Medical Neurobiology Commons^™

Neural Correlates Of Comorbidity Of Anxiety Disorders And Eating Disorders, Karsen Coelho

University Honors Theses

The presence of eating disorder and anxiety disorder comorbidity has raised the question of whether or not there is a causal relationship between them. Previous studies have found that this comorbidity has been present in various patients with anxiety disorders and eating disorders, going further to try and determine which diagnosis came first. By conducting a literature review, studies were examined to determine neurobiological regions impacted by both disorders. Prefrontal cortex abnormalities are consistent among both disorders, contributing to differences in behavior and reward systems. With the irregular structure and activation of the amygdala, emotion and fear regulation are disrupted …

Target Cell-Specific Synaptic Dynamics Of Excitatory To Inhibitory Neuron Connections In Supragranular Layers Of Human Neocortex, Mean-Hwan Kim, Cristina Radaelli, Elliot R Thomsen, Deja Monet, Thomas Chartrand, Nikolas L Jorstad, Joseph T Mahoney, Michael J Taormina, Brian Long, Katherine Baker, Trygve E Bakken, Luke Campagnola, Tamara Casper, Michael Clark, Nick Dee, Florence D'Orazi, Clare Gamlin, Brian E Kalmbach, Sara Kebede, Brian R Lee, Lindsay Ng, Jessica Trinh, Charles Cobbs, Ryder P Gwinn, C Dirk Keene, Andrew L Ko, Jeffrey G Ojemann, Daniel L Silbergeld, Staci A Sorensen, Jim Berg, Kimberly A Smith, Philip R Nicovich, Tim Jarsky, Hongkui Zeng, Jonathan T Ting, Boaz P Levi, Ed Lein

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rodent studies have demonstrated that synaptic dynamics from excitatory to inhibitory neuron types are often dependent on the target cell type. However, these target cell-specific properties have not been well investigated in human cortex, where there are major technical challenges in reliably obtaining healthy tissue, conducting multiple patch-clamp recordings on inhibitory cell types, and identifying those cell types. Here, we take advantage of newly developed methods for human neurosurgical tissue analysis with multiple patch-clamp recordings, post-hoc fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), machine learning-based cell type classification and prospective GABAergic AAV-based labeling to investigate synaptic properties between pyramidal neurons and PVALB- …

An Opportunity To Increase Collaborative Science In Fetal, Infant, And Toddler Neuroimaging, Marta Korom, M Catalina Camacho, Aiden Ford, Hana Taha, Dustin Scheinost, Marisa Spann, Kelly A Vaughn

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The field of fetal, infant, and toddler (FIT) neuroimaging research—including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy, among others—offers pioneering insights into early brain development and has grown in popularity over the past 2 decades. In broader neuroimaging research, multisite collaborative projects, data sharing, and open-source code have increasingly become the norm, fostering big data, consensus standards, and rapid knowledge transfer and development. Given the aforementioned benefits, along with recent initiatives from funding agencies to support multisite and multimodal FIT neuroimaging studies, the FIT field now has the opportunity to establish sustainable, collaborative, and open science …

Lipoxin A4 (Lxa4) Reduces Alkali-Induced Corneal Inflammation And Neovascularization And Upregulates A Repair Transcriptome, Jiucheng He, Thang L. Pham, Azucena H. Kakazu, Abhilash Ponnath, Khanh V. Do, Haydee E.P. Bazan

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Purpose: To investigate the anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic effects of the bioactive lipid mediator LXA4 on a rat model of severe corneal alkali injury. Methods: To induce a corneal alkali injury in the right eyes of anesthetized Sprague Dawley rats. They were injured with a Φ 4 mm filter paper disc soaked in 1 N NaOH placed on the center of the cornea. After injury, the rats were treated topically with LXA4 (65 ng/20 μL) or vehicle three times a day for 14 days. Corneal opacity, neovascularization (NV), and hyphema were recorded and evaluated in a blind manner. Pro-inflammatory cytokine expression …

Dynamic Role Of Exosome Micrornas In Cancer Cell Signaling And Their Emerging Role As Noninvasive Biomarkers, Jaya Aseervatham

