• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.603-610
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• 2016

Recently, an increasing number of studies have focused on the effects of CD4+ T cell on cognitive function. However, the changes of Th2 cytokines in restricted CD4+ T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire model and their effects on the adult hippocampal neurogenesis and memory are not fully understood. Here, we investigated whether and how the mice with restricted CD4+ repertoire TCR exhibit learning and memory impairment by using OT-II mice. OT-II mice showed decreased adult neurogenesis in hippocampus and short- and long- term memory impairment. Moreover, Th2 cytokines in OT-II mice are significantly increased in peripheral organs and IL-4 is significantly increased in brain. Finally, IL-4 treatment significantly inhibited the proliferation of cultured adult rat hippocampal neural stem cells. Taken together, abnormal level of Th2 cytokines can lead memory dysfunction via impaired adult neurogenesis in OT-II transgenic.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.371-380
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• 1998

Systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) is an autoimmune disease which may affect many different organs and disclose various clinical manifestations. Recently central nervous system(CNS) involvement has been recognized as an increasingly significant contributor to morbidity and mortality of SLE. The clinical manifestations of CNS-lupus are highly variable and range from mild cognitive dysfunction, movement disorder, headache, psychosis to life-threatening stroke and coma. Among the neuropsychiatric disorders encountered in patients with SLE, cerebrovascular disease has been a relatively rare complication. The diagnosis and management of CNS-lupus is difficult because of the lack of useful diagnostic methods. If cerebrovascular involvement is suspected, aggressive treatment such as high dose steroid, immunosuppressive therapy, plasma exchange may be required to reduce high mortality rate. We experienced 2 cases cerebrovascular dis eases occurring in SLE patients which presented with various neuropsychiatric manifestations. They were diagnosed as CNS-lupus by neuropsychiatric symptoms, brain MRI, and BEG, and showed good response to high dose steroid pulse therapy.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 2015

This study investigated the anti-amnesic effect of fermented Ganoderma lucidum water extracts (GW) on scopolamine- induced memory impairment in rats. GW were fermented by the lactic acid bacterium Bifidobacterium bifidum (FGWB), followed by Lactobacillus sakei LI033 (FGWBL). To induce amnesia, scopolamine (1 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected into rats 30 min before the behavioral tests. Step-through latencies of rats treated with primary fermented extracts (300 mg/kg, FGWB) and secondary fermented extracts (300 mg/kg, FGWBL) were significantly longer than those of rats treated with GW (300 mg/kg) in the retention trial of the multiple trial passive avoidance test. In the Morris water maze task, FGWBL significantly shortened escape latencies in training trials. Furthermore, swimming times within the target zone during the probe trial with FGWBL were significantly higher than the GW and FGWB treatments. In addition, acetylcholinesterase activities were lower in the brains of scopolamine-treated rats treated with FGWBL. These results suggest that FGWBL could be useful to enhance learning memory and cognitive function via cholinergic dysfunction.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2002

Background & Purpose:Neuropsychological disorders after traumatic brain injury(TBI) are poorly correlated with structural lesions detected by structural neuroimaging techniques such as computed tomography(CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). It is well known that patients with TBI have cognitive and behavioral disorders even in the absence of structural lesions of the brain. This study investigated whether there are abnormalities of regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF) in TBI patients without structural abnormality on MRI, using technetium 99m ethyl cysteinate dimer(Tc-99m-ECD) single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) scans. Materials and Methods:Twenty-eight TBI patients without structural abnormality on MRI(mild, n=13/moderate, n=9/severe, n=6) and fifteen normal controls were scanned by SPECT. A voxel-based analysis using statistical parametric mapping(SPM) was performed to compare the patients with the normal controls. Results:rCBF was reduced in the right uncus and the right lateral orbitofrontal gyrus in the TBI patients. However, no increase of rCBF was noted in the patients in comparison to the normal controls. Conclusions:These results suggest that the TBI patients, even in the absence of structural lesion of the brain, may have dysfunction of the brain, particularly of the orbitofrontal and anterior pole of the temporal cortex. They also suggest that SPECT can be a useful method to identify brain dysfunctions in combination with structural brain imaging and neuropsychological tests.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.146-155
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• 1995

