The c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are a family of proteins that, once activated by stress stimuli, can alter neuronal functions and survival. The JNK cascade plays a crucial role in the post-synaptic neuronal compartment by altering its structural...
Tau pathology is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other tauopathies, but how pathological tau accumulation alters the glutamate receptor dynamics driving synaptic dysfunction is unclear. Here, we determined the impact of tau pathology...
The widespread use of wireless communication devices has necessitated unavoidable exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). In particular, increasing RF-EMF exposure among children is primarily driven by mobile phone use. Therefore,...
Lead (Pb) is an environmental contaminant that presents a high risk for human health. We aimed to investigate the possible alterations triggered by the exposure to Pb acetate for a long period in motor performance and the possible relationship with b...
One of the most studied nanocarriers for drug delivery are polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers. However, the alterations produced by PAMAM dendrimers in neuronal function have not been thoroughly investigated, and important aspects such as effects on s...
The association between obesity and loss of cognitive performance has been recognized. Although there are data regarding the metabolic alterations in obese conditions and the development of neuroinflammation, no clear evidence concerning obesity-rela...
In multiple sclerosis (MS), inflammation alters synaptic transmission and plasticity, negatively influencing the disease course. In the present study, we aimed to explore the influence of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β on peculiar features o...
Prenatal hyperhomocysteinemia (HCY) is associated with neurodevelopmental deficits, yet its long-term impact on hippocampal synaptic function remains poorly understood. This study examines the effects of moderate maternal HCY on excitatory synaptic t...
Inflammation of the central nervous system can be triggered by endogenous and exogenous stimuli such as local or systemic infection, trauma, and stroke. In addition to neurodegeneration and cell death, alterations in physiological brain functions are...
Tropomyosin (Tpm) has been regarded as the master regulator of actin dynamics. Tpms regulate the binding of the various proteins involved in restructuring actin. The actin cytoskeleton is the predominant cytoskeletal structure in dendritic spines. It...
This commentary reviews the role of the Alzheimer amyloid peptide Aβ on basal synaptic transmission, synaptic short-term plasticity, as well as short- and long-term potentiation in transgenic mice, with a special focus on N-terminal truncated Aβ4-42....
The correlation between dysfunction in the glutamatergic system and neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder, is undisputed. Both disorders are associated with molecular and ultrastructural alterations that aff...
Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare, multi-system genetic disease with serious neurological and mental symptoms, including autism. Mutations in the TSC1/TSC2 genes lead to the overactivation of mTOR signalling, which is also linked to nonsyndr...
The efficacy of stigmasterol (STG) has not been previously evaluated in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) models. Mice exposed to single prolonged stress with foot shock (SPS + FS) received oral STG (25 or 50 mg/kg) for 14 days. Serum corticoster...
Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are presented in 95% of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients and are also associated with neurotrophin deficits. The molecular mechanisms leading to age-related diseases are still unclear;...
Loss of active synapses and alterations in membrane lipids are crucial events in physiological aging as well as in neurodegenerative disorders. Both are related to the abnormal aggregation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) species, generally known as amyloid...
Oligophrenin-1 (OPHN1) is a Rho-GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP), whose mutations are associated with X-linked intellectual disability (XLID). OPHN1 is enriched at the synapse in both pre- and postsynaptic compartments, where it regulates the RhoA/...
The pathogenic expansion of the intronic GGGGCC hexanucleotide located in the non-coding region of the C9orf72 gene represents the most frequent genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). This mutation lea...
Childhood adversity is a major risk factor for the development of numerous psychiatric and medical disorders later in life. Individuals exposed to early adversity also tend to experience more severe, treatment-resistant, and highly comorbid condition...
Cannabis is now one of the most commonly used illicit substances among pregnant women. This is particularly concerning since developmental exposure to cannabinoids can elicit enduring neurofunctional and cognitive alterations. This study investigates...
Following spinal cord injury (SCI) for larval lampreys, descending axons of reticulospinal (RS) neurons regenerate, and locomotor function gradually recovers. In the present study, the electrophysiological properties of uninjured (left)-injured (righ...
Prolonged neonatal febrile seizures (FSs) often lead to cognitive decline and increased risk of psychopathology in adulthood. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the long-term adverse effects of FSs remain unclear. In this study, we ex...
Niemann-Pick Disease Type C1 (NPC1) is a rare hereditary neurodegenerative disease belonging to the family of lysosomal storage disorders. NPC1-patients suffer from, amongst other symptoms, ataxia, based on the dysfunction and loss of cerebellar Purk...
Embryonic hyperglycemia negatively impacts retinal development, leading to abnormal visual behavior, altered timing of retinal progenitor differentiation, decreased numbers of retinal ganglion cells and Müller glia, and vascular leakage. Because...
Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) include diverse neuropathologies characterized by abnormal brain development leading to impaired cognition, communication and social skills. A common feature of NDDs is defective synaptic plasticity, but the underl...
‘Dysbiosis’ of the adult gut microbiota, in response to challenges such as infection, altered diet, stress, and antibiotics treatment has been recently linked to pathological alteration of brain function and behavior. Moreover, gut microbiota composi...
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily caused by the loss of the full-length Dp427 dystrophin in both muscle and brain. The basis of the central comorbidities in DMD is unclear. Brain dystrophin plays a role in t...
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is considered by many to be a synaptic failure. Synaptic function is in fact deeply affected in the very early disease phases and recognized as the main cause of AD-related cognitive impairment. While the reciprocal inv...
In recent decades, traditional eating habits have been replaced by a more globalized diet, rich in saturated fatty acids and simple sugars. Extensive evidence shows that these dietary factors contribute to cognitive health impairment as well as incre...
Maternal immune activation (MIA) is a risk factor for multiple neurodevelopmental disorders; however, animal models developed to explore MIA mechanisms are sensitive to experimental factors, which has led to complexity in previous reports of the MIA...
Environmental exposure to neurotoxic metals and metalloids such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, or manganese is a global health concern affecting millions of people worldwide. Depending on the period of exposure over a lifetime, environmental met...
Drug withdrawal is associated with abstinence symptoms including deficits in cognitive functions that may persist even after prolonged discontinuation of drug intake. Cognitive deficits are, at least partially, caused by alterations in synaptic plast...
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, yet its underlying causes remain elusive. The conventional perspective on disease pathogenesis attributes alterations in neuronal excitability to molecular changes resul...
Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cells in the brain. They play critical roles in synapse formation and function, neurotransmitter release and uptake, the production of trophic factors, and energy supply for neuronal survival. In addition to pro...
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by neuronal loss and impaired synaptic transmission, ultimately leading to cognitive deficits. Early in the disease, the olfactory track seems most sensitive to tauopathy, while most plasticity studies...
Background and Objective: Humanized models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) provide valuable tools for investigating the mechanisms of this neurodegenerative disorder, the leading cause of dementia. These models enable the study of AD progression an...
To find satisfactory treatment for nicotine addiction, synaptic and cellular mechanisms should be investigated comprehensively. Synaptic transmission, plasticity and intrinsic excitability in various brain regions are known to be altered by acute nic...
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a highly disabling chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system with neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative alterations found in the white and grey matter of the brain. The pathogenesis of MS is complex and not...
Abnormalities in the mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway have been implicated in numerous developmental brain disorders. While the molecular and histological abnormalities have been described, less is known about alterations in membrane...
About two thirds of the patients affected with lysosomal storage diseases (LSD) experience neurological manifestations, such as developmental delay, seizures, or psychiatric problems. In order to develop efficient therapies, it is crucial to understa...
Synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus assists with consolidation and storage of long-lasting memories. Decades of research has provided substantial information on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity in the hippocampu...
Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is a small protein that, in neurons, localizes predominantly to presynaptic terminals. Due to elevated conformational plasticity, which can be affected by environmental factors, in addition to undergoing disorder-to-orde...
Synapses are particularly susceptible to the effects of advancing age, and mitochondria have long been implicated as organelles contributing to this compartmental vulnerability. Despite this, the mitochondrial molecular cascades promoting age-depende...
Multiple sclerosis (MS) has been clinically considered a chronic inflammatory disease of the white matter; however, in the last decade growing evidence supported an important role of gray matter pathology as a major contributor of MS-related disabili...
Synaptic pathology is crucial in neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), and numerous studies show a correlation between synaptic proteins and the rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and Creutzfeldt&...
Dopamine (DA) and glutamate interact, influencing neural excitability and promoting synaptic plasticity. However, little is known regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying this crosstalk. Since perturbation of DA-AMPA receptor interaction might s...
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the most common type of focal epilepsy, affects learning and memory; these effects are thought to emerge from changes in synaptic plasticity. Levetiracetam (LEV) is a widely used antiepileptic drug that is also associate...
Amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) are considered a main culprit of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), leading to synaptic dysfunction and memory deficits. Although studies in animal models of AD converge to show alterations of synaptic plasticity, namel...
Adenosine receptors mainly control synaptic function, and excessive activation of adenosine receptors may worsen the onset of many neurological disorders. Accordingly, the regular intake of moderate doses of caffeine antagonizes adenosine receptors a...
Background: Prenatal cannabinoid exposure (PCE) causes neurodevelopmental impairments affecting learning and memory; however, the receptor-level interactions underlying these cognitive deficits remain poorly understood. This study investigated whethe...
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