In addition to its lipid-lowering effect, atorvastatin exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects as well. In this study, we hypothesized that atorvastatin could protect against cerebral isch-emia/reperfusion injury. The middle cerebral artery ischemia/reperfusion model was established, and atorvastatin, 6.5 mg/kg, was administered by gavage. We found that, after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, levels of the inflammation-related factors E-selectin and myeloperoxidase were upregulated, the oxidative stress-related marker malondialdehyde was increased, and super-oxide dismutase activity was decreased in the ischemic cerebral cortex. Atorvastatin pretreatment signiifcantly inhibited these changes. Our ifndings indicate that atorvastatin protects against ce-rebral ischemia/reperfusion injury through anti-inlfammatory and antioxidant effects.

Angelica sinensis has antioxidative and neuroprotective effects. In the present study, we aimed to determine the neuroprotective effect of polysaccharides isolated from Angelica sinensis. In a pre-liminary experiment, Angelica sinensis polysaccharides not only protected PC12 neuronal cells from H2O2-induced cytotoxicity, but also reduced apoptosis and intracellular reactive oxygen species levels, and increased the mitochondrial membrane potential induced by H2O2 treatment. In a rat model of local cerebral ischemia, we further demonstrated that Angelica sinensis poly-saccharides enhanced the antioxidant activity in cerebral cortical neurons, increased the number of microvessels, and improved blood lfow after ischemia. Our ifndings highlight the protective role of polysaccharides isolated from Angelica sinensis against nerve cell injury and impairment caused by oxidative stress.

The microglia-mediated inlfammatory reaction promotes neuronal damage under cerebral isch-emia/hypoxia conditions. We therefore speculated that inhibition of hypoxia-induced microglial activation may alleviate neuronal damage. To test this hypothesis, we co-cultured ginsenoside Rb1, an active component of ginseng, and cortical neurons. Ginsenoside Rb1 protected neuronal morphology and structure in a single hypoxic culture system and in a hypoxic co-culture system with microglia, and reduced neuronal apoptosis and caspase-3 production. The protective effect was observable prior to placing in co-culture. Additionally, ginsenoside Rb1 inhibited levels of tumor necrosis factor-αin a co-culture system containing activated N9 microglial cells. Ginse-noside Rb1 also signiifcantly decreased nitric oxide and superoxide production induced by N9 microglia. Our ifndings indicate that ginsenoside Rb1 attenuates damage to cerebral cortex neu-rons by downregulation of nitric oxide, superoxide, and tumor necrosis factor-αexpression in hypoxia-activated microglia.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation is an effective treatment for neonatal hy-poxic-ischemic brain damage. However, the in vivo transplantation effects are poor and their survival, colonization and differentiation efifciencies are relatively low. Red or near-infrared light from 600-1,000 nm promotes cellular migration and prevents apoptosis. Thus, we hypothesized that the combination of red light with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation would be effective for the treatment of hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. In this study, the migra-tion and colonization of cultured bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on primary neurons after oxygen-glucose deprivation were detected using Transwell assay. The results showed that, after a 40-hour irradiation under red light-emitting diodes at 660 nm and 60 mW/cm2, an increasing number of green lfuorescence-labeled bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells migrated towards hypoxic-ischemic damaged primary neurons. Meanwhile, neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage were given an intraperitoneal injection of 1 × 106 bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, followed by irradiation under red light-emitting diodes at 660 nm and 60 mW/cm2 for 7 successive days. Shuttle box test results showed that, after phototherapy and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation, the active avoidance response rate of hypoxic-ischemic brain damage rats was significantly increased, which was higher than that after bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation alone. Experimental ifndings indicate that 660 nm red light emitting diode irradiation promotes the migration of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, thereby enhancing the contribution of cell transplantation in the treatment of hypox-ic-ischemic brain damage.

Previous studies have shown that proliferation of endogenous neural precursor cells cannot alone compensate for the damage to neurons and axons. From the perspective of neural plastici-ty, we observed the effects of functional electrical stimulation treatment on endogenous neural precursor cell proliferation and expression of basic fibroblast growth factor and epidermal growth factor in the rat brain on the infarct side. Functional electrical stimulation was performed in rat models of acute middle cerebral artery occlusion. Simultaneously, we set up a placebo stimulation group and a sham-operated group. Immunohistochemical staining showed that, at 7 and 14 days, compared with the placebo group, the numbers of nestin (a neural precursor cell marker)-positive cells in the subgranular zone and subventricular zone were increased in the functional electrical stimulation treatment group. Western blot assays and reverse-transcription PCR showed that total protein levels and gene expression of epidermal growth factor and basic ifbroblast growth factor were also upregulated on the infarct side. Prehensile traction test results showed that, at 14 days, prehension function of rats in the functional electrical stimulation group was signiifcantly better than in the placebo group. These results suggest that functional electrical stimulation can promote endogenous neural precursor cell proliferation in the brains of acute cerebral infarction rats, enhance expression of basic fibroblast growth factor and epidermal growth factor, and improve the motor function of rats.

To attain the volumetric information of the optic radiation in normal human brains, we per-formed diffusion tensor imaging examination in 13 healthy volunteers. Simultaneously, we used a brain normalization method to reduce individual brain variation and increase the accuracy of volumetric information analysis. In addition, tractography-based group mapping method was also used to investigate the probability and distribution of the optic radiation pathways. Our results showed that the measured optic radiation ifber tract volume was a range of about 0.16%and that the fractional anisotropy value was about 0.53. Moreover, the optic radiation probability ifber pathway that was determined with diffusion tensor tractography-based group mapping was able to detect the location relatively accurately. We believe that our methods and results are help-ful in the study of optic radiation ifber tract information.

