Topics

Target-related Cytokines

Cytokines are a class of small proteins secreted by immune cells and various tissue cells.

Microglial Replacement Therapy and Translation of Central Nervous System Disease Treatments

Microglial replacement therapy is an emerging CNS treatment strategy that removes or displaces dysfunctional resident microglia and repopulates the resulting cellular niche with newly generated, hematopoietic-derived, or transplanted microglial cells.

VD/VDR Signaling and Programmed Cell Death in Brain Injury

Vitamin D (VD) signaling through the vitamin D receptor (VDR) has emerged as a mechanistic link between metabolic signaling, neuroprotection, and programmed cell death in acute brain injury.

Mechanisms of Sex Hormone Regulation of Neurophysiology and Social Behavior

Sex hormone regulation of neurophysiology and social behavior describes the organizational and activational actions of estrogens, androgens, progesterone, and their metabolites on neural development, physiology, cognition, and behavior.

Mechanisms of Programmatic Axonal Degeneration and Their Potential for Therapeutic Intervention

Programmed axonal degeneration is an active, regulated self-destruction process in which injured or diseased axons dismantle through mechanisms distinct from conventional programmed cell death.

A Novel AI-Based Joint Modeling Approach for Brain-Behavior Dynamics

Joint brain-behavior modeling uses artificial intelligence to learn shared structure between neural activity and behavior rather than analyzing either domain independently; current approaches include discriminative, generative, and contrastive models, alongside increasingly sophisticated behavioral representations from pose estimation, hierarchical analysis, and multimodal models.

Temperature-Sensing Cellular Encoding and Neural Circuit Mechanisms

Temperature-sensing cellular encoding and neural circuit mechanisms comprise the molecular thermosensors, thermosensory neurons, and neural networks that detect temperature changes, transform them into neural activity, and organize physiological or behavioral responses.

Deciphering Characteristics of Brain Neural Circuits Through Synapse-Resolution Connectomics

Synapse-resolution connectomics reconstructs neural circuits by identifying individual neurons and their synaptic connections, thereby producing wiring diagrams that can be analyzed from local microcircuits to brain-spanning networks.

Astrocytic Imprints: Neuronal-Astrocytic Synergistic Encoding of Memory

Astrocytic imprints describe an emerging model in which memory is encoded not only through neuronal engrams and synaptic plasticity but through coordinated, experience-dependent interactions between neurons and astrocytes.

Long-Range Axonal Branching Mediates Brain Network Plasticity and Repair

Long-range axonal branching describes the capacity of individual neurons to extend axons across distant brain regions while generating collateral branches that contact multiple targets, providing a structural substrate through which local neuronal changes can influence distributed brain networks.

Structure and Multifarious Functions of Neuronal Endoplasmic Reticulum

The neuronal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a continuous membrane system of sheets and interconnected tubules that extends from the soma into axons and dendrites, where its architecture is adapted to neuronal polarity and long-range cellular demands.

Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) Regulate Vertebrate Locomotion

Central pattern generators (CPGs) are spinal neuronal networks that generate the basic rhythm and coordinated motor patterns required for vertebrate locomotion, including walking, running, swimming, and scratching.

Regulation of Mood Disorder Risk by Early-Life Adversity via Neuro-Epigenome

Early-life adversity, including childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect, is associated with later psychopathology, particularly major depressive disorder, and neuro-epigenetic research examines how such experiences become biologically embedded through persistent regulation of gene expression.

Dynamic Plasticity and Molecular Complexity of Electrical Synapses

Electrical synapses are neuronal gap junctions that permit direct intercellular transmission and are now understood as molecularly organized synaptic structures rather than simple aggregates of channels.

Ventral Hippocampus Integrates Internal and External Signals to Regulate Motivated Behavior

The ventral hippocampus (vHPC), corresponding broadly to the anterior hippocampal domain in primates, has historically been distinguished from dorsal hippocampal circuits by its stronger association with stress, emotion, and affect rather than primarily spatial-cognitive functions.

Techniques and Biomedical Applications of 3D High-Resolution Histology

High-resolution 3D histology analyzes biological tissues volumetrically to preserve spatial organization while resolving cellular, subcellular, and molecular features; current technique families encompass microscopy imaging, tomographic approaches, single-cell and spatial omics, computational analysis, and 3D tissue reconstruction.

