Protocol guide for food foraging behavior test: Assessment of decision making in rodents.

Food foraging behavior requires higher cognitive function like investing efforts in decision making. Hoarding food for the future consumption in adverse climatic conditions or to avoid predatory threats needs precise perception and potential of decision making to overcome challenges in the time of need. The brain areas and neural circuitry responsible for such cognitive skills are poorly understood. Previously available animal models are trained prior to test, which makes it difficult to understand the true nature of animals, and hoard the food from external source into the cage. The new food foraging behavior test, recently developed and evidenced by Li et al., relies on untrained rats and test the competitive ability and hoarding from source within the test box. It can be used to study decision making potentials and underlying neural bases in laboratory settings. Multiple aspects like food quality/flavor preference, competitive nature can be assessed within the test box and the paradigm is conveniently customizable according the hypothesis. However, a detailed protocol guide, to be followed in the laboratory setting, for food foraging behavior test is not available. Therefore, it is urged to produce an elaborated guide for scientists to conduct food foraging behavior test in convenient and precise manner.

Shared and differential fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation patterns at rest in major depressive disorders with or without sleep disturbance.

Objective: Sleep disturbances (SD) are commonly found in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study aims to explore the influence of SD symptoms on clinical characteristics in patients with MDD and to investigate the shared and distinct fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) patterns in these patients with or without SD symptoms. Methods: Twenty-four MDD patients with SD symptoms (Pa_s), 33 MDD patients without SD symptoms (Pa_ns) and 32 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. The fALFF and correlation analyses were applied to analyze the features of imaging and clinical data. Results: Pa_s showed more severe anxiety and depression than Pa_ns. Compared with Pa_ns, Pa_s exhibited increased fALFF value in the left precuneus. Patients shared abnormal fALFF in the frontal-occipital brain regions. There was a positive correlation between fALFF values of the left precuneus and sleep disturbance scores (r = 0.607, p = 0.0000056734) in all patients in addition to a negative correlation between fALFF values of the left MOG/cuneus and HAMD-17 total scores (r = -0.595, p = 0.002141) in Pa_s. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) results of the fALFF could be used to discriminate Pa_s from Pa_ns with a specificity of 72.73% and a sensitivity of 70.83%. Conclusion: Pa_s displayed more serious anxiety and depression symptoms. Patients shared abnormal fALFF in the frontal-occipital brain regions, which may be a common characteristic for MDD. And increased fALFF value in the left precuneus might be a specific neuroimaging feature of MDD patients with SD symptoms.

Primary cilia-associated protein IFT172 in ciliopathies.

Cilium is a highly conserved antenna-like structure protruding from the surface of the cell membrane, which is widely distributed on most mammalian cells. Two types of cilia have been described so far which include motile cilia and immotile cilia and the latter are also known as primary cilia. Dysfunctional primary cilia are commonly associated with a variety of congenital diseases called ciliopathies with multifaceted presentations such as retinopathy, congenital kidney disease, intellectual disability, cancer, polycystic kidney, obesity, Bardet Biedl syndrome (BBS), etc. Intraflagellar transport (IFT) is a bi-directional transportation process that helps maintain a balanced flow of proteins or signaling molecules essential for the communication between cilia and cytoplasm. Disrupted IFT contributes to the abnormal structure or function of cilia and frequently promotes the occurrence of ciliopathies. Intraflagellar transport 172 (IFT172) is a newly identified member of IFT proteins closely involved in some rare ciliopathies such as Mainzer-Saldino syndrome (MZSDS) and BBS, though the underpinning causal mechanisms remain largely elusive. In this review, we summarize the key findings on the genetic and protein characteristic of IFT172, as well as its function in intraflagellar transport, to provide comprehensive insights to understand IFT172-related ciliopathies.

ULK4 in Neurodevelopmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

The gene Unc51-like kinase 4 (ULK4) belongs to the Unc-51-like serine/threonine kinase family and is assumed to encode a pseudokinase with unclear function. Recently, emerging evidence has suggested that ULK4 may be etiologically involved in a spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, but the underlying mechanism remains unaddressed. Here, we summarize the key findings of the structure and function of the ULK4 protein to provide comprehensive insights to better understand ULK4-related neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders and to aid in the development of a ULK4-based therapeutic strategy.