervoso/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Sistema Nervoso/metabolismo , TranscriptomaRESUMO
Structural reorganization in white matter (WM) after stroke is a potential contributor to substitute or to newly establish the functional field on the injured brain in nature. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an imaging modality that can be used to evaluate damage and recovery within the brain. This method of imaging allows for in vivo assessment of the restricted movements of water molecules in WM and provides a detailed look at structural connectivity in the brain. For longitudinal DTI studies after a stroke, the conventional region of interest method and voxel-based analysis are highly dependent on the user-hypothesis and parameter settings for implementation. In contrast, tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) allows for reliable voxel-wise analysis via the projection of diffusion-derived parameters onto an alignment-invariant WM skeleton. In this study, spatiotemporal WM changes were examined with DTI-derived parameters (fractional anisotropy, FA; mean diffusivity, MD; axial diffusivity, DA; radial diffusivity, RD) using TBSS 2 h to 6 weeks after experimental focal ischemic stroke in rats (N = 6). FA values remained unchanged 2-4 h after the stroke, followed by a continuous decrease in the ipsilesional hemisphere from 24 h to 2 weeks post-stroke and gradual recovery from the ipsilesional corpus callosum to the external capsule until 6 weeks post-stroke. In particular, the fibers in these areas were extended toward the striatum of the ischemic boundary region at 6 weeks on tractography. The alterations of the other parameters in the ipsilesional hemisphere showed patterns of a decrease at the early stage, a subsequent pseudo-normalization of MD and DA, a rapid reduction of RD, and a progressive increase in MD, DA and RD with a decreased extent in the injured area at later stages. The findings of this study may reflect the ongoing processes on tissue damage and spontaneous recovery after stroke.
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Isquemia Encefálica/patologia , Imagem de Tensor de Difusão/métodos , Acidente Vascular Cerebral/patologia , Substância Branca/patologia , Animais , Anisotropia , Ratos Sprague-Dawley , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: We evaluated the cortical morphology in patients with orthostatic intolerance. METHODS: Thirty patients with orthostatic intolerance, as well as age- and sex-matched normal controls, were enrolled in this study. We divided the patients into orthostatic hypotension (n = 22) and postural tachycardia syndrome (n = 8) groups based on their response to a head-up tilt table test. We analyzed whole-brain T1-weighted MRI images using FreeSurfer 5.1. The measures of cortical morphology were compared between the groups. RESULTS: The cortical thickness in the right hemisphere, including the medial orbitofrontal, peri-calcarine, post-central, inferior temporal, and lateral occipital cortex, and in the peri-calcarine cortex of the left hemisphere was thinned in patients with orthostatic hypotension compared to normal controls. The other measures of cortical morphology, including the surface area, volume, and curvatures, did not differ between patients with orthostatic hypotension and normal controls. However, none of the measures of cortical morphology differed between patients with postural tachycardia syndrome and normal controls. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that the cortical morphology significantly changed in patients with orthostatic hypotension but not in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome compared to normal controls. These findings support the hypothesis that orthostatic intolerance is a heterogeneous syndrome.
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Córtex Cerebral/patologia , Intolerância Ortostática/patologia , Adulto , Idoso , Feminino , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Postura/fisiologia , Teste da Mesa InclinadaRESUMO
Microbial conversion to generate value-added chemicals from diverse biomass is one of the keystones of energy biotechnology. Programmable synthetic biology tools offer versatile, standardized options for developing microbial cell factories. These tools thus can be reprogrammed in a user-defined manner for flexible wiring of stimuli and response, highly efficient genome engineering, and extensive perturbation of metabolic flux and genetic circuits. They also can be modularly assembled to construct elaborate and unprecedented biological systems with unique features. This review highlights recent advances in programmable synthetic biology tools based on biosensors, CRISPR-Cas, and RNA devices for developing microbial cell factories that have the potential to be utilized for energy biotechnology.
