Prenatal stress and subsequent exposure to chronic mild stress influence dendritic spine density and morphology in the rat medial prefrontal cortex

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Both prenatal stress (PS) and postnatal chronic mild stress (CMS) are associated with behavioral and mood disturbances in humans and rodents. The aim of this study was to reveal putative PS- and/or CMS-related changes in basal spine morphology and density of pyramidal neurons in the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that rats exposed to PS and/or CMS display changes in the morphology and number of basal spines on pyramidal neurons in the mPFC. CMS had a negative effect on spine densities, particularly on spines of the mushroom type, which are considered to form stronger and more stable synapses than other spine types. PS alone did not affect spine densities, but had a negative effect on the ratio of mushroom spines. In addition, PS seemed to make rats less responsive to some of the negative effects of CMS, which supports the notion that PS represents a predictive adaptive response.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The observed changes may represent a morphological basis of PS- and CMS-related disturbances, and future studies in the field should not only consider total spine densities, but also separate between different spine types.</p

Neurodevelopmental Disruption of Cortico-Striatal Function Caused by Degeneration of Habenula Neurons

The habenula plays an important role on cognitive and affective functions by regulating monoamines transmission such as the dopamine and serotonin, such that its dysfunction is thought to underlie a number of psychiatric conditions. Given that the monoamine systems are highly vulnerable to neurodevelopmental insults, damages in the habenula during early neurodevelopment may cause devastating effects on the wide-spread brain areas targeted by monoamine innervations.Using a battery of behavioral, anatomical, and biochemical assays, we examined the impacts of neonatal damage in the habenula on neurodevelopmental sequelae of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and associated behavioral deficits in rodents. Neonatal lesion of the medial and lateral habenula by ibotenic acid produced an assortment of behavioral manifestations consisting of hyper-locomotion, impulsivity, and attention deficit, with hyper-locomotion and impulsivity being observed only in the juvenile period, whereas attention deficit was sustained up until adulthood. Moreover, these behavioral alterations were also improved by amphetamine. Our study further revealed that impulsivity and attention deficit were associated with disruption of PFC volume and dopamine (DA) receptor expression, respectively. In contrast, hyper-locomotion was associated with decreased DA transporter expression in the NAcc. We also found that neonatal administration of nicotine into the habenula of neonatal brains produced selective lesion of the medial habenula. Behavioral deficits with neonatal nicotine administration were similar to those caused by ibotenic acid lesion of both medial and lateral habenula during the juvenile period, whereas they were different in adulthood.Because of similarity between behavioral and brain alterations caused by neonatal insults in the habenula and the symptoms and suggested neuropathology in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), these results suggest that neurodevelopmental deficits in the habenula and the consequent cortico-striatal dysfunctions may be involved in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of ADHD

Explicit-implicit methods with applications to banach space valued functions in abstract fractional calculus

Explicit iterative methods have been used extensively to generate a sequence approximating a solution of an equation on a Banach space setting

Local convergence of a relaxed two-step Newton like method with applications

We present a local convergence analysis for a relaxed two-step Newton-like method. We use this method to approximate a solution of a nonlinear equation in a Banach space setting. Hypotheses on the first Fr,chet derivative and on the center divided-difference of order one are used. In earlier studies such as Amat et al. (Numer Linear Algebra Appl 17:639-653, 2010, Appl Math Lett 25(12):2209-2217, 2012, Appl Math Comput 219(24):11341-11347, 2013, Appl Math Comput 219(15):7954-7963, 2013, Reducing Chaos and bifurcations in Newton-type methods. Abstract and applied analysis. Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Cairo, 2013) these methods are analyzed under hypotheses up to the second Fr,chet derivative and divided differences of order one. Numerical examples are also provided in this work

Equations for banach space valued functions in fractional vector calculi

The aim of this chapter is to solve equations on Banach space using iterative methods under generalized conditions. The differentiability of the operator involved is not assumed and its domain is not necessarily convex. Several applications are suggested including Banach space valued functions of abstract fractional calculus, where all integrals are of Bochner-type. It follows [5]

Semi-local convergence in right abstract fractional calculus

We provide a semi-local convergence analysis for a class of iterative methods under generalized conditions in order to solve equations in a Banach space setting. Some applications are suggested including Banach space valued functions of right fractional calculus, where all integrals are of Bochner-type. It follows [5]

Approximate solutions of equations in abstract g-fractional calculus

The novelty of this chapter is the design of suitable iterative methods for generating a sequence approximating solutions of equations on Banach spaces