Modeling Multiple Sclerosis in the Two Sexes: MOG35-55-Induced Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS). It is characterized by different prevalence in the sexes, affecting more women than men, and different outcomes, showing more aggressive forms in men than in women. Furthermore, MS is highly heterogeneous in terms of clinical aspects, radiological, and pathological features. Thus, it is necessary to take advantage of experimental animal models that allow the investigation of as many aspects of the pathology as possible. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) represents one of the most used models of MS in mice, modeling different disease features, from the activation of the immune system to CNS damage. Here we describe a protocol for the induction of EAE in both male and female C57BL/6J mice using myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide 35-55 (MOG35-55) immunization, which leads to the development of a chronic form of the disease. We also report the evaluation of the daily clinical score and motor performance of these mice for 28 days post immunization (28 dpi). Lastly, we illustrate some basic histological analysis at the CNS level, focusing on the spinal cord as the primary site of disease-induced damage.

Effects of chronic exposure to bisphenol A in adult female mice on social behavior, vasopressin system, and estrogen membrane receptor (GPER1).

Bisphenol A (BPA), an organic synthetic compound found in some plastics and epoxy resins, is classified as an endocrine disrupting chemical. Exposure to BPA is especially dangerous if it occurs during specific "critical periods" of life, when organisms are more sensitive to hormonal changes (i.e., intrauterine, perinatal, juvenile or puberty periods). In this study, we focused on the effects of chronic exposure to BPA in adult female mice starting during pregnancy. Three months old C57BL/6J females were orally exposed to BPA or to vehicle (corn oil). The treatment (4 µg/kg body weight/day) started the day 0 of pregnancy and continued throughout pregnancy, lactation, and lasted for a total of 20 weeks. BPA-treated dams did not show differences in body weight or food intake, but they showed an altered estrous cycle compared to the controls. In order to evidence alterations in social and sociosexual behaviors, we performed the Three-Chamber test for sociability, and analyzed two hypothalamic circuits (well-known targets of endocrine disruption) particularly involved in the control of social behavior: the vasopressin and the oxytocin systems. The test revealed some alterations in the displaying of social behavior: BPA-treated dams have higher locomotor activity compared to the control dams, probably a signal of high level of anxiety. In addition, BPA-treated dams spent more time interacting with no-tester females than with no-tester males. In brain sections, we observed a decrease of vasopressin immunoreactivity (only in the paraventricular and suprachiasmatic nuclei) of BPA-treated females, while we did not find any alteration of the oxytocin system. In parallel, we have also observed, in the same hypothalamic nuclei, a significant reduction of the membrane estrogen receptor GPER1 expression.

Prediction of Speech Onset by Micro-Electrocorticography of the Human Brain.

Recent technological advances show the feasibility of offline decoding speech from neuronal signals, paving the way to the development of chronically implanted speech brain computer interfaces (sBCI). Two key steps that still need to be addressed for the online deployment of sBCI are, on the one hand, the definition of relevant design parameters of the recording arrays, on the other hand, the identification of robust physiological markers of the patient's intention to speak, which can be used to online trigger the decoding process. To address these issues, we acutely recorded speech-related signals from the frontal cortex of two human patients undergoing awake neurosurgery for brain tumors using three different micro-electrocorticographic ([Formula: see text]ECoG) devices. First, we observed that, at the smallest investigated pitch (600[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m), neighboring channels are highly correlated, suggesting that more closely spaced electrodes would provide some redundant information. Second, we trained a classifier to recognize speech-related motor preparation from high-gamma oscillations (70-150[Formula: see text]Hz), demonstrating that these neuronal signals can be used to reliably predict speech onset. Notably, our model generalized both across subjects and recording devices showing the robustness of its performance. These findings provide crucial information for the design of future online sBCI.