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Biotecnologia , Biologia Sintética , RNA , Engenharia MetabólicaRESUMO
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play crucial roles in sensory, immune, and tumor metastasis processes, making them valuable targets for pharmacological and sensing applications in various industries. However, most GPCRs have low production yields in Escherichia coli (E. coli) expression systems. To overcome this limitation, we introduced AT10 tag, an effective fusion tag that could significantly enhance expression levels of various GPCRs in E. coli and its derived cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) system. This AT10 tag consisted of an A/T-rich gene sequence designed via optimization of translation initiation rate. It is translated into a short peptide sequence of 10 amino acids at the N-terminus of GPCRs. Additionally, effector proteins could be utilized to suppress cytotoxicity caused by membrane protein expression, further boosting GPCR production in E. coli. Enhanced expression of various GPCRs using this AT10 tag is a promising approach for large-scale production of functional GPCRs in E. coli-based CFPS and whole cell systems, enabling their potential utilization across a wide range of industrial applications.
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Di-Hidrotaquisterol , Escherichia coli , Escherichia coli/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Di-Hidrotaquisterol/metabolismo , Biossíntese de Proteínas , Receptores Acoplados a Proteínas G/genética , Receptores Acoplados a Proteínas G/metabolismo , Sequência de AminoácidosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: To observe brain activation induced by functional electrical stimulation, voluntary contraction, and the combination of both using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). METHODS: Nineteen healthy young men were enrolled in the study. We employed a typical block design that consisted of three sessions: voluntary contraction only, functional electrical stimulation (FES)-induced wrist extension, and finally simultaneous voluntary and FES-induced movement. MRI acquisition was performed on a 3.0 T MR system. To investigate activation in each session, one-sample t-tests were performed after correcting for false discovery rate (FDR; p < 0.05). To compare FES-induced movement and combined contraction, a two-sample t-test was performed using a contrast map (p < 0.01). RESULTS: In the voluntary contraction alone condition, brain activation was observed in the contralateral primary motor cortex (MI), thalamus, bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), primary sensory cortex (SI), secondary somatosensory motor cortex (SII), caudate, and cerebellum (mainly ipsilateral). During FES-induced wrist movement, brain activation was observed in the contralateral MI, SI, SMA, thalamus, ipsilateral SII, and cerebellum. During FES-induced movement combined with voluntary contraction, brain activation was found in the contralateral MI, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), SMA, ipsilateral cerebellum, bilateral SII, and SI.The activated brain regions (number of voxels) of the MI, SI, cerebellum, and SMA were largest during voluntary contraction alone and smallest during FES alone. SII-activated brain regions were largest during voluntary contraction combined with FES and smallest during FES contraction alone. The brain activation extent (maximum t score) of the MI, SI, and SII was largest during voluntary contraction alone and smallest during FES alone. The brain activation extent of the cerebellum and SMA during voluntary contraction alone was similar during FES combined with voluntary contraction; however, cerebellum and SMA activation during FES movement alone was smaller than that of voluntary contraction alone or voluntary contraction combined with FES. Between FES movement alone and combined contraction, activated regions and extent due to combined contraction was significantly higher than that of FES movement alone in the ipsilateral cerebellum and the contralateral MI and SI. CONCLUSIONS: Voluntary contraction combined with FES may be more effective for brain activation than FES-only movements for rehabilitation therapy. In addition, voluntary effort is the most important factor in the therapeutic process.