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that originate from endosomes and are released by all cells irrespective of their origin or type. They play an important role in cell communication and can act in an autocrine, endocrine, or paracrine fashion. They are 40–150 nm in diameter and have a similar composition to the cell of origin. An exosome released by a particular cell is unique since it carries information about the state of the cell in pathological conditions such as cancer. miRNAs carried by cancer-derived exosomes play a multifaceted role by taking part in cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, apoptosis, …

A Conditional Strategy For Cell-Type-Specific Labeling Of Endogenous Excitatory Synapses In Drosophila, Michael J. Parisi, Michael A. Aimino, Timothy J. Mosca

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Chemical neurotransmission occurs at specialized contacts where neurotransmitter release machinery apposes neurotransmitter receptors to underlie circuit function. A series of complex events underlies preand postsynaptic protein recruitment to neuronal connections. To better study synaptic development in individual neurons, we need cell-type-specific strategies to visualize endogenous synaptic proteins. Although presynaptic strategies exist, postsynaptic proteins remain less studied because of a paucity of cell-type-specific reagents. To study excitatory postsynapses with cell-type specificity, we engineered dlg1[4K], a conditionally labeled marker of Drosophila excitatory postsynaptic densities. With binary expression systems, dlg1[4K] labels central and peripheral postsynapses in larvae and adults. Using dlg1[4K], we find …

Functional Neuronal Circuits Promote Disease Progression In Cancer, Anthony C Restaino, Austin Walz, Samuel J Vermeer, Jeffrey Barr, Attila Kovács, Robin R Fettig, Daniel W Vermeer, Hunter Reavis, Caitlin S Williamson, Christopher T Lucido, Tuany Eichwald, Dalia K Omran, Euihye Jung, Lauren E Schwartz, Maria Bell, Desirae M Muirhead, Jody E Hooper, William C Spanos, Ronny Drapkin, Sebastien Talbot, Paola D Vermeer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The molecular and functional contributions of intratumoral nerves to disease remain largely unknown. We localized synaptic markers within tumors suggesting that these nerves form functional connections. Consistent with this, electrophysiological analysis shows that malignancies harbor significantly higher electrical activity than benign disease or normal tissues. We also demonstrate pharmacologic silencing of tumoral electrical activity. Tumors implanted in transgenic animals lacking nociceptor neurons show reduced electrical activity. These data suggest that intratumoral nerves remain functional at the tumor bed. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrates the presence of the neuropeptide, Substance P (SP), within the tumor space. We show that tumor cells express the …

Differential Degeneration Of Neurons In A Mouse Model Of Canavan Disease, Vibha Chauhan, Quy Nguyen, Jeremy Francis, Paola Leone

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Canavan disease (CD) is an inherited leukodystrophy caused by inactivating mutations to the glial enzyme aspartoacylase (ASPA). ASPA catabolizes neuronal N-acetylaspartate (NAA) into free acetate and aspartate and loss of this function results in the chronic elevation of non-catabolized NAA and the failure of developmental myelination. Elevated NAA is thought to cause damage to myelin and myelin-producing cells (oligodendrocytes, but the viability of neurons in CD is relatively unexplored. We compare here the progressive degeneration of neurons in two regions of the CD mouse brain, the thalamus and the cortex, distinguished by differing degrees of vacuolation, and show that the …

Comparative Analysis Of The Effects Of Actual Versus Assumed Opioid Experience On The Regulation Of Ventral Striatal Opioid Receptor Gene Expression, Indu Mithra Madhuranthakam, Martin Job

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Rationale: We conducted experiments to assess the effect of prior opioid experience on gene expression changes. We compared the current experimenter-imposed short versus extended-access conditions of opioid self-administration and developed a new quantitative method to determine their effectiveness in identifying the role of opioid experience in regulating opioid receptor expression levels in the ventral striatum (VS) using an oxycodone self-administration/abstinence model.

