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We recently established an adrenal clock-disrupted transgenic mouse line (BMAS) that exhibits a dampened rhythm of corticosterone secretion and reduced amplitude of day/night activity. Here, we observe that voluntary wheel running increases the robustness and amplitude of both body temperature and home cage activity (HCA) rhythms in wild-type, but not in BMAS mice, but without affecting estrous cycle. Surprisingly, wheel running alters the HCA waveform of BMAS females in a way that preferentially increases the late nighttime (ZT21–ZT24) HCA. These results indicate that adrenal clock disruption causes the animals to respond differently to the voluntary exercise cue in middle-aged female mice.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether Phellodendri Cortex extract (PCE) could improve learning and memory impairments caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in the rat brain. The effect of PCE on modulating pro-inflammatory mediators in the hippocampus and its underlying mechanism were investigated. Injection of LPS into the lateral ventricle caused acute regional inflammation and subsequent deficits in spatial learning ability in the rats. Daily administration of PCE (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, i.p.) for 21 days markedly improved the LPS-induced learning and memory disabilities in the Morris water maze and passive avoidance test. PCE administration significantly decreased the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA in the hippocampus, as assessed by RT-PCR analysis and immunohistochemistry. Together, these findings suggest that PCE significantly attenuated LPS-induced spatial cognitive impairment...

Depression is one of the most prevalent diseases of alcohol abuse. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a critical role in cell survival in the hippocampus. Phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (p-ERK1/2) is induced by BDNF, and it regulates cell proliferation and differentiation in the brain. We investigated the effects of alcohol intake on depression-like behavior, cell proliferation, expressions of BDNF and its downstream molecules in the hippocampus using Mongolian gerbils. The gerbils were divided into four groups: control group, 0.5 g/kg alcohol-treated group, 1 g/kg alcohol-treated group, 2 g/kg alcohol-treated group. Each dose of alcohol was orally administered for 3 weeks. The present results demonstrated that alcohol intake induced depression-like behavior. Both 5-hydroxytryptamine synthesis and its synthesizing enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase expression in the dorsal raphe and cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus were decreased by alcohol ...

Hypoxic ischemia injury is a common cause of functional brain damage, resulting from a decrease in cerebral blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain. The main problems associated with hypoxic ischemia to the brain are memory impairment and dopamine dysfunction. Hypothermia has been suggested to ameliorate the neurological impairment induced by various brain insults. In this study, we investigated the effects of hypothermia on memory function and dopamine synthesis following hypoxic ischemia to the brain in rats. For this purpose, a step-down avoidance task, a radial eight-arm maze task, and immunohistochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) were performed. The present results indicated that the hypoxic ischemia-induced disturbance of the animal's performances and spatial working memory was associated with a decrement in TH expression in the substantia nigra and striatum, and an increase in cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Hypothermia treatme...

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common condition that primarily affects women. Here, we investigate the effects of human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) in a rodent model of SUI. Female Sprague-Dawley rats at 7 weeks of age were randomly divided into three groups (n=8 per group): sham-operation, SUI-induction by transabdominal urethrolysis, and SUI-induction followed by transplantation of human ADSCs into the urethra. The abdominal leak point pressure at 8 weeks after the operation was markedly decreased by transabdominal urethrolysis, confirming successful induction of SUI. Interestingly, transplantation of human ADSCs into the urethra significantly blunted the decrease of abdominal leak point pressure in SUI-induced rats. Accordingly, we observed expression of α-smooth muscle actin in a significant proportion of transplanted ADSCs, indicating differentiation of ADSCs into smooth muscle cells in the urethra. Moreover, the SUI-induced elevations of c-Fos immunoreactivities in the pontin...