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Mapeamento Encefálico/métodos , Encéfalo/fisiologia , Estimulação Elétrica , Contração Muscular/fisiologia , Músculo Esquelético/fisiologia , Adulto , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Músculo Esquelético/inervaçãoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Owing to increasing concerns about climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels, the development of efficient microbial processes for biochemical production from lignocellulosic biomass has been a key issue. Because process efficiency is greatly affected by the inherent metabolic activities of host microorganisms, it is essential to utilize a microorganism that can rapidly convert biomass-derived sugars. Here, we report a novel Vibrio-based microbial platform that can rapidly and simultaneously consume three major lignocellulosic sugars (i.e., glucose, xylose, and arabinose) faster than any previously reported microorganisms. RESULTS: The xylose isomerase pathway was constructed in Vibrio sp. dhg, which naturally displays high metabolic activities on glucose and arabinose but lacks xylose catabolism. Subsequent adaptive laboratory evolution significantly improved xylose catabolism of initial strain and led to unprecedently high growth and sugar uptake rate (0.67 h-1 and 2.15 g gdry cell weight-1 h-1, respectively). Furthermore, we achieved co-consumption of the three sugars by deletion of PtsG and introduction of GalP. We validated its superior performance and applicability by demonstrating efficient lactate production with high productivity (1.15 g/L/h) and titer (83 g/L). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we developed a Vibrio-based microbial platform with rapid and simultaneous utilization of the three major sugars from lignocellulosic biomass by applying an integrated approach of rational and evolutionary engineering. We believe that the developed strain can be broadly utilized to accelerate the production of diverse biochemicals from lignocellulosic biomass.
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Proper carbon flux distribution between cell growth and production of a target compound is important for biochemical production because improper flux reallocation inhibits cell growth, thus adversely affecting production yield. Here, using a synthetic biosensor to couple production of a specific metabolite with cell growth, we spontaneously evolve cells under the selective condition toward the acquisition of genotypes that optimally reallocate cellular resources. Using 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) production from glycerol in Escherichia coli as a model system, we determine that mutations in the conserved regions of proteins involved in global transcriptional regulation alter the expression of several genes associated with central carbon metabolism. These changes rewire central carbon flux toward the 3-HP production pathway, increasing 3-HP yield and reducing acetate accumulation by alleviating overflow metabolism. Our study provides a perspective on adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) using synthetic biosensors, thereby supporting future efforts in metabolic pathway optimization.
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Metabolismo dos Carboidratos , Proteínas de Escherichia coli/genética , Proteínas de Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Escherichia coli/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Glicerol/metabolismo , Ácido Láctico/análogos & derivados , Técnicas Biossensoriais/métodos , Evolução Molecular Direcionada , Regulação Bacteriana da Expressão Gênica , Ácido Láctico/metabolismo , Engenharia Metabólica/métodos , Redes e Vias Metabólicas , Mutação , Biologia SintéticaRESUMO
Stem cells are attracting attention as a key element in future medicine, satisfying the desire to live a healthier life with the possibility that they can regenerate tissue damaged or degenerated by disease or aging. Stem cells are defined as undifferentiated cells that have the ability to replicate and differentiate themselves into various tissues cells. Stem cells, commonly encountered in clinical or preclinical stages, are largely classified into embryonic, adult, and induced pluripotent stem cells. Recently, stem cell transplantation has been frequently applied to the treatment of pain as an alternative or promising approach for the treatment of severe osteoarthritis, neuropathic pain, and intractable musculoskeletal pain which do not respond to conventional medicine. The main idea of applying stem cells to neuropathic pain is based on the ability of stem cells to release neurotrophic factors, along with providing a cellular source for replacing the injured neural cells, making them ideal candidates for modulating and possibly reversing intractable neuropathic pain. Even though various differentiation capacities of stem cells are reported, there is not enough knowledge and technique to control the differentiation into desired tissues in vivo. Even though the use of stem cells is still in the very early stages of clinical use and raises complicated ethical problems, the future of stem cells therapies is very bright with the help of accumulating evidence and technology.
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PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the effects of a weight control program on body weight and the sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior in psychiatric inpatients. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was used. Data were collected from March 1 to September 30, 2007. Female mentally ill patients in closing psychiatry ward of H University Hospital participated in the study (16 persons in the experimental group and 13 in the control group). RESULTS: The weight control program including diet therapy, exercise, education and behavior modification therapy decreased the rate of weight gain in female mentally ill patients taking atypical antipsychotics, and effectively increased a sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior. CONCLUSION: Weight control program had a positive effect as a nursing intervention to decrease obesity and to increase the sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior of psychiatric inpatients in psychiatric inpatients.
