• Title/Summary/Keyword: Brain development

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The role of cytokines in seizures: interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$, IL-1Ra, IL-8, and IL-10

  • Youn, Youngah;Sung, In Kyung;Lee, In Goo
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.56 no.7
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    • pp.271-274
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    • 2013
  • Brain insults, including neurotrauma, infection, and perinatal injuries such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, generate inflammation in the brain. These inflammatory cascades induce a wide spectrum of cytokines, which can cause neuron degeneration, have neurotoxic effects on brain tissue, and lead to the development of seizures, even if they are subclinical and occur at birth. Cytokines are secreted by the glial cells of the central nervous system and they function as immune system mediators. Cytokines can be proinflammatory or anti-inflammatory. Interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$ and IL-8 are proinflammatory cytokines that activate additional cytokine cascades and increase seizure susceptibility and organ damage, whereas IL-1 receptor antagonist and IL-10 act as anti-inflammatory cytokines that have protective and anticonvulsant effects. Therefore, the immune system and its associated inflammatory reactions appear to play an important role in brain damage. Whether cytokine release is relevant for the processes of epileptogenesis and antiepileptogenesis, and whether epileptogenesis could be prevented by immunomodulatory treatment should be addressed in future clinical studies. Furthermore, early detection of brain damage and early intervention are essential for the prevention of disease progression and further neurological complications. Therefore, cytokines might be useful as biomarkers for earlier detection of brain damage in high-risk infants.

Betaine Attenuates Glutamate-induced Neurotoxicity in Primary Cultured Brain Cells

  • Park, Mi-Jung;Kim, So-Ra;Huh, Hoon;Jung, Jee-Hyung;Kim, Young-Choong
    • Archives of Pharmacal Research
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    • v.17 no.5
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    • pp.343-347
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    • 1994
  • Effects of betaine on glutamate-induced neurotoxicity were examined on primary culturs of chicken embryonic brain cells and on rat cortical cultures. Betaine was found to attenuate glutamate-induced neurotoxicity both morphologically and biochemically. A 30 min exposure of chicken embryonic brain cells cultured for 12 days to 500 .mu.M glutamate produced wide-spread acute neuronal swelling and neurtic fragmentation. A 2-h pretreatment of cultured chicken embryonic brain cells with i mM betaine prior to a 30 min exposure to 500 , mu, M glutamate significantly raised the survival rate of neurons in the culture. When chicken embryonic brain cells were pretreated for 2 h with i mM betaine followed by exposure to 100 .mu.M glutamate for 42 h, lactate dehydrogenase levels within the cells remained at 62% of .mu.M untreated control values while glutamate-treated control fell to 0% lactate dehydrogenase. Betaine also exerted attenuating effects on N-methyl-D-asparte-, kainate-and quisqualate-induced neurotoxicity in a similar manner to that observed with glutamate. Similar neuroprotective effects of betaine with rat cortical cultures.

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A Study on the Factors for Brain Gain: A Case of Vietnam (해외과학자 유치방안에 관한 연구: 베트남 사례를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Chang G.;Chung, Sun Yang
    • Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.395-415
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    • 2016
  • As international mobility of the high-caliber manpower increases, recruitment of the brain from overseas becomes a critical factor in determining national innovation capacity. This paper reviewed the theories of reverse brain drain, summarized the factors for recruitment of the brain from abroad, and empirically analyzed priority of the factors through the survey on overseas scientists from Vietnam, using conjoint analysis. The results of the analysis shows that high-level salaries, proper research environments, and environment for child education were the important factors. Factors such as scientists respect culture and career development opportunities are not considered important. This paper shows that the exceptionally higher salary should be paid and it also indicates that the policy determination from Vietnam government should be made accordingly.

Brain Injury Patients's Disability Degree and Educational Needs of Family Caregivers (뇌손상 환자의 장애정도와 간병가족의 교육요구도)

  • Yun, Sun-Hee;Yoo, Yang-Sook;Cho, Ok-Hee;Hwang, Kyung-Hye
    • Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.37-45
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    • 2012
  • Purpose: This study was conducted in order to identify the brain injury patients's disability degree and educational needs of family caregivers. Methods: A convenience sample of 94 families with brain injury patients, who have been receiving treatment at the neurological intensive care unit and neurosurgery ward, were used. Data was collected with a self-report questionnaire from September 5 to November 28, 2011, and was analyzed using SAS program. Results: 'Defecation/urination' disability was the highest score of patient's physical disability and the next ranking was 'paralysis'. 'Memory impairment' disability was the highest score of patient's cognitive disability, and the next ranking was 'personality changes'. Overall, educational needs of family caregivers scored 4.15 out of the perfect score of 5. The factor, which scored highest, was 'information related with disease'. In addition, educational needs of family caregivers were positively related with patient's degree of. Conclusion: Educational needs of family caregivers are distinct, according to the disability degree of brain injury patient. Therefore, the study suggests the development of individualized educational program for family with brain injury patient.

