Using a Portable Gait Rhythmogram to Examine the Effect of Music Therapy on Parkinson's Disease-Related Gait Disturbance.

External cues improve walking by evoking internal rhythm formation related to gait in the brain in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This study examined the usefulness of using a portable gait rhythmogram (PGR) in music therapy on PD-related gait disturbance. A total of 19 subjects with PD who exhibited gait disturbance were evaluated for gait speed and step length during a 10 m straight walking task. Moreover, acceleration, cadence, and trajectory of the center of the body were estimated using a PGR. Walking tasks were created while incorporating music intervention that gradually increased in tempo from 90 to 120 beats per minute (BPM). We then evaluated whether immediate improvement in gait could be recognized even without music after walking tasks by comparing pre- (pre-MT) and post-music therapy (post-MT) values. Post-MT gait showed significant improvement in acceleration, gait speed, cadence, and step length. During transitions throughout the walking tasks, acceleration, gait speed, cadence, and step length gradually increased in tasks with music. With regard to the trajectory of the center of the body, we recognized a reduction in post-MT medio-lateral amplitude. Music therapy immediately improved gait disturbance in patients with PD, and the effectiveness was objectively shown using PGR.

Ninjinyoeito improves anxiety behavior in neuropeptide Y deficient zebrafish.

Anxiety induced by excess mental or physical stress is deeply involved in the onset of human psychiatric diseases such as depression, bipolar disorder, and panic disorder. Recently, Kampo medicines have received focus as antidepressant drugs for clinical use because of their synergistic and additive effects. Thus, we evaluated the anxiolytic activity of Ninjinyoeito (NYT) using neuropeptide Y-knockout (NPY-KO) zebrafish that exhibit severe anxiety responses to acute stress. Adult NPY-KO zebrafish were fed either a 3% NYT-supplemented or normal diet (i.e., the control diet) for four days and were then examined via behavioral tests. After short-term cold stress (10 °C, 2 s) was applied, control-fed NPY-KO zebrafish exhibited anxiety behaviors such as freezing, erratic movement, and increased swimming time along the tank wall. On the other hand, NYT-fed NPY-KO zebrafish significantly suppressed these anxiety behaviors, accompanied by a downregulation of tyrosine hydroxylase levels and phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases in the brain. To understand the responsible component(s) in NYT, twelve kinds of herbal medicines that composed NYT were tested in behavioral trials with the zebrafish. Among them, nine significantly reduced freezing behavior in NPY-KO zebrafish. In particular, Schisandra fruit induced the most potent effect on abnormal zebrafish behavior, even in the lower amount (0.3% equivalent to NYT), followed by Atractylodes rhizome and Cinnamon bark. Subsequently, four lignans uniquely found in Schisandra fruit (i.e., gomisin A, gomisin N, schizandrin, and schizandrin B) were investigated for their anxiolytic activity in NPY-KO zebrafish. As a result, schizandrin was identified as a responsible compound in the anxiolytic effect of NYT. These results suggest that NYT has a positive effect on mental stress-induced anxiety and may be a promising therapeutic for psychiatric diseases.

Long-loop reflex from arm afferents to remote muscles in normal man.

The present study was designed to examine the effects of median nerve stimulation on motoneurones of remote muscles in healthy subjects using H-reflex, averaged EMG and PSTH methods. Stimulation of the median nerve induced facilitation of soleus H-reflex from about 50 ms and it reached a peak at about 100 ms of conditioning-test interval. Afferents that induced the facilitation consisted of at least two types of fibres, the high-threshold cutaneous fibres and the low-threshold fibres. When the effects were examined by the averaged surface EMG and PSTH, no facilitation but rather inhibition or inhibition-facilitation was induced in all tested muscles except for the upper limb muscles on the stimulated side. The inhibition latency was shortest in masseter muscle and longest in leg muscles, while values for the contralateral upper limb muscles were in the middle, indicating that the onset of inhibition was delayed from rostral to caudal muscles. Inputs from the median nerve converged to inhibitory interneurones, which mediate the masseter inhibitory reflex. Our findings suggested that inputs from the median nerve initially ascend to the brain, at least to the brainstem, and then descend to the spinal cord. Therefore, inhibition induced by median nerve stimulation was not considered as an interlimb reflex mediated by a propriospinal pathway, but long-loop reflex, at least via the pons. The discrepancy between the results of reflex and motor units suggests that facilitation of soleus H-reflex following median nerve stimulation was mainly due to reduced presynaptic inhibition.