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Pessoas Mentalmente Doentes/psicologia , Redução de Peso , Adulto , Terapia Cognitivo-Comportamental , Dietoterapia , Exercício Físico , Feminino , Comportamentos Relacionados com a Saúde , Hospitais Psiquiátricos , Humanos , Pacientes Internados/psicologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Educação de Pacientes como Assunto , Enfermagem PsiquiátricaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Tunnel misplacement is a common cause of failed anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. In this study, the accuracy of the femoral tunnel position was evaluated in robot-assisted ACL reconstruction using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based navigation system. We hypothesized that a difference of less than 2 mm between the planned femoral tunnel position and the created one was achievable. METHODS: Four cadaveric knees underwent robot-assisted ACL reconstruction. A 3-dimensional model using pre-operative MRI images was used for preoperative planning, and a computed tomography (CT) scan was performed postoperatively. The planned and the created femoral tunnels were compared to assess the accuracy of the femoral tunnel position. RESULTS: The distance between the intra-articular points of the planned and the created tunnels was 7.78 mm in the first experiment and 1.47 mm in the last one. The difference in tunnel length was 4.62 mm in the first experiment and 0.99 mm in the last one. CONCLUSIONS: Accuracy of the femoral tunnel position improved with each robot-assisted ACL reconstruction using an MRI-based navigation system. In the last experiment, the accuracy of the femoral tunnel position was satisfactory.
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Reconstrução do Ligamento Cruzado Anterior/métodos , Fêmur/cirurgia , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Procedimentos Cirúrgicos Robóticos/métodos , Cirurgia Assistida por Computador/métodos , HumanosRESUMO
Background: Echiurida is one of the most intriguing major subgroups of annelida because, unlike most other annelids, echiurids lack metameric body segmentation as adults. For this reason, transcriptome analyses from various developmental stages of echiurid species can be of substantial value for understanding precise expression levels and the complex regulatory networks during early and larval development. Results: A total of 914 million raw RNA-Seq reads were produced from 14 developmental stages of Urechis unicinctus and were de novo assembled into contigs spanning 63,928,225 bp with an N50 length of 2700 bp. The resulting comprehensive transcriptome database of the early developmental stages of U. unicinctus consists of 20,305 representative functional protein-coding transcripts. Approximately 66% of unigenes were assigned to superphylum-level taxa, including Lophotrochozoa (40%). The completeness of the transcriptome assembly was assessed using benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs; 75.7% of the single-copy orthologs were presented in our transcriptome database. We observed 3 distinct patterns of global transcriptome profiles from 14 developmental stages and identified 12,705 genes that showed dynamic regulation patterns during the differentiation and maturation of U. unicinctus cells. Conclusions: We present the first large-scale developmental transcriptome dataset of U. unicinctus and provide a general overview of the dynamics of global gene expression changes during its early developmental stages. The analysis of time-course gene expression data is a first step toward understanding the complex developmental gene regulatory networks in U. unicinctus and will furnish a valuable resource for analyzing the functions of gene repertoires in various developmental phases.
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Anelídeos/genética , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Análise de Sequência de DNA/métodos , Transcriptoma/genética , Animais , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento/genética , Sequenciamento de Nucleotídeos em Larga Escala , Anotação de Sequência MolecularRESUMO
Background: The common long-arm octopus (Octopus minor) is found in mudflats of subtidal zones and faces numerous environmental challenges. The ability to adapt its morphology and behavioral repertoire to diverse environmental conditions makes the species a promising model for understanding genomic adaptation and evolution in cephalopods. Findings: The final genome assembly of O. minor is 5.09 Gb, with a contig N50 size of 197 kb and longest size of 3.027 Mb, from a total of 419 Gb raw reads generated using the Pacific Biosciences RS II platform. We identified 30,010 genes; 44.43% of the genome is composed of repeat elements. The genome-wide phylogenetic tree indicated the divergence time between O. minor and Octopus bimaculoides was estimated to be 43 million years ago based on single-copy orthologous genes. In total, 178 gene families are expanded in O. minor in the 14 bilaterian species. Conclusions: We found that the O. minor genome was larger than that of closely related O. bimaculoides, and this difference could be explained by enlarged introns and recently diversified transposable elements. The high-quality O. minor genome assembly provides a valuable resource for understanding octopus genome evolution and the molecular basis of adaptations to mudflats.