Jet lag can be defined as the cumulative physiological and psychological effects of rapid air travel across multiple time zone. The consequences of jet lag include fatigue, general malaise, sleep disturbances, and reductions of cognitive and psychomotor performance, all of which have been documented in experimental biological and air crew personnel studies. Thus authors tried to study the jet lag of natural travellers by modified self reporting sleep log. Total 61 healthy travellers was studied for 3 days before and 7 days after jet-flights across seven to ten time zone. The eastbound travelling group was 38 persons, aged 19 -70 and westbound travelling group was 23 persons, aged 13 - 69. Sleep onset time, wake-up time, sleep latency, awakening frequency on night sleep, awakening duration on night sleep, sleepiness at wake-up and nap length were evaluated. Our results suggested that the 7 to 10 time zone shift gave significant influence to traveller's sleep-wake cycles. The date which subjective physical condition was recovered on was $5.16{\pm}1.50$ day after arrivals for eastbound, while for westbound, $4.91{\pm}1.62$ day. In eastbound travelling, sleep onset time became later than baselines and could not recover until 7th day. But in westbound, it became earlier than baseline and could recover until 6th day. The mean score of 24-hour sleepiness was greater in eastboumd than westbound. Therefore the eastbound travelling caused more sleep-wake cycle disturbance and daytime dysfunction than westbound travelling. In other parameters, there was no definite difference between east and westbound. From our results, it was suggested that the symptom severity of jet lag was dependent on the travelling direction. To demonstrate more definite evidence, large sized data collections and comparision by age difference were needed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.130-132
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• 2013

Distinguishing wild plants in spring from ingestible plants is difficult. Differentiation of budding plants from other plants is particularly difficult. Many people want to find edible plants for health during the spring season. Scopolia japonica can cause symptoms of mania. The author experienced three cases of poisoning by Scopolia japonica. We reported on the cases with literature reviews.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.59-64
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• 2017

Objective: Elderly people with dementia experience not only cognitive dysfunction but also motor function deficits, such as balance and gait impairments. Recently, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been used to reduce pain as well as to control muscle spasm, spasticity and motor performance in various types of subjects. The purpose of this study determined the effect of a single trial TENS on balance and gait function in elderly people with dementia. Design: A randomized controlled trial. Methods: Twenty-two subjects with dementia were assigned to the TENS group (n=12) and ten subjects were assigned to the control group (n=10) randomly. Subjects were classified into two groups: the TENS group (n=12) and the placebo-TENS group (n=10). The TENS group had electrical stimulation applied on the calf muscle for 15 minutes, while the placebo-TENS group had not received real electrical stimulation. The timed up and go test (TUG) and functional reach test (FRT) were used to measure the balance function, and the 10 meters walk test (MWT) and 6MWT were used to assess gait ability. All tests were performed before and after intervention under a single-blinded condition. Results: After intervention, there were significant improvements in TUG, FRT, 10MWT, and 6MWT results in the TENS group (p<0.05), while the placebo-TENS group did not show significant changes in all outcome measurements. There were also differences in all tests between the two groups at post-measurements (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that a single trial TENS application on the calf may be used to improve balance and gait function in elderly people with dementia.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 2009