Methods: In this study, male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=36) were trained for 20 days to self-administer oxycodone at 0.1 mg/kg/infusion under short access (n=15, or saline as controls n=3, for 3h/day) or extended access (n=15, or saline as controls n=3, …

Extravasated Brain-Reactive Autoantibodies Perturb Neuronal Surface Protein Expression In Alzheimer's Pathology, Wardah Bajwa, Mary Kosciuk, Randel L. Swanson, Anuradha Krishnan, Venkat Venkataraman, Robert Nagele, Nimish Acharya

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is reported in both the neuropathological and in vivo studies in both Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and age matched cognitively normal, no cognitive impairment (NCI), subjects. Impaired BBB allows various vascular components such as immunoglobulin G (IgG) to extravasate into the brain and specifically bind to various neuronal surface proteins (NSP), also known as brain reactive autoantibodies (BrABs). This interaction is predicted to further enhance deposition of amyloid plaques.

Hypothesis: Interaction between extravasated BrABs and its cognate NSPs lower the expression of that NSPs in AD patients.

Methods: We selected Western blotting technique to study …

Long Term Neuroprotective Effects Of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells In Neonatal Rats Post Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, Melissa February, Thomas N. Tulenko, Barry Weinberger, Alla Kushnir

Cooper Rowan Medical Journal

Background: Hypoxemic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the neonatal population. Recent research has shown human adipose stem cells (hASCs) to have neuroprotective effects in animal models of HIE. This study tested the hypothesis that neurodevelopmental outcomes would be improved using hASC therapy in term neonatal HIE rat model.

Methods: Seven day old rats underwent left carotid artery ligation followed by 8% oxygen for 120 minutes, or carotid isolation in shams. Forty-eight hours after surgery half of the rats received hASCs and half normal saline (NS) intravenously. Rota-rod and cylinder tests were used to …

Refinement Of Saliva Microrna Biomarkers For Sports-Related Concussion, Steven D. Hicks, Cayce Onks, Raymond Y. Kim, Kevin J. Kim, Kevin J. Zhen, Jayson Loeffert, Andrea C. Loeffert, Robert P. Olympia, Gregory Fedorchak, Samantha Devita, Zofia Gagnon, Callan Mcloughlin, Miguel M. Madeira, Scott L. Zuckerman, Timothy Lee, Matthew Heller, Chuck Monteith, Thomas R. Campbell, Christopher Neville, Elise Fengler, Michael N. Dretsch

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Purpose

Recognizing sport-related concussion (SRC) is challenging and relies heavily on subjective symptom reports. An objective, biological marker could improve recognition and understanding of SRC. There is emerging evidence that salivary micro-ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) may serve as biomarkers of concussion; however, it remains unclear whether concussion-related miRNAs are impacted by exercise. We sought to determine whether 40 miRNAs previously implicated in concussion pathophysiology were affected by participation in a variety of contact and non-contact sports. Our goal was to refine a miRNA-based tool capable of identifying athletes with SRC without the confounding effects of exercise.

Methods

This case-control study harmonized …

The Critical Role Of Mentorship In Academic Career Development: A Commentary On Proposed Initiatives By The International Society For Bipolar Disorders Early Mid-Career Committee, Arash Kamali, Sofia Milosavljevic, Anusha Gandhi, Kinsey R Lano, Parnian Shobeiri, Farzaneh Ghazi Sherbaf, Haris I Sair, Roy F Riascos, Khader M Hasan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Papez circuit, first proposed by James Papez in 1937, is a circuit believed to control memory and emotions, composed of the cingulate cortex, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and thalamus. Pursuant to James Papez, Paul Yakovlev and Paul MacLean incorporated the prefrontal/orbitofrontal cortex, septum, amygdalae, and anterior temporal lobes into the limbic system. Over the past few years, diffusion-weighted tractography techniques revealed additional limbic fiber connectivity, which incorporates multiple circuits to the already known complex limbic network. In the current review, we aimed to comprehensively summarize the anatomy of the limbic system and elaborate on the anatomical connectivity …