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The effect of action observation training on brain activity in children with cerebral palsy (동작관찰훈련이 양하지마비 뇌성마비 아동의 뇌활성에 미치는 영향)

  • Chun, Hyelim;Jeong, Young-a;Lee, Byounghee
    • Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.18-25
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    • 2020
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the improve on brain activity during action observation training for cerebral palsy of diplegia. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: 18 subjects were divide into two groups: action observation training group and a control group. Action observation group practiced repeatedly the action with their motor skill and control group practiced conventional physical therapy. The subjects participated in eighteen 30-min sessions, 3 day a week, for 6week. To confirm the effects on brain activity were evaluated. Results: The results show that the Mu-rhythm was statistically significant increase on the C3 of the action observation training group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The action observation training improves brain activity of a cerebral palsy with diplegia. These results suggest that the action observation training is feasible and beneficial for improving brain activation for the cerebral palsy with diplegia. In the future, I think we need to be actively utilized to the action observation training program in the clinical with the neuromuscular development treatment. And the study on the various the action observation training program that can improve the function of the children with cerebral palsy is thought necessary.

The Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability and Pharmacokinetics of Nitrone Based Spin Trapping Agent, $\alpha$-Phenyl-n-tert-Butyl Nitrone (PBN) in Rats (흰쥐에서 nitrone계 항산화제인 $\alpha$-phenyl-n-tert-butyl nitrone(PBN)의 뇌 투과성 및 체내동태)

  • 이나영;강영숙
    • YAKHAK HOEJI
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    • v.46 no.2
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    • pp.124-128
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    • 2002
  • The nitrone-based free radical trapping reagent, $\alpha$-phenyl-n-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN) has been proposed as therapeutic agent for stroke. We used this for model drug of development of new drug for neuroprotection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability of PBN in Sprague-Dawly (SD) rats. The BBB transport of PBN was investigated in SD rats using internal carotid artery perfusion (ICAP) method at a rate of 4 mι/min for 15 second. We also obtained pharmacokinetic parameters of PBN using single intravenous injection technique. When we estimated BBB permeability of PBN with ICAP method, the brain volume of distribution of PBN was 60.0 $\pm$ 12.0 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ι. The brain uptake of PBN after IV injection at 120 min was 0.15 $\pm$ 0.01%ID/g. The PBN was transported to the brain through the BBB well in rats, because PBN is small molecule (MW 177) and lipid-soluble (log P 1.23) compound.

Finding Needles in a Haystack with Light: Resolving the Microcircuitry of the Brain with Fluorescence Microscopy

  • Rah, Jong-Cheol;Choi, Joon Ho
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.45 no.2
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    • pp.84-92
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    • 2022
  • To understand the microcircuitry of the brain, the anatomical and functional connectivity among neurons must be resolved. One of the technical hurdles to achieving this goal is that the anatomical connections, or synapses, are often smaller than the diffraction limit of light and thus are difficult to resolve by conventional microscopy, while the microcircuitry of the brain is on the scale of 1 mm or larger. To date, the gold standard method for microcircuit reconstruction has been electron microscopy (EM). However, despite its rapid development, EM has clear shortcomings as a method for microcircuit reconstruction. The greatest weakness of this method is arguably its incompatibility with functional and molecular analysis. Fluorescence microscopy, on the other hand, is readily compatible with numerous physiological and molecular analyses. We believe that recent advances in various fluorescence microscopy techniques offer a new possibility for reliable synapse detection in large volumes of neural circuits. In this minireview, we summarize recent advances in fluorescence-based microcircuit reconstruction. In the same vein as these studies, we introduce our recent efforts to analyze the long-range connectivity among brain areas and the subcellular distribution of synapses of interest in relatively large volumes of cortical tissue with array tomography and superresolution microscopy.

