Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume:3 Issue: 3, Spring 2012

In this paper we report on clinical linguistic applications of several versions of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) and the Persian Aphasia Battery (PAB) developed to assess patterns of recovery and language impairments in monolingual and bilingual aphasics with different clinical histories living in Iran. The participants are adult monolingual native speakers of Persian or polyglot speakers whose second or third language is one or two of the local languages, local dialects and/or English or German among the educated multilingual population. The recovery pattern and level of language impairments of each patient were assessed based on his or her clinical linguistic profile as well as analysis of the connected speech samples. The linguistic profiles of monolinguals and different recovery patterns of the bilingual patients support the idea that language-specific impairments correspond to the structural properties of Persian language. The results also support incidence of selective impairments of different language skills in patients with the same lesion site. As an incidence of double dissociation the data indicated that Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasics behaved differently. The mean syntactic comprehension scores of Broca’s patients were four times higher than that of the Wernicke’s patients (4.25 vs. 0). On the contrary Wernicke’s patients mean MLU was three times higher than that of Broca’s aphasics (6.9 vs. 2.30). The clinical linguistic evidence from a heterogeneous group of case studies using the BAT and the PAB assessing Persian aphasics support dissociation of impairment between different levels of language, spoken and written skills. The data from patients with different lesion sites could explain the idea of under specification of functional anatomy of the classical brain-language model.

Consumption of morphine, during pregnancy, in addition to inducing defects in the mother’s nervous system function, caused defects or delays in the formation and evolution of embryonic visual system. In the present study, changes in lens development were assessed in embryos exposed to morphine in utero. Female Wistar rats (250-300 g) were mated with male rats and pregnancy was determined by sperm observation in vaginal smear. This day was considered as embryonic day zero (E0). The females were then divided randomly into the experimental and the control groups. The control group received tap water and the experimental group received morphine (0.05 mg/ml) in their water. On embryonic day 13 (E13), blood samples were collected from the retro-orbital sinus of all animals for plasma corticosterone detection. On embryonic day 17(E17), the animals were killed by an overdose of chloroform and the embryos were taken out surgically. The embryos were fixed in 10% formalin for 30 days. At this time, the head of the embryos were removed for tissue processing and Hematoxylin- Eosin (H&E) staining. The samples were evaluated using light microscope and MOTIC software. Our data indicated that plasma corticosterone level was dramatically increased and the lens was thinner in the experimental group. (Although the proliferation of lens cells increased in the experiment group but that lens had delay in removing the proliferated and elongation cells with abnormal density in the lateral part of the lens in comparison with the control group). Moreover, the opening of the eyelids was delayed in the off springs of the mothers who received morphine. This study showed that morphine consumption during pregnancy leads to defects in fetal visual system development, particularly in the lens, and eyelids.

Epilepsy is a clinical syndrome in which seizures have a tendency to recur. Sodium valproate is the most effective drug in the treatment of all types of generalized seizures. Finding the optimal dosage (the lowest effective dose) of sodium valproate is a real challenge to all neurologists. In this study, a new approach based on Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) was presented for estimating the optimal dosage of sodium valproate in IGE (Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy) patients. 40 patients with Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy, who were referred to the neurology department of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences between the years 2006-2011, were included in this study. The function Adaptive Neuro- Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) constructs a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) whose membership function parameters are tuned (adjusted) using either a back-propagation algorithm alone, or in combination with the least squares type of method (hybrid algorithm). In this study, we used hybrid method for adjusting the parameters. The R-square of the proposed system was %598 and the Pearson correlation coefficient was significant (P <0.05) and equal to 0.77, but theT-test was not significant (P >0.05). Although the accuracy of the model was not high, it wasgood enough to be applied for treating the IGE patients with sodium valproate. This paper presented a new application of ANFIS for estimating the optimal dosage of sodium valproate in IGE patients. Fuzzy set theory plays an important role in dealing with uncertainty when making decisions in medical applications. Collectively, it seems that ANFIS has a high capacity to be applied in medical sciences, especially neurology.

Stress is defined as any environmental change that disturbs the maintenance of brain homeostasis. Stress leads to production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that provoke neurodegenerative disorders. In the present study, we investigated the effects of dalteparin on hippocampal neuronal death induced by chronic stress in rats. the study was carried out on 60 adult male wistar rats, weighing 200- 250 gr. The rats were randomly divided into three groups: control, stress and stress + dalteparin (SD) groups. Animals in the stress and stress + dalteparin group were exposed to chronic stress for 4 weeks. Animals in the stress + dalteparin (SD) group received dalteparin (70,100 and 140 IU/kg/days i.p.) during the stress period. After the last stressor animals were sacrificed and concentration of IL-6 in serum was measured using ELISA. All animals were reperfused and their brains were processed for histological analysis through Nissl analysis. We found that the serum concentration of IL-6 was significantly higher in the CMS (Chronic Mild Stress) exposure group than in the control group (p<0.05). Moreover, dalteparin, dose dependently decreased IL-6 concentration in the SD groups. Chronic stress also resulted in significant cell loss in hippocampal CA1, CA3 and hilus. Dalteparin markedly inhibited the decreases in number of hippocamoal CA1 and CA3 (p<0.01) and hilus (p<0.05) neurons caused by chronic stress. chronic stress damages hippocampal CA1, CA3 and hilus neurons, and dalteparin protects hippocampus from damage induced by chronic stress.

