Distinct Time-Course of Alterations of Groups I and II Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor and GABAergic Receptor Expression Along the Dorsoventral Hippocampal Axis in an Animal Model of Psychosis

Psychosis is a clinical state that encompasses a range of abnormal conditions, including distortions in sensory information processing and the resultant delusional thinking, emotional discordance and cognitive impairments. Upon developing this condition, the rate at which cognitive and behavioral deteriorations progress steadily increases suggesting an active contribution of the first psychotic event to the progression of structural and functional abnormalities and disease establishment in diagnosed patients. Changes in GABAergic and glutamatergic function, or expression, in the hippocampus have been proposed as a key factor in the pathophysiology of psychosis. However, little is known as to the time-point of onset of putative changes, to what extent they are progressive, and their relation to disease stabilization. Here, we characterized the expression and distribution patterns of groups I and II metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors and GABA receptors 1 week and 3 months after systemic treatment with an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist (MK801) that is used to model a psychosis-like state in adult rats. We found an early alteration in the expression of mGlu1, mGlu2/3, and GABAB receptors across the hippocampal dorsoventral and transverse axes. This expanded to include an up-regulation of mGlu5 levels across the entire CA1 region and a reduction in GABAB expression, as well as GAD67-positive interneurons particularly in the dorsal hippocampus that appeared 3 months after treatment. Our findings indicate that a reduction of excitability may occur in the hippocampus soon after first-episode psychosis. This changes, over time, into increased excitability. These hippocampus-specific alterations are likely to contribute to the pathophysiology and stabilization of psychosis

Investigation of the expression and function of plasticity-related neurotransmitter receptors along the longitudinal hippocampal axis and their putative role in psychosis

Der erste Teil befasst sich mit dem MK801-induzierten Tiermodell der akuten Psychose. Es wurden frühe (1 und 4 Wochen) und späte (3 Monate) Folgen des Events auf die Expression von Rezeptorproteinen untersucht. Der Focus liegt dabei auf dem Hippocampus (transversale und longitudinale Achse), sowie auf glutamatergen, GABAergen und dopaminergen Rezeptoren. Die Entstehung von pathologischen Prozessen kann hier über die Zeit verfolgt werden, und dient einem besseren Verständnis der Mechanismen von kognitiven Beeinträchtigungen bei Patienten mit Psychose. Der zweite Teil untersucht die Expression und Verteilung der gleichen Rezeptoren in der dorso-medio-ventralen Achse des Hippocampus in gesunden Tieren um die funktionalen Auswirkungen bei akuter Psychose zu verstehen. Zudem wurden elektrophysiologische in vitro Experimente in den Unterregionen durchgeführt um die Umsetzung der Unterschiede der Rezeptorexpression auf die funktionelle Performance zu untersuchen.The first part of the project deals with the MK801-induced animal model of acute psychosis. Here, early (1 and 4 weeks) and protracted (3 months) consequences of the event on the receptor protein expression were examined. The focus is on the hippocampus (transverve and longitudinal axes) and several glutamatergic, GABAergic and dopaminergic receptors. Thus, the development of pathological processes could be tracked in time providing understanding of the mechanisms that may underlie cognitive impairments in patients with psychosis. The second part of the project is focused on the same plasticity-related receptors, but on their expression and distribution in healthy animals across the hippocampal dorso-medio-ventral axis. The results may shed light on some of the mechanisms behind hippocampal functional separation that exists along this axis. In vitro electrophysiological experiments were performed to ascertain that observed differences are translated into the functional differences

The Social Commerce System

The social commerce is a relatively new phenomenon, found in the little researched direction of trade. Research results by the authors have provided to systematize the views on the concept of «social commerce», characterize the social commerce system, propose measures to develop a social commerce strategy. The authors have defined the social commerce as expansion of e-commerce in the social networks on the Internet, in which social factors are significant, and consumers use the right to create content through the media via forums, ratings, reviews, and recommendations on different platforms. Enterprises are advised to use social tools to perform social interaction with consumers in social networks, create a social climate in view of the social support on the Web. The authors have proposed the concept of «social commerce system», structure of which contains the following elements: individuality of consumer, social communications, social communities, e-commerce; defined the multidimensional attributes that are naturally associated with all four elements of the social commerce. They cover the quality of information, system quality, quality of service, convenience and ease-of-use, payment mechanism

ELECTRONIC QUEST-MANUAL FOR FUTURE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

One of the priority directions of modernization of the system of teaching staff training in Ukraine is the introduction of modern information and communication technologies into the educational process. This encourages research and pedagogical staff to use the learning tools that helps to present educational material in an interesting and accessible form. One of the tools is electronic learning quest-manual. The electronic educational quest-manual is called an electronic publication, which promotes the intensification of the learning process, the development of students’ creative thinking, formation of their skills to work in the information and communication environment, etc. The article describes the interface and structure of the electronic manual «Matrixes and operations on matrices», built with the use of gaming technologies, elements of educational material and hyperlinks visualization. The structural blocks of the quest-manual are subdivided into the blocks with theoretical material and assessment blocks.The quest manual is developed in accordance with the methods of teaching: consciousness and activity, visual impact, systematic method, method of consistency, scientific and method of accessibility. The content of this pedagogical software tool corresponds to the curriculum and work program for linear algebra for students of the specialty 014.04 Secondary education. Mathematics. It deals with the topic «Concepts and types of matrices», «Properties and operations on matrices». It is established that electronic quests-manuals should be used for students’ independent work and in practical classes. The introduction of this software in the learning process provides access to training for all categories of students, the ability to study at any pace, at any time, accelerate the memory of learning material, save time, etc. It is shown that the introduction of electronic manuals in the process of preparing future mathematics teachers contributes to raising the interest and students’ motivation for studying, developing their information culture and forming readiness for future pedagogical activity, individualization and intensification of the educational process. The article presents the students' feedback on the use of electronic learning tools, in particular quest-guides

