The resting human brain and motor learning.

Functionally related brain networks are engaged even in the absence of an overt behavior. The role of this resting state activity, evident as low-frequency fluctuations of BOLD (see [1] for review, [2-4]) or electrical [5, 6] signals, is unclear. Two major proposals are that resting state activity supports introspective thought or supports responses to future events [7]. An alternative perspective is that the resting brain actively and selectively processes previous experiences [8]. Here we show that motor learning can modulate subsequent activity within resting networks. BOLD signal was recorded during rest periods before and after an 11 min visuomotor training session. Motor learning but not motor performance modulated a fronto-parietal resting state network (RSN). Along with the fronto-parietal network, a cerebellar network not previously reported as an RSN was also specifically altered by learning. Both of these networks are engaged during learning of similar visuomotor tasks [9-22]. Thus, we provide the first description of the modulation of specific RSNs by prior learning--but not by prior performance--revealing a novel connection between the neuroplastic mechanisms of learning and resting state activity. Our approach may provide a powerful tool for exploration of the systems involved in memory consolidation

Unhydrolyzable analogues of adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate demonstrating growth inhibition and differentiation in human cancer cells.

A set of adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cAMP) analogues that combine exocyclic sulfur substitutions in the equatorial (Rp) or the axial (Sp) position of the cyclophosphate ring with modifications in the adenine base of cAMP were tested for their effect on the growth of HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cells and LS-174T human colon carcinoma cells. Both diasteromeres of the phosphorothioate derivatives were growth inhibitory, exhibiting a concentration inhibiting 50% of cell proliferation of 3-100 microM. Among the analogues tested, Rp-8-Cl-cAMPS and Sp-8-Br-cAMPS were the two most potent. Rp-8-Cl-cAMPS was 5- to 10-fold less potent than 8-Cl-cAMP while Sp-8-Br-cAMPS was approximately 6-fold more potent than 8-Br-cAMP. The growth inhibition was not due to a block in a specific phase of the cell cycle or due to cytotoxicity. Rp-8-Cl-cAMPS enhanced its growth-inhibitory effect when added together with 8-Cl-cAMP and increased differentiation in combination with N6-benzyl-cAMP. The binding kinetics data showed that these Sp and Rp modifications brought about a greater decrease in affinity for Site B than for Site A of RI (the regulatory subunit of type I cAMP-dependent protein kinase) and a substantial decrease of affinity for Site A of RII (the regulatory subunit of type II protein kinase) but only a small decrease in affinity for Site B of RII, indicating the importance of the Site B binding of RII in the growth-inhibitory effect. These results show that the phosphorothioate analogues of cAMP are useful tools to investigate the mechanism of action of cAMP in growth control and differentiation and may have practical implication in the suppression of malignancy

Experts see it all: configural effects in action observation

Biological motion perception is influenced by observers’ familiarity with the observed action. Here we used classical dance as a means to investigate how visual and motor experience modulates perceptual mechanism for configural processing of actions. While some ballet moves are performed by only one gender, male and female dancers train together and acquire visual knowledge of all ballet moves. 24 expert ballet dancers (12 female) and matched non-expert participants viewed pairs of upright and inverted point light female and common dance movements. Visual discrimination between different exemplars of the same movement presented upright was significantly better in experts than controls, while no differences were found when the same stimuli were presented upside down. These results suggest expertise influences configural action processing. Within the expert group, effects were stronger for female participants than for males, while no differences were found between movement types. This observer gender effect could suggest an additional role for motor familiarity in action perception, over and above visual experience. Our results are consistent with a specific motor contribution to configural processing of action

Parallel Alterations of Functional Connectivity during Execution and Imagination after Motor Imagery Learning

BACKGROUND: Neural substrates underlying motor learning have been widely investigated with neuroimaging technologies. Investigations have illustrated the critical regions of motor learning and further revealed parallel alterations of functional activation during imagination and execution after learning. However, little is known about the functional connectivity associated with motor learning, especially motor imagery learning, although benefits from functional connectivity analysis attract more attention to the related explorations. We explored whether motor imagery (MI) and motor execution (ME) shared parallel alterations of functional connectivity after MI learning. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Graph theory analysis, which is widely used in functional connectivity exploration, was performed on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of MI and ME tasks before and after 14 days of consecutive MI learning. The control group had no learning. Two measures, connectivity degree and interregional connectivity, were calculated and further assessed at a statistical level. Two interesting results were obtained: (1) The connectivity degree of the right posterior parietal lobe decreased in both MI and ME tasks after MI learning in the experimental group; (2) The parallel alterations of interregional connectivity related to the right posterior parietal lobe occurred in the supplementary motor area for both tasks. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These computational results may provide the following insights: (1) The establishment of motor schema through MI learning may induce the significant decrease of connectivity degree in the posterior parietal lobe; (2) The decreased interregional connectivity between the supplementary motor area and the right posterior parietal lobe in post-test implicates the dissociation between motor learning and task performing. These findings and explanations further revealed the neural substrates underpinning MI learning and supported that the potential value of MI learning in motor function rehabilitation and motor skill learning deserves more attention and further investigation

Perception of Biological Motion in Schizophrenia and Healthy Individuals: A Behavioral and fMRI Study

