Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly

Efficiency in Kinesiology: Innovative Approaches in Enhancing Motor Skills for Athletic Performance

The inaugural edition of the Special Issue titled “Efficiency in Kinesiology: Innovative approaches in enhancing motor skills for Athletic Performance” has been effectively concluded [...

The effect of fidget spinners on fine motor control

Abstract Fidgeting, defined as the generation of small movements through nervousness or impatience, is one of cardinal characteristic of ADHD. While fidgeting is, by definition, a motor experience still nothing is known about the effects of fidgeting on motor control. Some forms of fidgeting involve also the manipulation of external objects which, through repetition, may become automatic and second nature. Both repetition and practice are important for the acquisition of motor skills and, therefore, it is plausible that the repetitive manipulation of objects may influence motor control and performance. As such, fidget spinners, by being diffuse and prone to repetitive usage, may represent interesting tool for improving motor control. In this study we examine the effect of fidget spinners on fine motor control, evaluated by a spiral-tracing task. We show that the use of fidget spinner indeed seems to have a favorable effect on fine motor control, at least in the short term, although this effect does not seem to be in any way inherent to fidget spinners themselves as much as to object manipulation in general. However, due to their widespread usage, fidget spinner may have the advantage of being an enjoyable means for improving fine motor control

Deletion of the BDNF receptor TrkB.T1 rescues hippocampal parvalbumin positive interneurons in a mouse model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

In addition to motoneurons degeneration, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients have defects in brain regions primarily associated with cognitive functions, such as the hippocampus. These defects have also been confirmed in animal models of ALS. The report that transgenic mice expressing a mutant form of the human superoxide dismutase-1 (hSOD1) with a Gly93 → Ala substitution (G93A-hSOD1), causing familial ALS, have degeneration of a subsets of spinal interneurons (Mol Neurobiol. 2012, 45: 30-42) prompted us to investigate whether this phenotype extends to other CNS interneuron populations. The calcium-binding protein parvalbumin positive interneurons (PVi), constitute the largest class of hippocampal interneurons and play essential roles in hippocampus development and plasticity. Interestingly, we found that PVi are reduced in the hippocampus of presymptomatic G93A-hSOD1 mice compared to controls. Therefore, we decided to use the hippocampal PVi as a model system to identify pathways that may affect the survival of this neuronal population in neurodegenerative conditions. Recently we have shown that deletion of the BDNF receptor TrkB.T1 lacking the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain delays the onset of motoneuron degeneration in the G93A-hSOD1 mice (PLoS One. 2012, 7:e39946). Thus, we investigated hippocampal PVi in G93A-hSOD1/TrkB.T1 deficient mice, G93A-hSOD1 animals at the presymptomatic state and wild type mice as controls. Eight-week-old brains were processed to visualize PVi. After image acquisition, hippocampal slices stained for PV were analyzed with ImageJ. Surprisingly, we found that the number of hippocampal PVi was comparable between wild type and G93A-hSOD1/TrkB.T1-/-. Statistical analysis by ANOVA performed on raw data revealed highly significant differences among the three genotypes [F(2,137)=9.077, p=0.0002]. Post-hoc tests showed that G93A-hSOD1 mice had significantly less PVi (79.05±0.56) compared to wild type (93.84±0.93) and to G93A-hSOD1/TrkB.T1-/- mice (93.10±0.54). These data suggest that BDNF/TrkB.T1 signaling affects not only motoneurons but also hippocampal PVi survival. Moreover, they unveil a new function for TrkB.T1 in a cell population essential for normal hippocampal function and suggest the relevance of targeting this pathway in neurodegenerative conditions