Cerebral Palsy

Micronutrients, mostly iodine and selenium, are required for thyroid hormone synthesis and function. Iodine is an essential component of thyroid hormones and its deficiency is considered as the most common cause of preventable brain damage in the world. Nowadays about 800 million people are affected by iodine deficiency disorders that include goiter, hypothyroidism, mental retardation, and a wide spectrum of other growth and developmental abnormalities. Iodine supplementation, under form of iodized salt and iodized vegetable oil, produced dramatic improvements in many areas, even though iodine deficiency is still a problem not only for developing countries. In fact, certain subpopulations like vegetarians may not reach an adequate iodine intake even in countries considered iodine-sufficient. A reduction in dietary iodine content could also be related to increased adherence to dietary recommendations to reduce salt intake for preventing hypertension. Furthermore, iodine intakes are declining in many countries where, after endemic goiter eradication, the lack of monitoring of iodine nutrition can lead to a reappearance of goiter and other iodine deficiency disorders. Three different selenium-dependent iodothyronine deiodinases (types I, II, and III) can both activate and inactivate thyroid hormones, making selenium an essential micronutrient for normal development, growth, and metabolism. Furthermore, selenium is found as selenocysteine in the catalytic center of enzymes protecting the thyroid from free radicals damage. In this way, selenium deficiency can exacerbate the effects of iodine deficiency and the same is true for vitamin A or iron deficiency. Substances introduced with food, such as thiocyanate and isoflavones or certain herbal preparations, can interfere with micronutrients and influence thyroid function. Aim of this paper is to review the role of micronutrients in thyroid function and diseases.

Brain damage is a major cause of disability that often leads to deficits in Executive Functions (EF) with dramatic consequences on activities of daily living. While rehabilitation approaches of the dysexecutive syndrome are still limited, Virtual Reality (VR) has shown its potential to propose innovative intervention strategies based on ecologically valid functional tasks. The purpose of this paper is to present the design process of the Therapeutic Virtual Kitchen (TVK) in which ecological and adaptable virtual tasks may be configured by the therapists for patients’ assessment and rehabilitation. The outcomes of a preliminary test of feasibility among members of our laboratory and Kerpape Rehabilitation Center are reported and discussed.

Current rehabilitation of navigation and spatial orientation ability after brain damage is generally focused on training within the rehabilitation hospital or the patient’s home as part of common physio- and occupational therapy sessions. To further promote generalization of gained abilities and to quantify functional improvements, this project aims at developing a Virtual Reality (VR) application that can be used for training and assessment of spatial orientation and navigation skills in brain-damaged patients. The training is administered after the standard hospital rehabilitation training is completed. Additionally, the program will be used as an assessment tool to quantify the participants’ wayfinding performance. The data will be compared with real-world navigation performance in tasks of similar complexity to evaluate real-world transfer of the VR training. Currently, the application is under development and basic functionality and data acquisition are being implemented.

Baccharis dracunculifolia DC (Asteraceae) is a Brazilian medicinal plant popularly used for its antiulcer and anti-inflammatory properties. This plant is the main botanical source of Brazilian green propolis, a natural product incorporated into food and beverages to improve health. The present study aimed to investigate the chemical profile and intestinal anti-inflammatory activity of B. dracunculifolia extract on experimental ulcerative colitis induced by trinitrobenzenosulfonic acid (TNBS). Colonic damage was evaluated macroscopically and biochemically through its evaluation of glutathione content and its myeloperoxidase (MPO) and alkaline phosphatase activities. Additional in vitro experiments were performed in order to test the antioxidant activity by inhibition of induced lipid peroxidation in the rat brain membrane. Phytochemical analysis was performed by HPLC using authentic standards. The administration of plant extract (5 and 50 mg kg(-1)) significantly attenuated the colonic damage induced by TNBS as evidenced both macroscopically and biochemically. This beneficial effect can be associated with an improvement in the colonic oxidative status, since plant extract prevented glutathione depletion, inhibited lipid peroxidation and reduced MPO activity. Caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, aromadendrin-4-O-methyl ether, 3-prenyl-p-coumaric acid, 3,5-diprenyl-p-coumaric acid and baccharin were detected in the plant extract.