Decoding Brain Circuit Dynamics via Multimodal Neurotechnology

Multimodal neurotechnology decodes brain circuit dynamics by combining complementary methods for recording, manipulating, and interpreting neural activity across spatial and temporal scales.

Pupillary Fluctuations: Multi-Mechanism Regulation of Neural Activity and Behavior

Pupillary fluctuations are spontaneous or task-linked changes in pupil diameter that provide a noninvasive readout of changing brain state, including arousal, attention, cognitive effort, and behavior.

Dual Modes of Mitochondrial Regulation of Cognitive Behavior in Brain

Mitochondria regulate cognitive behavior through two interconnected modes: a physiological mode that supplies energy, buffers calcium, supports synaptic plasticity, and coordinates neurogenesis, and a pathological mode in which disturbed mitochondrial dynamics, bioenergetics, redox control, or trafficking impairs neural circuits and cognition.

Plasticity of Parental Neural Circuits and Behavioral Regulation

Plasticity of parental neural circuits refers to experience-, reproductive-state-, and hormone-dependent reorganization of neural systems that transform responses to infant cues and coordinate caregiving, avoidance, or aggression.

Therapeutic Potential of GABABR Modulation in Binge Eating and Obesity

GABA type B receptors (GABABRs) are metabotropic G-protein-coupled receptors that provide slow inhibitory signaling and participate in neural regulation of feeding, reward, and body-weight-related pathways; the functional receptor is a heterodimer containing GABABR1 and GABABR2, with the GABA-binding site localized to GABABR1.

Lung Microbiota and Chronic Migraine Pathogenesis

Chronic migraine is a disabling pain disorder for which safe, effective long-term treatment remains limited, while microbiome research has increasingly expanded the biological framework of migraine beyond the central nervous system.

Neural Mechanisms of Light Therapy in IGD Treatment

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a behavioral addiction characterized neurobiologically by abnormalities in reward processing, inhibitory control, decision-making, executive function, motivation, and functional connectivity, together with structural changes in gray matter and white matter.

CCL2/CCR2 in Peripheral Pain Sensitization

CCL2, also known as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and its receptor CCR2 form a chemokine signaling axis increasingly recognized as a regulator of peripheral pain sensitization.

Neuroimmune Contributions to Chronic Pain and Mood Disorders

Neuroimmune contributions to chronic pain and mood disorders describe interactions among neurons, microglia, astrocytes, inflammatory mediators, and pain- and emotion-related neural circuits that can sustain nociceptive hypersensitivity while altering affective processing.

Dynorphinergic Circuit and KOR Signaling in CeA

The dynorphin/kappa-opioid receptor (DYN/KOR) system in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is an endogenous opioid signaling network in which dynorphin acts through KOR to regulate neuronal activity and behaviors related to alcohol consumption, stress, threat, anxiety, and pain.

Neurobiological Mechanisms of Food Addiction

Food addiction describes addiction-like patterns of eating characterized by compulsive intake, craving, impaired control, and persistence despite adverse consequences, particularly in relation to highly palatable foods; however, whether food addiction constitutes a distinct clinical entity remains debated because human neurobiological evidence is still inconsistent.

Neural Mechanisms and Circuits in OUD

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by impaired control of opioid use, craving, continued use despite adverse consequences, withdrawal after discontinuation, and persistent vulnerability to relapse.

Chronic Pain and Opioid Seeking Behavior

Chronic pain and opioid-seeking behavior intersect when persistent pain, repeated opioid exposure, craving, affective distress, and learned drug-related responses shape continued opioid use or misuse.

CGRP Antagonism and MOH Withdrawal

Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a secondary headache associated with regular overuse of acute headache medication in people with a pre-existing primary headache; management has traditionally emphasized education, reduction or withdrawal of overused medication, and preventive treatment.

Neuromodulation for Addiction Treatment

Neuromodulation for addiction treatment uses invasive or non-invasive brain stimulation to target dysfunctional neural circuits implicated in substance use disorders (SUDs).

Emotion Generation and Regulation

Emotion generation and regulation describe interacting processes through which emotional responses arise and are subsequently influenced.