Nestin+neurons have been shown to express choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca in adult rats. This study explored the projection of nestin+neu-rons to the olfactory bulb and the time course of nestin+neurons in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca in adult rats during injury recovery after olfactory nerve transection. This study observed that all nestin+neurons were double-labeled with ChAT in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca. Approximately 53.6%of nestin+neurons were projected to the olfactory bulb and co-labeled with fast blue. A large number of nestin+neurons were not present in each region of the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca. Nestin+neurons in the medial septum and vertical limb of the diagonal band of Broca showed obvious compensatory function. The number of nestin+neurons decreased to a minimum later than nestin-/ChAT+neurons in the medial sep-tum-diagonal band of Broca. The results suggest that nestin+cholinergic neurons may have a closer connection to olfactory bulb neurons. Nestin+cholinergic neurons may have a stronger tolerance to injury than Nestin-/ChAT+neurons. The difference between nestin+and nestin-/ChAT+neurons during the recovery process requires further investigations.

Most studies addressing the speciifcity of meridians and acupuncture points have focused mainly on the different neural effects of acupuncture at different points in healthy individuals. This study examined the effects of acupuncture on brain function in a pathological context. Sixteen patients with ischemic stroke were randomly assigned to true point group (true acupuncture at right Waiguan (SJ5)) and sham point group (sham acupuncture). Results of functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed activation in right parietal lobe (Brodmann areas 7 and 19), the right temporal lobe (Brodmann area 39), the right limbic lobe (Brodmann area 23) and bilateral oc-cipital lobes (Brodmann area 18). Furthermore, inhibition of bilateral frontal lobes (Brodmann area 4, 6, and 45), right parietal lobe (Brodmann areas 1 and 5) and left temporal lobe (Brodmann area 21) were observed in the true point group. Activation in the precuneus of right parietal lobe (Brodmann area 7) and inhibition of the left superior frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 10) was observed in the sham group. Compared with sham acupuncture, acupuncture at Waiguan in stroke patients inhibited Brodmann area 5 on the healthy side. Results indicated that the altered speciifcity of sensation-associated cortex (Brodmann area 5) is possibly associated with a central mechanism of acupuncture at Waiguan for stroke patients.

Previous studies have demonstrated that doublecortin-positive immature neurons exist pre-dominantly in the superficial layer of the cerebral cortex of adult mammals such as guinea pigs, and these neurons exhibit very weak properties of self-proliferation during adulthood under physiological conditions. To verify whether environmental enrichment has an impact on the proliferation and maturation of these immature neurons in the prefrontal cortex of adult guinea pigs, healthy adult guinea pigs were subjected to short-term environmental enrichment. Animals were allowed to play with various cognitive and physical stimulating objects over a period of 2 weeks, twice per day, for 60 minutes each. Immunolfuorescence staining results indicated that the number of doublecortin-positive cells in layer II of the prefrontal cortex was signiifcantly increased after short-term environmental enrichment exposure. In addition, these doublecortin-positive cells co-expressed 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (a marker of cell prolifera-tion), c-Fos (a marker of cell viability) and NeuN (a marker of mature neurons). Experimental ifndings showed that short-term environmental enrichment can induce proliferation, activation and maturation of doublecortin-positive cells in layer II of the prefrontal cortex of adult guinea pigs.

Carbon nanotubes can carry protein into cells to induce biological effects. Amino-functionalized carbon nanotubes are soluble and biocompatible, have high reactivity and low toxicity, and can help promote nerve cell growth. In this study, amino-functionalized ethylenediamine-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes were used to prepare carbon nanotubes-nerve growth factor complexes by non-covalent grafting. The physicochemical properties, cytotoxicity to PC12 and chick embryo dorsal root ganglion, and biological activity of the carbon nanotubes-nerve growth factor complexes were investigated. The results showed that amino functionalization improved carbon nanotubes-nerve growth factor complex dispersibility, reduced their toxicity to PC12 cells, and promoted PC12 cell differentiation and chick embryo dorsal root ganglion.

Drugs can cause obvious damage to the brain. To verify the relationship between acupuncture, neurotrophic factor expression and brain cell structural changes, this study established a rat model of heroin relapse using intramuscular injection of increasing amounts of heroin. During the detoxiifcation period, rat models received acupuncture at Baihui (DU20) and Dazhui (DU14). Electron microscopy demonstrated that the structure of the ventral tegmental area in heroin relapse rats gradually became normalized after acupuncture treatment. Immunohistochem-ical staining exhibited that the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor increased in the ventral tegmental area following acupuncture. Moreover, the effects were similar to that of methadone, a type of medicine called an opioid. Results suggested that acupuncture at Baihui and Dazhui protected brain neurons against injury in rats with heroin relapse by promoting brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glial cell line-de-rived neurotrophic factor expression.

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 32 patients with medically intractable idiopathic Parkinson’s disease who had undergone staged bilateral deep brain stimulation of the subtha-lamic nuclei from January 2007 to May 2011. The vascularture of the patients who received two deep brain stimulations was detected using double-dose gadolinium-enhanced brain MRI. The dimensions of straight sinus, superior sagittal sinus, ipsilateral internal cerebral vein in the tha-lamic branch and ipsilateral anterior caudate vein were reduced. These ifndings demonstrate that bilateral deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nuclei affects cerebral venous blood lfow.

Neural cell differentiation and maturation is a critical step during central nervous system devel-opment. The oligodendrocyte transcription family (Olig family) is known to be an important factor in regulating neural cell differentiation. Because of this, the Olig family also affects acute and chronic central nervous system diseases, including brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and even gliomas. Improved understanding about the functions of the Olig family in central nervous system development and disease will greatly aid novel breakthroughs in central nervous system diseases. This review investigates the role of the Olig family in central nervous system develop-ment and related diseases.