Effects of Acorn (Quercus acutissima CARR.) Supplementation on the Level of Acetylcholine and Its Related Enzyme Activities in the Brain of Dementia Mouse Model (도토리 급여가 치매모델 마우스 뇌조직의 아세틸콜린 및 관련효소 활성에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Sung-Hyeon;Kim, Dae-Ik;Cho, So-Yong;Jung, Hyun-Jin;Cho, Soo-Muk;Park, Hong-Ju;Lillehoj Hyun S.
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.34 no.5
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    • pp.738-742
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    • 2005
  • This study was designed to investigate the anti-dementia effects of acorn (Quercus acutissima CARR.) in brain of the mouse. Dementia model was induced by administration of scopolamin (30 mg/kg BW) Male ICR mouse $(30{\pm}2g\;BW)$ were fed basal diet (control group), and experimental diets (AP-5 and AP-10 groups) added $5\%\;and\;10\%$ of dried acorn powder to basal diet for 8 months. Acetylcholine content significantly increase in AP-5 and AP-10 groups ($4.2\%\;and\;11.3\%$, respectively) compared with control group. Acetylcholinesterase activities were significantly inhibited ($13.5\%\;and\;17.6\%$, respectively) in brain of AP-5 and AP-10 groups. Monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) activities were significantly inhibited ($10.0\%\;and\;12.7\%$, respectively) in brain of AP-S and AP-10 groups. These results suggest that acorn (Q. acutissima CARR.) may play an effective role in an attenuating various age-related changes such as dementia including learning and memory impairments in brain.

Differential Expression of the Tight Junction Protein, Occludin, in Brain Tumors

  • Kim, Choong-Hyun;Cheong, Jin-Hwan;Bak, Koang-Hum;Kim, Jae-Min;Ko, Yong;Oh, Suck-Jun
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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    • v.38 no.1
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    • pp.12-15
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    • 2005
  • Objective : Cerebral edema develops in the brain tumors by loosening of the endothelial tight junction. Tight junction[TJ] proteins, such as occludin and claudin bind adjacent cells tightly. Authors examine the expression rate of occludin in human brain tumors to evaluate the effect of altered expression of occludin on cerebral edema. Methods : Seventy surgical specimens stored at $-70^{\circ}C$ were used. It included 14 astrocytic tumors, 27 meningiomas, 12 scwannomas, 7 pituitary adenomas, 6 hemangioblastomas. and 4 craniopharyngiomas. After protein extraction, expression of occludin was investigated by Western blot analysis. The tumors were classified according to World Health Organization[WHO] classification. Results : The expression rates of occludin in brain tumors were : glioma [8/14=57.1%]. meningioma [16/27=59.3%], schwannoma [10/12=83.3%], pituitary adenoma [6/7=85.7%], hemangioblastoma [6/6=100%], and craniopharyngioma [3/4=75.0%]. The expression rate in glioma and meningioma was lower than other brain tumors. In gliomas, high grade tumor [1/4=25.0%] exhibited lower expression rate of occludin than low grade one [7/10=70.0%]. Conclusion : These results suggest that the expression of occludin is different among the various kinds of brain tumors. In gliomas, its expression is correlated with the histological grade. It may indicate that occludin plays a role in the development of edema in the brain tumors.

Current Radiopharmaceuticals for Positron Emission Tomography of Brain Tumors

  • Jung, Ji-hoon;Ahn, Byeong-Cheol
    • Brain Tumor Research and Treatment
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.47-53
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    • 2018
  • Brain tumors represent a diverse spectrum of histology, biology, prognosis, and treatment options. Although MRI remains the gold standard for morphological tumor characterization, positron emission tomography (PET) can play a critical role in evaluating disease status. This article focuses on the use of PET with radiolabeled glucose and amino acid analogs to aid in the diagnosis of tumors and differentiate between recurrent tumors and radiation necrosis. The most widely used tracer is $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Although the intensity of FDG uptake is clearly associated with tumor grade, the exact role of FDG PET imaging remains debatable. Additionally, high uptake of FDG in normal grey matter limits its use in some low-grade tumors that may not be visualized. Because of their potential to overcome the limitation of FDG PET of brain tumors, $^{11}C$-methionine and $^{18}F$-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (FDOPA) have been proposed. Low accumulation of amino acid tracers in normal brains allows the detection of low-grade gliomas and facilitates more precise tumor delineation. These amino acid tracers have higher sensitivity and specificity for detecting brain tumors and differentiating recurrent tumors from post-therapeutic changes. FDG and amino acid tracers may be complementary, and both may be required for assessment of an individual patient. Additional tracers for brain tumor imaging are currently under development. Combinations of different tracers might provide more in-depth information about tumor characteristics, and current limitations may thus be overcome in the near future. PET with various tracers including FDG, $^{11}C$-methionine, and FDOPA has improved the management of patients with brain tumors. To evaluate the exact value of PET, however, additional prospective large sample studies are needed.