Systems Dynamics Of The Anterior Cingulate Cortex And Hippocampus In Behavioral Switching, Spatial Working Memory, And Disease, Ryan Wirt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The electrophysiological properties of the hippocampus (HC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are the central focus of research on learning, memory, and neurological disease. Previous research has shown that HC is essential for forming new memories, spatial navigation, and temporal processing. While the function of ACC, located within the medial prefrontal cortex, remains controversial, it has a role in long-term memory recall, processing pain, monitoring current state, learning, schema updates, and information integrations. Interactions between the ACC and HC occur during social memory, spatial working memory performance, and long-term memory recall. Notably, the HC and ACC are among the first …

What Is The Intention To Move And When Does It Occur?, Antonio I. Triggiani, Gabriel Kreiman, Cara Lewis, Uri Maoz, Alfred Mele, Liad Mudrik, Adina L. Roskies, Aaron Schurger, Mark Hallett

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In 1983 Benjamin Libet and colleagues published a paper apparently challenging the view that the conscious intention to move precedes the brain’s preparation for movement. The experiment initiated debates about the nature of intention, the neurophysiology of movement, and philosophical and legal understanding of free will and moral responsibility. Here we review the concept of “conscious intention” and attempts to measure its timing. Scalp electroencephalographic activity prior to movement, the Bereitschaftspotential, clearly begins prior to the reported onset of conscious intent. However, the interpretation of this finding remains controversial. Numerous studies show that the Libet method for determining intent, W …

The Effects Of Exosomal Derived Tsg-6 On Microglia Activation, Jonathan A. Martinez, Rajashekhar Gangaraju Md

Longitudinal Scholar's Project

Following a traumatic brain injury, microglia become overactive for long periods and display pathologic behavior. We have shown that concentrated conditioned media from adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-CCM) can suppress microglial activation. In this pilot study, we evaluated the efficacy of exosomes containing TNF-stimulated gene 6 (TSG6) derived from MSC-CCM on decreasing microglial activation in vitro via phagocytic activity and pro-inflammatory microglial gene expression.

Investigating The Link Between O-Glcnacylation And Parkin In Parkinson’S Disease, Kathryn E. Henderson

Selected Honors Theses

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease (ND) that is believed to impact around 1 million Americans, from both reported and nonreported cases. It is characterized by impaired motor and cognitive functioning resulting from a host of proposed causes, including the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the more debated aggregation of proteins. The role of proteins in PD is the focus of the following proposed research, which aims to evaluate the link between O-GlcNAcylation and the phosphorylation states of protein in NDs. This link has been investigated in other NDs such as Alzheimer’s as well …

Regeneration Of Neurons In Human Brain Tissue; A Revolutionary Concept With Therapeutic Potential, Mackenzie R. Dunn

Biomedical Sciences Undergraduate Research

There is current research to suggest that endogenous neuronal regeneration, exogenous neuronal stem cell transplantation and glial cell reprogramming could be prospective therapeutic treatments for neurodegeneration and traumatic injury. With these conditions, there is significant brain atrophy, loss of neurons and loss of synaptic connections which can have devastating effects on executive functioning, cognition, learning and memory. This review will examine these modern approaches to adult neurogenesis, and assess the viable mechanisms and future outlook of these three therapies for neurological regenerative medicine.

Hyperphosphorylated Tau In Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Neuropathological And Cognitive Study, Eliana C B Toscano, Érica L M Vieira, Lea T Grinberg, Natalia P Rocha, Joseane A S Brant, Regina S Paradela, Alexandre V Giannetti, Claudia K Suemoto, Renata E P Leite, Ricardo Nitrini, Milene A Rachid, Antonio L Teixeira

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) often courses with cognitive deficits, but its underlying neuronal basis remains unclear. Confluent data suggest that epilepsy share pathophysiological mechanisms with neurodegenerative diseases. However, as most studies analyze subjects 60 years old and older, it is challenging to rule out that neurodegenerative changes arise from age-related mechanisms rather than epilepsy in these individuals. To fill this gap, we conducted a neuropathological investigation of the hippocampal formation of 22 adults with mesial TLE and 20 age- and sex-matched controls (both younger than 60 years). Moreover, we interrogated the relationship between these neuropathological metrics and cognitive performance. Hippocampal …

Visualizing Lipid Membrane Structure With Cryo-Em: Past, Present, And Future, Karan D Sharma, Frederick A Heberle, M Neal Waxham