Genetic Basis of Chronic Pain

The genetic basis of chronic pain describes inherited and regulatory genetic contributions to pain sensitivity, susceptibility to persistent pain, and variation in pain-related behavior.

Pain Management and Non-Addictive Therapies

Pain management and non-addictive therapies encompass pharmacological, biological, regenerative, and neuromodulatory strategies designed to reduce acute or chronic pain while avoiding reliance on opioid-mediated reward and dependence pathways.

Diffusion MRI and Microstructure

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is a noninvasive imaging approach that probes tissue microstructure through the micron-scale displacement of water molecules, providing measures related to microstructural integrity and complexity, axonal order and density, and myelination.

Gut Microbiota and Neurological Disorders

The gut microbiota comprises the microbial community inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract, while the microbiota-gut-brain axis describes bidirectional communication between these microorganisms, the intestine, and the central nervous system through neural, endocrine, immune, and metabolic routes.

α-Synuclein Aggregation Elimination

α-Synuclein aggregation elimination refers to cellular or therapeutic processes that reduce pathogenic α-synuclein species through protein quality control, degradation, or targeted clearance.

Hormone Therapy: Targeted Treatment for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Hormone therapy for neurodegenerative diseases seeks to exploit hormone-responsive pathways in neurons and glia to preserve neuronal function, metabolism, and survival.

Excitotoxicity Mechanisms and Brain Injury

Excitotoxicity describes neuronal injury produced when excessive excitatory signaling disrupts ionic homeostasis and activates cell-death pathways.

Molecular Transport Patterns and Functions At Brain-Meninges Interface

Molecular transport at the brain-meninges interface comprises the movement of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), interstitial fluid, macromolecules, solutes, and immune cells across interconnected parenchymal, subarachnoid, arachnoid, dural, lymphatic, and skull-associated compartments.

Restorative Effects of Neuroprotective Factors on Brain Injury

Neuroprotective factors comprise endogenous or therapeutically delivered proteins and signaling molecules that preserve neuronal survival and support repair after brain injury.

Brain Organoid Culture: Cytokines At Key Developmental Stages

Brain organoid culture uses three-dimensional, self-assembled multicellular structures derived from human pluripotent stem cells to reproduce features of the cellular organization and molecular signatures of the developing human brain.

In Vitro Mechanisms of Physiological and Pathological Aβ Proteins At Synapse

Amyloid-β (Aβ) proteins are proteolytic products of amyloid precursor protein whose synaptic actions depend strongly on concentration, assembly state, and experimental context.

Pathogenesis and Treatment Strategies for Viral Encephalitis

Viral encephalitis is inflammation of brain parenchyma caused by viral infection and constitutes a neurological emergency whose clinical spectrum and prognosis depend strongly on the causative pathogen and host immune status.

Molecular Characteristics of Brain Metastasis in Cancer

Brain metastases are secondary tumors formed when systemic cancer cells colonize the central nervous system and represent a major source of neurological disability and cancer mortality.

mTOR Mediates Somatic Mosaic Mutations in Brain

Somatic mosaic mutations are post-zygotically acquired variants arising during cortical development, and their discovery has established a molecular connection between brain-restricted genetic variation, malformations of cortical development, and focal epilepsy.

GPCR Signaling Promotes Myelin Regeneration

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling has emerged as an important regulatory system for myelin regeneration because GPCRs are widely expressed in oligodendroglial cells, while adult oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) provide a cellular reservoir capable of supporting myelin repair after demyelination.

Blood-Brain Barrier Rejuvenation and Repair for Brain Health

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective neurovascular interface in which brain endothelial cells, pericytes, astrocytes, neurons, microglia, and basement membrane cooperate to regulate exchange between blood and brain and maintain central nervous system homeostasis.

Mechanisms and Pathways of Hippocampal Replay

Hippocampal replay is the sequential reactivation of hippocampal neuronal activity patterns representing behavioral experience, particularly trajectories encoded by place cells; it occurs during sleep and awake immobility and is strongly associated with hippocampal sharp-wave ripples (SWRs).

Heavy Metal Exposure and Brain Proteinopathy

Heavy metal exposure and brain proteinopathy describes the intersection between neurotoxic metal exposure and pathological changes in proteins associated with neurodegenerative disease, particularly amyloid-β (Aβ), tau, and α-synuclein.