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Genoma , Genômica , Octopodiformes/genética , Animais , Biologia Computacional/métodos , Elementos de DNA Transponíveis , Duplicação Gênica , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Genômica/métodos , Anotação de Sequência Molecular , Fenótipo , Sequenciamento Completo do GenomaRESUMO
Quantitative imaging biomarkers have increasingly emerged in the field of research utilizing available imaging modalities. We aimed to identify good surrogate radiomic features that can represent genetic changes of tumors, thereby establishing noninvasive means for predicting treatment outcome. From May 2012 to June 2014, we retrospectively identified 65 patients with treatment-naïve glioblastoma with available clinical information from the Samsung Medical Center data registry. Preoperative MR imaging data were obtained for all 65 patients with primary glioblastoma. A total of 82 imaging features including first-order statistics, volume, and size features, were semi-automatically extracted from structural and physiologic images such as apparent diffusion coefficient and perfusion images. Using commercially available software, NordicICE, we performed quantitative imaging analysis and collected the dataset composed of radiophenotypic parameters. Unsupervised clustering methods revealed that the radiophenotypic dataset was composed of three clusters. Each cluster represented a distinct molecular classification of glioblastoma; classical type, proneural and neural types, and mesenchymal type. These clusters also reflected differential clinical outcomes. We found that extracted imaging signatures does not represent copy number variation and somatic mutation. Quantitative radiomic features provide a potential evidence to predict molecular phenotype and treatment outcome. Radiomic profiles represents transcriptomic phenotypes more well.
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Ischemic stroke is accompanied by structural deformation and functional deficits in the affected hemisphere. Within a couple of hours after symptom onset, the accurate identification of brain characteristics is critical to design the therapeutic strategies and it can potentially improve overall brain tissue viability by minimizing irreversible brain damage. In this study, white matter integrity and functional connectivity within 2-4h after right middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats were investigated using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging. During this stage, diffusion tensor image (DTI) revealed that fractional anisotropy along the ipsilesional external capsule was slightly increased as compared with preoperative baseline. Resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) showed that the inter-hemispheric functional connectivities from primary motor (M1), primary somatosensory of forelimb (S1FL), and barrel field (S1BF) seeds were considerably reduced at the hyperacute stage. Fractional amplitudes of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) from rs-fMRI were significantly enhanced at the hyperacute stage in the frequency spectrum between 0.01 and 0.08Hz. In addition, the changes in fALFF were negatively correlated with the number of functionally connected voxels in M1, S1FL and S1BF. Our results suggest that these techniques are useful tools to evaluate remarkable brain changes in the hyperacute stage of ischemic stroke.
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Isquemia Encefálica/diagnóstico por imagem , Isquemia Encefálica/fisiopatologia , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Substância Branca/diagnóstico por imagem , Substância Branca/patologia , Animais , Anisotropia , Isquemia Encefálica/patologia , Mapeamento Encefálico/métodos , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Infarto da Artéria Cerebral Média , Masculino , Ratos , Ratos Sprague-DawleyRESUMO
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be useful not only for the diagnosis of multiple system atrophy (MSA) itself, but also to distinguish between different clinical subtypes. This study aimed to investigate whether there are differences in the progression of subcortical atrophy and iron deposition between two variants of MSA. Two serial MRIs at baseline and follow-up were analyzed in eight patients with the parkinsonian variant MSA (MSA-P), nine patients with cerebellar variant MSA (MSA-C), and fifteen patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The R2* values and volumes were calculated for the selected subcortical structures (caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and thalamus) using an automated region-based analysis. In both volume and R2*, a higher rate of progression was identified in MSA-P patients. Volumetric analysis showed significantly more rapid progression of putamen and caudate nucleus in MSA-P than in MSA-C. With regard to R2* changes, a significant increase at follow-up and a higher rate of progression were identified in the putamen of MSA-P group compared to MSA-C and PD groups. This longitudinal study revealed different progression rates of MRI markers between MSA-P and MSA-C. Iron-related degeneration in the putamen may be more specific for MSA-P.