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The development of electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) has evolved immensely in the last several decades and is now well-established in the analysis of protein structure both in isolation and in their cellular context. This review focuses on the history and application of cryo-EM to the analysis of membrane architecture. Parallels between the levels of organization of protein structure are useful in organizing the discussion of the unique parameters that influence the collective behavior that influences membrane structure and function. Importantly, the timescales of lipid motion in bilayers with respect to the timescales of sample vitrification is discussed and reveals what types …

Clinical Features And Shared Mechanisms Of Chronic Gastritis And Osteoporosis, Tao Han, Yili Zhang, Baoyu Qi, Ming Chen, Kai Sun, Xiaokuan Qin, Bowen Yang, He Yin, Aili Xu, Xu Wei, Liguo Zhu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Chronic gastritis (CG) and osteoporosis (OP) are common and occult diseases in the elderly and the relationship of these two diseases have been increasingly exposed. We aimed to explore the clinical characteristics and shared mechanisms of CG patients combined with OP. In the cross-sectional study, all participants were selected from BEYOND study. The CG patients were included and classified into two groups, namely OP group and non-OP group. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression methods were used to evaluate the influencing factors. Furthermore, CG and OP-related genes were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified …

Group-Based Four-Dimensional Brain Mapping Of Executive Control, Matthew T. Brennan, Kazuki Sakakura Md, Masaki Sonoda Md, Phd, Aimee Luat Md, Neena Marupudi, Sandeep Sood Md, Eishi Asano Md, Phd

Medical Student Research Symposium

Rationale: Humans utilize executive control processes to carry out non-automatic tasks. These tasks require coordination from higher brain centers to both suppress inappropriate behaviors and initiate correct responses. The goal of this study is to generate a novel, dynamic brain atlas to visualize and understand the network dynamics underlying executive control.

Methods: We studied 547 non-epileptic intracranial electrode sites sampled from seven patients with focal epilepsy. Each patient performed two types of verbal tasks: word-reading and Stroop color-naming. Mixed model analysis compared high-gamma cortical activation prior to response onset between the word-reading and Stroop color-naming tasks. Based on mixed model …

Intravital Imaging Of Cellular Response Due To Traumatic Brain Injury Using Confocal Microscopy, Enoch G. Kim, Jeffrey Horbatiuk, Carolyn Harris

Medical Student Research Symposium

Introduction: Cellular reaction to traumatic brain injury is complex and involves considerable interactions between cells and reactivity to foreign bodies. Our objective was to assess neurons, microglia, astrocytes, and intracellular Ca²⁺ signaling by creating a novel confocal microscopy technique involving an air immersed lens that does not sacrifice resolution and limits signal attenuation. This study aimed to create a consistent dynamic methodology to observe the cortical cellular response using real-time intravital imaging as trauma is being induced.

Methods: Once surgical plane was achieved, rodent cortices were exposed via craniotomy and blunt insertion with a silicone shunt catheter into the …

Varied Performance Of Picture Description Task As A Screening Tool Across Mci Subtypes, Joan A. Mefford, Zilong Zhao, Leah Heilier, Man Xu, Guifeng Zhou, Rachel Mace, Kelly L. Sloane, Shannon M. Sheppard, Shenly Glenn

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

A picture description task is a component of Miro Health’s platform for self-administration of neurobehavioral assessments. Picture description has been used as a screening tool for identification of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but currently requires in-person administration and scoring by someone with access to and familiarity with a scoring rubric. The Miro Health implementation allows broader use of this assessment through self-administration and automated processing, analysis, and scoring to deliver clinically useful quantifications of the users’ speech production, vocal characteristics, and language. Picture description responses were collected from 62 healthy controls (HC), and 33 participants …

Optimization Of Cryo-Electron Microscopy For Quantitative Analysis Of Lipid Bilayers, Frederick A Heberle, Doug Welsch, Haden L Scott, M Neal Waxham