Based on both animal and human studies, inequality in food intake and social instability has adverse effects on the health of individuals and the community. However, it is not known whether social instability, food deprivation and food inequality affect neuronal death and premature aging in young animals. To address this question, the effects of these adverse situations, histopathological changes in hippocampal pyramidal cells and aging process were investigated. and instability) and caused significant changes in lipofuscin accumulation in hippocampal pyramidal cells in comparison to the control group (p<0.005). The results also showed a significant increase in the ratio of apoptotic to normal cells in all of the stressed groups compared to the control group (p<0.05). Moreover, application of the social inequality and stresses alone or together modulated levels of cortisol in the experimental group. These findings suggest that food deprivation, inequality and social instability enhance the susceptibility of hippocampal pyramidal cells to apoptosis and premature aging induced by lipofuscin accumulation. Forty eight New Zeeland white male rabbits were divided into six groups and all of them were housed in similar conditions, with 2 animals per cage in a temperature-controlled colony room under light–dark cycle. All experimental animals were fed on standard rabbit commercial pellets and different social situations such as food deprivation, inequality in food intake, and unstable social status were applied to experimental groups during eight weeks. Afterward, lipofuscin accumulation and apoptosis, as main markers of aging, were compared to the control group by Long Ziehl Nelseen staining and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL reaction) assay to reveal the rate of lipofuscin pigment accumulation and TUNEL-reactive apoptotic bodies in the hippocampal pyramidal cells. Serum cortisol level was also measured. Inequality in social situation raised chronic stress (i.e. food deprivation, social inequality

Morphine addiction and morphine withdrawal syndrome are the two main problems of today’s human society. The present study has investigated the effects of nicotine on the strength of physical and psychological dependency in single and repeated doses morphine administrated rats. Male Wistar rats were subjected to morphine consumption with single or frequent dose protocols. In the single dose protocol, rats received only one dose of morphine and 24hrs later they also received one dose of nicotine 30 min prior to injection of naloxone. In the repeated dose protocol, rats received incremental doses of morphine for 7 days and 24hr after the last dose (the 8th day) were given naloxone. However, the nicotine regimen of this group was injected 15 min before the morphine injection, for 4 days, from the 4th to the 7th day. Five minutes after naloxone injection, each rat′s behavior was captured for 30 min, and then physical and psychological signs of withdrawal syndrome were recorded. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by Tukey tests and p<0.05 was considered as significant difference. Results showed that the injection of frequent and single doses of morphine lead to morphine dependency. In single dose protocol, nicotine consumption attenuated the signs of withdrawal syndrome, especially weight of excrement and total withdrawal score. In frequent dose protocol, in addition to these effects, nicotine induced weight loss and place aversion. The inhibitory effects of nicotine on signs of withdrawal syndrome may involve a dopaminergic portion of the central nervous system and is mediated by central nicotinic receptors. There is also a cross-dependence between nicotine and morphine.

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder in which patients experience spontaneous recurrent seizures and deficiency in learning and memory. Although the most commonly recommended therapy is drug treatment, some patients do not achieve adequate control of their seizures on existing drugs. New medications with novel mechanisms of action are needed to help those patients whose seizures are resistant to currently-available drugs. While alpha-lipoic acid as a antioxidant has some neuroprotective properties, but this action has not been investigated in models of epilepsy. Therefore, the protective effect of pretreatment with alpha-lipoic acid was evaluated in experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy in male rats. In the present study, Wistar male rats were injected intrahippocampally with 0.9% saline(Sham-operated group), kainic acid(4 μg) alone, or α-lipoic acid (25mg and 50mg/kg) in association with kainic acid(4μg). We performed behavior monitoring(spontaneous seizure, learning and memory by Y-maze and passive avoidance test), intracranial electroencepholography (iEEG) recording, histological analysis, to evaluate the anti- epilepsy effect of α-lipoic acid in kainate-induced epileptic rats. Behavior data showed that the kainate rats exhibit spontaneous seizures, lower spontaneous alternation score inY-maze tasks (p<0.01), impaired retention and recall capability in the passive avoidance test (p<0.05). Administration of alpha-lipoic acid, in both doses, significantly decrease the number of spontaneous seizures, improved alternation score in Y-maze task (p<0.005) and impaired retention and recall capability in the passive avoidance test (p<0.01) in kainite rats. Moreover, lipoic acid could improve the lipid peroxidation and nitrite level and superoxid dismutase activity. This study indicates that lipoic acid pretreatment attenuates kainic acid-induced impairment of short-term spatial memory in rats probably due to its antioxidant activity.

Spike sorting is a class of techniques used in the analysis of electrophysiological data. Studying the dynamics of neural activity via electrical recording relies on the ability to detect and sort neural spikes recorded from a number of neurons by the same electrode. This article reviews methods for detecting and classifying action potentials, a problem commonly referred to as spike sorting.