Astroglial cells represent the main line of defence against oxidative damage related to neurodegeneration. Therefore, protection of astroglia from an excess of reactive oxygen species could represent an important target of the treatment of such conditions. The aim of our study was to compare the abilities of glucose and fructose, the two monosaccharides used in diet and infusion, to protect C6 cells from hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-mediated oxidative stress. It was observed using confocal microscopy with fluorescent labels and the MTT test that fructose prevents changes of oxidative status of the cells exposed to H(2)O(2) and preserves their viability. Even more pronounced protective effects were observed for fructose 1,6-bis(phosphate). We propose that fructose and its intracellular forms prevent H(2)O(2) from participating in the Fenton reaction via iron sequestration. As fructose and fructose 1,6-bis(phosphate) are able to pass the blood-brain barrier, they could provide antioxidative protection of nervous tissue in vivo. So, in contrast to the well-known negative effects of frequent consumption of fructose under physiological conditions, acute infusion or ingestion of fructose or fructose 1,6-bis(phosphate) could be of benefit in the cytoprotective therapy of neurodegenerative disorders related to oxidative stress.

The neurosteroid allopregnanolone (AP) is a GABAergic agonist that suppresses CNS activity in the adult brain, and by reducing excitotoxicity is considered to be neuroprotective. A role for neurosteroids in the developing brain, particularly in late gestation, is still debated. The aim of this study was to investigate effects on proliferation and cell death in the brain of late gestation fetal sheep after inhibition of AP synthesis using finasteride, a 5alpha-reductase type-2 (5alpha-R2) inhibitor. Catheters were implanted in fetal sheep at ~125 days gestation. At 3-4 days post-surgery, fetuses received infusions of either finasteride (20mg/kg/h; n=5), the AP analogue alfaxalone (5mg/kg/h; n=5), or finasteride and alfaxalone together (n=5). Brains were obtained at 24 h after infusion to determine cell death (apoptotic or necrotic) and cell proliferation in the hippocampus and cerebellum, areas known to be susceptible to excitotoxic damage. Finasteride treatment significantly increased apoptosis (activated caspase-3 expression) in hippocampal CA3 and CA1, and cerebellar molecular and granular layers, an effect abolished by co-infusion of alfaxalone and finasteride. Double-label immunohistochemistry showed that both neurons and astrocytes were caspase-3 positive. Finasteride treatment also increased the number of dead (pyknotic) cells in the hippocampus and cerebellum (Purkinje cells), but not when finasteride + alfaxalone was infused. Cell proliferation (Ki67-immunoreactivity) increased after finasteride treatment; double-labeling showed the majority of Ki67-positive cells were astrocytes. Thus, steroids such as AP appear to influence the constitutive rate of apoptosis and proliferation in the hippocampus and cerebellum of the fetal brain, and suggest an important role for neurosteroids in the development of the brain.

An acute injury to brain or spinal cord produces profound metabolic perturbation that extends and exacerbates tissue damage. Recent clinical interventions to treat this condition with i.v. Mg(2+) to stabilize its extracellular concentration provided disappointing results. The present study used an in vitro spinal cord model from the neonatal rat to investigate the role of extracellular Mg(2+) in the lesion evoked by a pathological medium mimicking the metabolic perturbation (hypoxia, aglycemia, oxidative stress, acid pH) occurring in vivo. Damage was measured by taking as outcome locomotor network activity for up to 24 h after the primary insult. Pathological medium in 1 mM Mg(2+) solution (1 h) largely depressed spinal reflexes and suppressed fictive locomotion on the same and the following day. Conversely, pathological medium in either Mg(2+)-free or 5 mM Mg(2+) solution evoked temporary network depression and enabled fictive locomotion the day after. While global cell death was similar regardless of extracellular Mg(2+) solution, white matter was particularly affected. In ventral horn the number of surviving neurons was the highest in Mg(2+) free solution and the lowest in 1 mM Mg(2+), while motoneurons were unaffected. Although the excitotoxic damage elicited by kainate was insensitive to extracellular Mg(2+), 1 mM Mg(2+) potentiated the effect of combining pathological medium with kainate low concentrations. These results indicate that preserving Mg(2+) homeostasis rendered experimental spinal injury more severe. Furthermore, analyzing ventral horn neuron numbers in relation to fictive locomotion expression might provide a first estimate of the minimal size of the functional locomotor network.