Background: Anomalous visual perception is a common feature of schizophrenia plausibly associated with impaired social cognition that, in turn, could affect social behavior. Past research suggests impairment in biological motion perception in schizophrenia. Behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments were conducted to verify the existence of this impairment, to clarify its perceptual basis, and to identify accompanying neural concomitants of those deficits. Methodology/Findings: In Experiment 1, we measured ability to detect biological motion portrayed by point-light animations embedded within masking noise. Experiment 2 measured discrimination accuracy for pairs of point-light biological motion sequences differing in the degree of perturbation of the kinematics portrayed in those sequences. Experiment 3 measured BOLD signals using event-related fMRI during a biological motion categorization task. Compared to healthy individuals, schizophrenia patients performed significantly worse on both the detection (Experiment 1) and discrimination (Experiment 2) tasks. Consistent with the behavioral results, the fMRI study revealed that healthy individuals exhibited strong activation to biological motion, but not to scrambled motion in the posterior portion of the superior temporal sulcus (STSp). Interestingly, strong STSp activation was also observed for scrambled or partially scrambled motion when the healthy participants perceived it as normal biological motion. On the other hand, STSp activation in schizophreni

Characterization of phosphodiesterase catalytic sites by means of cyclic nucleotide derivatives.

Cyclic nucleotide derivatives have been used as a tool to characterize distinct catalytic sites on phosphodiesterase enzyme forms: the cGMP-stimulated enzyme from rat liver and the calmodulin-sensitive enzyme from rat or bovine brain. Under appropriate assay conditions, the analogues showed linear competitive inhibition with respect to cAMP (adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate) as substrate. The inhibition sequence of the fully activated cGMP-stimulated phosphodiesterase was identical to the inhibition sequence of the desensitized enzyme, i.e. the enzyme which has lost its ability to be stimulated by cGMP. The inhibition pattern could, therefore, not be attributed to competition with cGMP at an allosteric-activating site. Also, the inhibition sequence of the calmodulin-sensitive phosphodiesterase was maintained whether activity was basal or fully stimulated by calmodulin. When cAMP and cGMP, with identical chemical ligands substituted at the same position, were compared as inhibitors of the calmodulin-sensitive phosphodiesterase, the cGMP analogues were always the more potent suggesting that, for that enzyme, the catalytic site was sensitive to a guanine-type cyclic nucleotide structure. Comparing the two phosphodiesterases, it was possible to establish both similar and specific inhibitor potencies of cyclic nucleotide derivatives. In particular, the two enzymes exhibited large differences in analogue specificity modified at C-6, 6-chloropurine 3',5'-monophosphate or purine 3',5'-monophosphate.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Cyclic nucleotide derivatives as probes of phosphodiesterase catalytic and regulatory sites.

The present data are consistent with the following mechanism of activation of the cGMP-stimulated PDE: cGMP is first bound to an allosteric site of the enzyme; this is followed by a conformational change in protein structure, a shift of kinetic behavior, and sequential activation of cAMP PDE hydrolysis (18). Evidence for the existence of distinct activating and catalytic sites is obtained from the use of several cyclic nucleotide derivatives to elucidate the essential molecular interactions at both of these sites (4). Since the liver PDE under study exhibits positive homotropic cooperativity by cAMP, the stimulatory effect of low concentrations of MIX is consistent with its binding at the substrate-active sites. As shown previously, this enzymatic mechanism is reproduced by an analog of the substrate, c6clPMP, but not by cGMP. Since the order of potency of a series of competitive inhibitors of two PDE (i.e. the cyclic GMP-sensitive enzyme and a calmodulin-sensitive enzyme), is not parallel, it is suggested that the active sites of these enzymes are distinct. The interaction of MIX at the active site of two PDE studied here could reflect a general binding mechanism of the xanthine due to similar chemical forces. Since we propose that the allosteric-activation site is specific for cGMP, the xanthine does not bind to that site. This is also suggested from substrate-velocity relationships measured in the presence of MIX and cGMP (Table 3). Complete characterizations of the cGMP-activating site and the xanthine-sensitive catalytic site are required in order to elucidate the exact chemical interactions at both sites on the cGMP-stimulated PDE.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Modulation of cyclic AMP action in the dog thyroid by its agonist and antagonist Sp- and Rp-adenosine 3',5'-monophosphorothioate.

The diastereoisomeric forms of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphorothioate, Sp-cAMPS and Rp-cAMPS, have been shown to mimic and to inhibit activation of protein kinase type I and type II by cyclic AMP. In the present work, Sp-cAMPS mimicked thyrotropin (TSH) action on thyroid hormone secretion and protein iodination in dog thyroid slices, whereas Rp-cAMPS antagonized those effects. The phosphorothioates have been tested as inhibitors or activators of the three major phosphodiesterases: the Ca2+/calmodulin-sensitive form, the cyclic GMP-stimulated form and the cyclic AMP-specific enzyme. At 100 microM Sp-cAMPS inhibited the three enzyme activities. In contrast, Rp-cAMPS failed to stimulate activity of the three enzymes. From a comparison of the biological properties of Sp- and Rp-cAMPS and 3-isobutyl-1-methyl xanthine, it is suggested that one site of action of the phosphorothioates is on the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases, i.e. the effects of Sp-cAMPS and Rp-cAMPS observed in intact cell can be ascribed to the agonistic and antagonistic effects on the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases. However, partial inhibition of phosphodiesterase activities by the phosphorothioates cannot be excluded.Comparative StudyJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe