Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume:9 Issue: 3, May - Jun 2018

Methamphetamine (METH) is a neurotoxic psychostimulant with highly addictive potential that leads to compulsive drug use and vulnerability to relapse. Environmental cues, such as drug exposure, peer influence, and social stress, are the powerful triggers of drug relapse. In this study, we tried to find out the effect of acute and chronic restraint stress on reinstatement of extinguished METH-induced Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) in rats.
Subcutaneous (SC) administration of METH (0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 mg/kg) could induce CPP and it was found that METH with the dose of 0.5 mg/kg was more potent than other doses. In extinction phase, rats were put in the CPP box for 30 min per day for 8 consecutive days. After extinction, animals were exposed to restraint stress (3-h period, as an acute stress) 60 min before subcutaneous administration of ineffective dose of METH (0.125 mg/kg) in order to reinstate the extinguished METH-induced CPP. For induction of the chronic stress during extinction phase, the animals were exposed to the restraint stress for one hour per day.
The results showed that the effective dose of METH to induce CPP was 0.5 mg/kg. Based on the results, physical stress (restraint stress) whether acute and chronic, can significantly induce reinstatement of METH-induced CPP (P˂0.001) in extinguished animals.
Additionally, the chronic restraint stress could reduce duration of extinction (maintenance) of METH-induced CPP. It seems that exposure to the stress induces the relapse in abstinent amphetamine, but acute and chronic situation have a different reaction.

The present research aimed to examine Visual Working Memory (VWM) test scores, as well as hormonal, genomic, and brain anatomic changes in the male rhesus macaques exposed to Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Field (ELF-MF).
Four monkeys were exposed to two different ELF-MF frequencies: 1 Hz (control) and 12 Hz (experiment) with 0.7 µT (magnitude) 4 h/d for 30 consecutive days. Before and after the exposure, VWM test was conducted using a coated devise on a movable stand. About 10 mL of the animals’ blood was obtained from their femoral vain and used to evaluate their melatonin concentration. Blood lymphocytes were used for assaying the expressions of N-Methyl-D-aspartate NMDA-receptor genes expression before and after ELF exposure. Anatomical changes of hippocampus size were also assessed using MRI images.
Results indicated that VWM scores in primates exposed to 12 Hz frequency ELF increased significantly. Plasma melatonin level was also increased in these animals. However, these variables did not change in the animals exposed to 1 Hz ELF. At last, expression of the NMDA receptors increased at exposure to 12 Hz frequency. However, hippocampal volume did not increase significantly in the animals exposed to both frequencies.
In short, these results indicate that ELF (12 Hz) may have a beneficial value for memory enhancement (indicated by the increase in VWM scores). This may be due to an increase in plasma melatonin and or expression of NMDA glutamate receptors. However, direct involvement of the hippocampus in this process needs more research.

Video games are common cultural issues with great influence in all societies. One of the important cognitive effects of video games is on creating stress on video players. The present research objective was to study different types of stress in players based on video game styles.
A total of 80 players, aged 18 to 30 years, played four types of video games; Runner game, Excitement game, Fear game, and Puzzle game. In the beginning, the players filled in the form of personal information as well as some general and specialized information on the games. Before starting each game, the saliva samples of the players were collected to measure their level of cortisol and α-amylase. At the end of each game, the same samples were collected again. The concentrations of cortisol and α-amylase were measured using a specialized kit and an ELISA device. In addition, the variations of brain waves were recorded by an Emotiv system. Finally, the data were analyzed in SPSS and Matlab system (after and before playing video game).
The research findings revealed that the salivary α-amylase concentration increased significantly after playing the Fear game, Runner game, and Excitement game and decreased significantly after playing the Puzzle game. Moreover, the concentration of salivary cortisol increased significantly after playing the Runner game, Excitement game, and Fear game and decreased significantly after playing the Puzzle game. The brain wave analysis also revealed that the level of stress experienced by playing Fear game was higher than the Excitement game.
According to the research findings, video games can affect the stress system as well as the cognitive system of humans depending on the game style. In addition, the type and level of stress triggered in the players depend on the game style.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as one of the important mental problems is valuable topic for proteomic research studies to better understand the underlying mechanisms of this disorder.

In this paper, gel-based proteomic was used to investigate the proteome profile of 16 female patients with OCD, washing subtype before and after treatment with fluoxetine and comparing them with 20 healthy female controls.

One of the abnormally expressed protein spots in this study was introduced and examined for protein-protein interaction network analysis via Cytoscape and its plug-ins. Transthyretin (TTR) protein showed significant expression changes (fold change=1.7, P

TTR can be considered for further studies to be validated as a potential biomarker for OCD.

As stress affects the brain both physiologically and chemically, researchers try to find novel anti-stress compounds with beneficial therapeutic effects. In this regard, the effect of stress and its modulation by Morin hydrate was studied using different acute models in mice.
The models employed were anoxic tolerance, swimming endurance, and acute restraint test. Morin hydrate or the vehicle was administered 30 minutes prior to each stress exposure while in the acute restraint test; the animals were pretreated for 7 days with Morin hydrate, vehicle, imipramine, or diazepam before stress exposure. The measured parameters were the onset of convulsion and immobility time in the anoxic tolerance and swimming endurance test, respectively, while in the acute restraint test, the animals were assessed for stress-induced anxiety using the elevated plus maze and depression using the forced swim test. Thereafter blood was withdrawn from the retro-orbital plexus and plasma separated, the brain was also isolated, homogenized, centrifuged, and the supernatant was obtained for biochemical estimation.
Morin hydrate (5, 10, 20 mg/kg) produced a significant reduction in immobility time in the swimming endurance test, while significantly increased the anoxic stress tolerance time. Acute restraint stress caused a significant decrease in reduced glutathione levels (which was reversed by Morin hydrate) and increased the level of malondialdehyde, a thiobarbituric acid reactive substance which is an index of oxidative stress and nitrite. These effects were attenuated by Morin hydrate. Also, pretreatment with Morin hydrate attenuates acute restraint stress-associated anxiety and depression, reversed the hyperglycemia evoked by the stressful exposure and normalized serum cholesterol levels.
These findings suggest that Morin hydrate exhibits anti-stress effects and may be useful in the relief of stress.

Depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for one to several weeks. Several studies have shown that iron nanoparticles have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. This study aimed to evaluate anti-depressive effect of iron nanoparticles in male rats.
Depression was induced by Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) adminstration. Rats were randomly assigned into six groups (10 in each group): 1) control (sterile saline solution; 200 µL, IP); 2) LPS (LPS;100 μg/kg, IP); 3) Low dose Iron Nanoparticle (LINP) (1 mg/kg, IP); 4) High dose Iron Nanoparticle (HINP), 5 mg/kg IP); 5) LPS/LINP (LPS; 100μg/kg IP⃓ 1 mg/kg IP); and 6) LPS/HINP (LPS; 100 μg/kg IP⃓ 5 mg/kg IP). All injections were performed every other day. To assess the effect of iron nanoparticles on depression symptoms, rats were subjected to two behavioral tests: Forced Swim Test (FST) and Open Field Test (OFT).
Iron nanoparticles treatment in 1 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg doses groups significantly improved depression symptoms when assessed by OFT and FST. In OFT, the number of line crossings, entrance to central square, rearing and duration of attending in central square increased after iron nanoparticles adminstration in depressed rats. Iron nanoparticles adminstration reduced immobility time confirmed by FST and OFT. Also, iron nanoparticles adminstration significantly increased duration of swimming in FST depressed rats.
Our results for the first time showed potential advantageous effect of iron nanoparticles administration in attenuating depression symptoms, which was possibly mediated by modulation of neurotransmitters and anti-inflammatory effects of iron nanoparticles.

Campus life tends to make social and academic demands on college students. To cope with these demands, students are required to use their neurocognitive skills of problem- solving and planning intentional actions that target towards adaptation to college. This paper presents an illuminating perspective that would inform understanding of a new approach to cognitive neuroscience. The linkage between cognition and adaptation was sought in the context of a cognitive neurodynamic approach proposed by the Intention, Meaning, and Perception (IMP) model of neuro-occupation.
An ex post facto study was conducted on a convenience sample of 187 college students in Shiraz, Iran. A brief questionnaire was developed to screen participants for diversity of cognitive neurodynamic processing capacity and three standardized questionnaires were used to gather data about college adaptation manifestations. The partial correlation, 1-way, and 2-way ANOVA tests were used to analyze the data.
The partial correlation test showed large, positive correlation (r≥0.7, P College adaptation could have been established by the cognitive neurodynamic process proposed by the IMP model. Therefore, it is advisable for faculty, mental health practitioners, and counselors who work with students at universities to understand this process and address students’ maladaptation to campus life.

Implantable image sensors have several biomedical applications due to their miniature size, light weight, and low power consumption achieved through sub-micron standard CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technologies. The main applications are in specific cell labeling, neural activity detection, and biomedical imaging. In this paper the recent research studies on implantable CMOS image sensors for neural activity monitoring of brain are being quantified and reviewed. Based on the results, the suitable implantable image sensors for brain neural monitoring should have high signal to noise ratio of above 60 dB, high dynamic range of near 88 dB and low power consumption than the safety threshold of 4W/cm2. Moreover, it is found out that the next generation of implantable imaging device trend should reduce the pixel size and power consumption of CMOS image sensors to increase spatial resolution of sample images.