Gradient of expression of dopamine D2 receptors along the dorso-ventral axis of the hippocampus

Dopamine D2-like receptors (D2R) play an important role in the regulation of hippocampal neuronal excitability and contribute to the regulation of synaptic plasticity, the encoding of hippocampus-dependent memories and the regulation of affective state. In line with this, D2R are targeted in the treatment of psychosis and affective disorders. It has been proposed that the dorso-ventral axis of the hippocampus can be functionally delineated into the dorsal pole that predominantly processes spatial information and the ventral pole that mainly addresses hippocampal processing of emotional and affective state. Although dopaminergic control of hippocampal information processing has been the focus of a multitude of studies, very little is known about the precise distribution of D2R both within anatomically defined sublayers of the hippocampus and along its dorsoventral axis, that could in turn yield insights as to the functional significance of this receptor in supporting hippocampal processing of spatial and affective information. Here, we used an immunohistochemical approach to precisely scrutinize the protein expression of D2R both within the cellular and dendritic layers of the hippocampal subfields, and along the dorso-ventral hippocampal axis. In general, we detected significantly higher levels of protein expression of D2R in the ventral, compared to the dorsal poles with regard to the CA1, CA2, CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) regions. Effects were very consistent: the molecular layer, granule cell layer and polymorphic layer of the DG exhibited higher D2R levels in the ventral compared to dorsal hippocampus. D2R levels were also significantly higher in the ventral Stratum oriens, Stratum radiatum, and Stratum lacunosum-moleculare layers of the CA1 and CA3 regions. The apical dendrites of the ventral CA2 region also exhibited higher D2R expression compared to the dorsal pole. Taken together, our study suggests that the higher D2R expression levels of the ventral hippocampus may contribute to reported gradients in the degree of expression of synaptic plasticity along the dorso-ventral hippocampal axis, and may support behavioral information processing by the ventral hippocampus

Intellectual Property: in Charts and Tables

Інтелектуальна власність: у схемах і таблицях є навчально-методичним посібником з дисципліни для підготовки магістрів з усіх напрямів підготовки і галузей знань. У навчально-методичному посібнику за допомогою ілюстративного матеріалу (схем і таблиць) у чіткій, лаконічній та доступній формі висвітлено сутність основних понять та процесів управління інтелектуальною власністю в розрізі кожної з представлених тем дисципліни. Може бути корисним для слухачів магісратури, аспірантів, викладачів вищих навчальних закладів усіх рівнів акредитації.Intellectual property: in charts and tables are teaching aids on discipline for training masters from all areas of training and disciplines. In teaching aids using illustrations (diagrams and tables) in a clear, concise and accessible form the essence of the basic concepts and processes of intellectual property in the context of each of the presented topics discipline are used. It may be useful for master students, teachers of higher educational institutions of all levels of accreditation

Altered neuronal excitability underlies impaired hippocampal function in an animal model of psychosis

Psychosis is accompanied by severe attentional deficits, and impairments in associational-memory processing and sensory information processing that are ascribed to dysfunctions in prefrontal and hippocampal function. Disruptions of glutamatergic signaling may underlie these alterations: Antagonism of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) results in similar molecular, cellular, cognitive and behavioral changes in rodents and/or humans as those that occur in psychosis, raising the question as to whether changes in glutamatergic transmission may be intrinsic to the pathophysiology of the disease. In an animal model of psychosis that comprises treatment with the irreversible NMDAR-antagonist, MK801, we explored the cellular mechanisms that may underlie hippocampal dysfunction in psychosis. MK801-treatment resulted in a profound loss of hippocampal LTP that was evident 4 weeks after treatment. Whereas neuronal expression of the immediate early gene, Arc, was enhanced in the hippocampus by spatial learning in controls, MK801-treated animals failed to show activity-dependent increases in Arc expression. By contrast, a significant increase in basal Arc expression in the absence of learning was evident compared to controls. Paired-pulse (PP) facilitation was increased at the 40 ms interval indicating that NMDAR and/or fast GABAergic-mediated neurotransmission was disrupted. In line with this, MK801-treatment resulted in a significant decrease in GABA(A), and increase in GABA(B)-receptor-expression in PFC, along with a significant increase of GABA(B)- and NMDAR-GluN2B expression in the dentate gyrus. NMDAR-GluN1 or GluN2A subunit expression was unchanged. These data suggest that in psychosis, deficits in hippocampus-dependent memory may be caused by a loss of hippocampal LTP that arises through enhanced hippocampal neuronal excitability, altered GluN2B and GABA receptor expression and an uncoupling of the hippocampus-prefrontal cortex circuitry