The brain’s role in human obesity
This article will give an overview about the findings in neuroimaging associated with human obesity. Further, this article will elucidate the relationship between common genetic variation, eating behaviour and brain structure in the context of obesity. Finally, important open questions in the field will be summarised. (Source: e-Neuroforum)
Source: e-Neuroforum - December 1, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Delivery on call: exosomes as “care packages” from glial cells for stressed neurons
Abstract
Communication between cells is a basic requirement for proper nervous system function. Glial cells execute various functions, operating in close coordination with neurons. Recent research revealed that cell communication is mediated by the exchange of extracellular vesicles, which are also secreted by glial cells and neurons. Extracellular vesicles comprise exosomes and microvesicles, which deliver proteins and ribonucleic acids to target cells. As a result of transfer, the vesicle cargo components can modulate the phenotype of recipient cells. Here, we discuss the characteristics and functions...
Source: e-Neuroforum - December 1, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Collaborative Research Center SFB-TRR58
(Source: e-Neuroforum)
Source: e-Neuroforum - September 1, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
The interplay of genotype and environment in the development of fear and anxiety
Abstract
Individual differences in fear, anxiety, and the etiology of anxiety disorders develop during ontogeny. They are due to both genetic and environmental factors. With regard to the role of the environment, the organism is most susceptible to external influences during early development. Accordingly, stressors that impinge on the maternal organism during pregnancy evoke high levels of anxiety in the offspring later in life, as does an adverse early postnatal environment. However, anxiety-related circuits in the central nervous system retain their plasticity in adulthood, i.e., levels of anxiety ca...
Source: e-Neuroforum - September 1, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Context conditioning in virtual reality as a model for pathological anxiety
Abstract
Phobic fear which is triggered by specific stimuli can be modeled experimentally through cue conditioning. In contrast, context conditioning may serve as a model for anxiety which is longer lasting and unrelated to cues. Such context conditioning can be studied in humans in analogy to animal studies by using virtual reality (VR). Our VR context conditioning paradigm uses virtual offices as contexts. One office becomes the anxiety context since participants receive unpredictable mildly painful electric stimulations. The other office becomes the safety context because no aversive stimulation is d...
Source: e-Neuroforum - September 1, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Anxiety disorders: genetic mechanisms
Abstract
The pathogenesis of anxiety disorders is multifactorial with an interaction between genetic (heritability estimates: 32 %–67 %) and numerous environmental factors. Various chromosomal risk loci and potential risk-increasing genetic variants have already been identified, with particular support for the neuropeptide S receptor gene (NPSR1) as a promising novel candidate. Gene–environment interaction and epigenetic studies provide evidence that genetic and psychosocial factors interactively influence the risk of anxiety disorders. Intermediate phenotypes of anxiety such as neural activati...
Source: e-Neuroforum - September 1, 2013 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