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Corpo Estriado/patologia , Progressão da Doença , Ferro/metabolismo , Atrofia de Múltiplos Sistemas/patologia , Doença de Parkinson/patologia , Tálamo/patologia , Idoso , Corpo Estriado/metabolismo , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Atrofia de Múltiplos Sistemas/metabolismo , Atrofias Olivopontocerebelares/metabolismo , Atrofias Olivopontocerebelares/patologia , Doença de Parkinson/metabolismo , Degeneração Estriatonigral/metabolismo , Degeneração Estriatonigral/patologia , Tálamo/metabolismoRESUMO
This study aimed to investigate the clinical and radiological findings in patients with transient global amnesia and to evaluate structural abnormalities using voxel-based morphometry. The subjects were diagnosed with transient global amnesia. For the voxel-based morphometry analyses, Statistical Parametric Mapping, running on the MATLAB platform (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA), was employed to analyze the structural differences between patients with transient global amnesia and control subjects. Eighty patients met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-three patients (29%) were men, and 57 patients (71%) were women. There were significantly more women among the transient global amnesia patients compared with the general Korean population. MRI revealed hippocampal cavities in 41 patients (51%), and the incidence of such cavities was significantly different from that of the control subjects (24%). There were no differences in the clinical factors between the patients with and without hippocampal cavities. Diffusion-weighted imaging was performed in 54 patients, and 13 patients (24%) exhibited high signal intensity in the hippocampus. There were also no differences in the clinical factors between the patients with and without high signal intensities in the hippocampus on diffusion-weighted imaging. Twenty-six patients underwent three-dimensional volumetric T1-weighted imaging that produced results suitable for voxel-based morphometry, and these patients presented with gray matter volume reductions in the hippocampus, cingulum, and cerebellum. There were significant structural differences in the limbic structures between patients with transient global amnesia and the control subjects that might have contributed to vulnerability of the memory pathways of the patients with transient global amnesia.
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Amnésia Global Transitória/diagnóstico , Amnésia Global Transitória/etiologia , Sistema Límbico/patologia , Adulto , Idoso , Cerebelo/patologia , Imagem de Difusão por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Feminino , Giro do Cíngulo/patologia , Hipocampo/patologia , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Masculino , Memória , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: We hypothesize that pre-existing susceptible structures in the brain may be associated with the development of newly diagnosed partial epilepsy of unknown etiology. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy of unknown etiology and 36 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. In addition, we included 24 patients with chronic partial epilepsy of unknown etiology as a disease control group. We analyzed whole-brain T1-weighted MRIs using FreeSurfer 5.1. The volumes of the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar gray and white matter, as well as cerebral gray and white matter were compared between the groups. We also analyzed the changes in brain volumes associated with the chronicity of epilepsy in the patients with chronic epilepsy compared to newly diagnosed epilepsy. RESULTS: The volume of cerebellar white matter in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy was significantly smaller than that which was observed in the healthy controls (p=0.0001). This finding was also observed in patients with chronic epilepsy (p<0.0001). Cerebral white matter volume was negatively correlated with the duration of epilepsy (r=-0.4, p=0.04). CONCLUSION: These findings support our hypothesis that cerebellar white matter changes may constitute a pre-existing susceptible structure in the brain that is associated with the development of partial epilepsy of unknown etiology. In addition, cerebral white matter was the structure that was the most vulnerable to the progression of epilepsy.