Previous studies suggest that even low-dose irradiation can lead to progressive cognitive decline and memory deficits, which implicates, in part, hippocampal dysfunction in both humans and experimental animals. In this study, whether red ginseng (RG) could attenuate memory impairment was investigated through a passive-avoidance and object recognition memory test, as well as the suppression of hippocampal neurogenesis, using the TUNEL assay and immunohistochemical detection with markers of neurogenesis (Ki-67 and doublecortin (DCX)) in adult mice treated with a relatively low-dose exposure to gamma radiation (0.5 or 2.0 Gy). RG was administered intraperitonially at a dosage of 50 mg/kg of body weight, at 36 and 12 h pre-irradiation and at 30 minutes post-irradiation, or orally at a dosage of 250 mg! kg of body weight/day for seven days before autopsy. In the passive-avoidance and object recognition memory test, the mice that were trained for one day after acute irradiation (2 Gy) showed significant memory deficits compared with the sham controls. The number of TUNEL-positive apoptotic nuclei in the dentate gyrus (DG) was increased 12 h after irradiation. In addition, the number of Ki-67- and DCX-positive cells was significantly decreased. RG treatment prior to irradiation attenuated the memory defect and blocked apoptotic death as well as a decrease in the Ki-67- and DCX-positive cells. RG may attenuate memory defect in a relatively low-dose exposure to radiation in adult mice, possibly by inhibiting the detrimental effect of irradiation on hippocampal neurogenesis.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.46
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• pp.289.1-289.10
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• 2018

Background: Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are associated with cerebrovascular risk factors and cognitive dysfunction among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, whether CMBs themselves are associated with PD is to be elucidated. Methods: We analyzed the presence of CMBs using 3-Tesla brain magnetic resonance imaging in non-demented patients with PD and in age-, sex-, and hypertension-matched control subjects. PD patients were classified according to their motor subtypes: tremor-dominant, intermediate, and postural instability-gait disturbance (PIGD). Other cerebrovascular risk factors and small vessel disease (SVD) burdens were also evaluated. Results: Two-hundred and five patients with PD and 205 control subjects were included. The prevalence of CMBs was higher in PD patients than in controls (16.1% vs. 8.8%; odds ratio [OR], 2.126; P = 0.019); CMBs in the lobar area showed a significant difference between PD patients and controls (11.7% vs. 5.9%; OR, 2.234; P = 0.032). According to the motor subtype, CMBs in those with PIGD type showed significant difference from controls with respect to the overall brain area (21.1% vs. 8.9%; OR, 2.759; P = 0.010) and lobar area (14.6% vs. 4.9%; OR, 3.336; P = 0.016). Among PD patients, those with CMBs had higher age and more evidence of SVDs than those without CMBs. Conclusion: We found that CMBs are more frequent in PD patients than in controls, especially in those with the PIGD subtype and CMBs on the lobar area. Further study investigating the pathogenetic significance of CMBs is required.

• Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.422-433
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• 2018

Objective: Neuropsychiatric manifestations like depression and cognitive dysfunction commonly occur in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In the context of the brain-gut axis model, colitis can lead to alteration of brain function in a bottom-up manner. Here, the changes in the response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and inflammation-related markers in the brain in colitis were studied. Methods: Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) was used to generate a mouse model of colitis. Mice were treated with DSS for 3 or 7 days and sacrificed. We analyzed the gene expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and the expression of GFAP, in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala. Additionally, the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum cortisol/corticosterone were measured. Results: Alteration of inflammatory-related markers varied depending on the brain region and exposure time. In the hippocampus, COX-2 mRNA, GFAP mRNA, and GFAP expression were upregulated during exposure to DSS. However, in the hypothalamus, COX-2 mRNA was upregulated only 3 days after treatment. In the amygdala, BDNF and COX-2 mRNAs were downregulated. CRP and corticosterone expression increased with DSS treatment at day 7. Conclusion: IBD could lead to neuroinflammation in a bottom-up manner, and this effect varied according to brain region. Stress-related hormones and serum inflammatory markers, such as CRP, were upregulated from the third day of DSS treatment. Therefore, early and active intervention is required to prevent psychological and behavioral changes caused by IBD, and region-specific studies can help understand the precise mechanisms by which IBD affects the brain.