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is among the most powerful tools available for interrogating nanoscale structure of biological materials. We recently showed that cryo-EM can be used to measure the bilayer thickness of lipid vesicles and biological membranes with subangstrom precision, resulting in the direct visualization of nanoscopic domains of different thickness in multicomponent lipid mixtures and giant plasma membrane vesicles. Despite the great potential of cryo-EM for revealing the lateral organization of biomembranes, a large parameter space of experimental conditions remains to be optimized. Here, we systematically investigate the influence of instrument parameters and image postprocessing steps on the ability …

Pyroptosis In Neutrophils: Multimodal Integration Of Inflammasome And Regulated Cell Death Signaling Pathways, George R Dubyak, Brandon A Miller, Eric Pearlman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pyroptosis is a proinflammatory mode of lytic cell death mediated by accumulation of plasma membrane (PM) macropores composed of gasdermin-family (GSDM) proteins. It facilitates two major functions in innate immunity: (i) elimination of intracellular replicative niches for pathogenic bacteria; and (ii) non-classical secretion of IL-1 family cytokines that amplify host-beneficial inflammatory responses to microbial infection or tissue damage. Physiological roles for gasdermin D (GSDMD) in pyroptosis and IL-1β release during inflammasome signaling have been extensively characterized in macrophages. This involves cleavage of GSDMD by caspase-1 to generate GSDMD macropores that mediate IL-1β efflux and progression to pyroptotic lysis. Neutrophils, which …

Tubers Affecting The Fusiform Face Area Are Associated With Autism Diagnosis, Alexander L Cohen, Mallory R Kroeck, Juliana Wall, Peter Mcmanus, Arina Ovchinnikova, Mustafa Sahin, Darcy A Krueger, E Martina Bebin, Hope Northrup, Joyce Y Wu, Simon K Warfield, Jurriaan M Peters, Michael D Fox, Acern Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is associated with focal brain "tubers" and a high incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The location of brain tubers associated with autism may provide insight into the neuroanatomical substrate of ASD symptoms.

METHODS: We delineated tuber locations for 115 TSC participants with ASD (n = 31) and without ASD (n = 84) from the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Autism Center of Excellence Research Network. We tested for associations between ASD diagnosis and tuber burden within the whole brain, specific lobes, and at 8 regions of interest derived from the ASD neuroimaging literature, including the anterior …

Mclena-1: A Phase Ii Clinical Trial For The Assessment Of Safety, Tolerability, And Efficacy Of Lenalidomide In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Due To Alzheimer's Disease; Trial Design And Rationale, Boris Decourt

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Massive Loss Of Proprioceptive Ia Synapses In Rat Spinal Motoneurons After Nerve Crush Injuries In The Postnatal Period, Ariadna Arbat-Plana, Sara Bolívar, Xavier Navarro, Esther Udina, Francisco J. Alvarez

Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology Faculty Publications

Peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) induce the retraction from the ventral horn of the synaptic collaterals of Ia afferents injured in the nerve, effectively removing Ia synapses from α-motoneurons. The loss of Ia input impairs functional recovery and could explain, in part, better recovery after PNIs with better Ia synaptic preservation. Synaptic losses correlate with injury severity, speed, and efficiency of muscle reinnervation and requires ventral microglia activation. It is unknown whether this plasticity is age dependent. In neonates, axotomized motoneurons and sensory neurons undergo apoptosis, but after postnatal day 10 most survive. The goal of this study was to analyze …

Hemiparkinsonism Caused By A Lateral Sphenoid Wing Meningioma, With Tractography Analysis: Illustrative Case, Attill Saemann, Stefan Busch, Ethan Taub, Birgit Westermann, Cristina Granziera, Raphael Guzman, Luigi Mariani, Jehuda Soleman, Jonathan Rychen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The etiologies of parkinsonism are diverse. A possible and rare cause of hemiparkinsonism is mechanical compression of the basal ganglia and its connecting white matter tracts. The authors present a case of hemiparkinsonism caused by a lateral sphenoid wing meningioma, discuss the underlying pathophysiology based on tractography, and systematically review the existing literature.

OBSERVATIONS: A 59-year-old female was referred for a left-sided tremor of the hand, accompanied by a cogwheel rigidity of the left arm. Symptomatology appeared 1 year earlier and worsened in the previous 6 months, finally also showing involvement of the left leg. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) …