Exposure to nerve agents and other organophosphorus acetylcholinesterases used in industry and agriculture can cause death, or brain damage, producing long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits. Brain damage is primarily caused by the intense seizure activity induced by these agents. Identifying the brain regions that respond most intensely to nerve agents, in terms of generating and spreading seizure activity, along with knowledge of the physiology and biochemistry of these regions, can facilitate the development of pharmacological treatments that will effectively control seizures even if administered when seizures are well underway. Here, we contrast the pathological (neuronal damage) and pathophysiological (neuronal activity) findings of responses to nerve agents in the amygdala and the hippocampus, the two brain structures that play a central role in the generation and spread of seizures. The evidence so far suggests that the amygdala suffers the most extensive damage by nerve agent exposure, which appears consistent with the tendency of the amygdala to generate prolonged, seizure-like neuronal discharges in vitro in response to the nerve agent soman, at a time when the hippocampus generates only interictal-like activity. In vivo experiments are now required to confirm the primary role that the amygdala seems to play in nerve agent-induced seizure generation.

A recent longitudinal study described an inducible rodent model for age-related cognitive deterioration. This model was produced by chronically feeding rats aluminum, from age 12 months onwards, in measured amounts equivalent to total aluminum levels ingested by Americans from their food, beverages and aluminum additives. The rats performed a hippocampal-dependent spatial memory discrimination task weekly throughout middle age and old age. One-third of the rats attained significantly lower mean performance scores in old age than middle age, in an aluminum dose-dependent manner, and exhibited behavioral signs observed in dementia. The present study used histological and immunohistochemical techniques to identify neuropathological difference between brains of rats that showed cognitive deterioration and the cognitively-intact controls. Most aged rat brains had large numbers of aluminum-loaded pyramidal cells in their entorhinal cortex and temporal association cortex but the cognitively-deteriorated rats had threefold more such cells than controls (p<0.01). A distinguishing feature was that all brains of the cognitively-deteriorated rats, and none of controls, had at least one substantial hippocampal lesion that consisted of aluminum-rich microtubule-depleted pyramidal cells with shriveled processes, and loss of synapse density. Corticolimbic sections from brains of humans with Alzheimer’s disease also showed neuropathology consistent with this type of damage. The evidence suggests bioavailable aluminum gradually accumulates in cortical and limbic regions of susceptible subjects’ brains, eventually producing hippocampal lesions consisting of dysfunctional aluminum-rich microtubule-depleted pyramidal cells with damaged neurites and synapse loss. These lesions expand over time, disrupting afferent and efferent hippocampal circuitry with the development of clinically overt dementia.

Increasing evidence is demonstrating that drugs affecting dopamine levels in the brain induce cytoskeletal modifications. These evolving changes may impact neuronal synaptic plasticity as cytoskeletal constituents are involved in the maintenance of dendritic processes, and any alterations in their stability could influence major cellular compartments of neurons, such as dendrites, spines and synapses. Here, we describe a molecular chain of events that links dopamine D1 receptor activation to hyperphosphorylation of the microtubule-associated protein tau, which is normally involved in microtubules stabilization. We show, in SK-N-MC cells and rat striatal sections, that phosphorylation of tau at serines 199-202 and 214 appears to be mediated through activation of calcium-dependent intracellular mechanism, subsequent to D1 receptor-induced cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA). We demonstrate, using pharmacological tools, that PKA activation causes increase of calcium levels, leading to cyclin-dependent kinase 5 activation by calpain proteolysis of p35 to p25 and glycogen synthase kinase 3beta activation by its phosphorylation at tyrosine 216. The D2 receptor agonism or lowering cAMP levels has no effect in our experimental settings. Moreover, we do not observe any association between phosphorylated tau and cellular damage. These data unravel novel mechanisms of tau hyperphosphorylation during G-protein-coupled receptor activation and are the first to show that stimulation of D1 receptors could have a profound influence on the neuronal cytoskeletal constituent tau.