(Press-News.org)
"Only exercise can remove all kinds of doubts," Goethe said. Physical exercise is the lubricant between the body and the mind. Alleviation of anxiety by motor activity forms an integral part of our daily life; whether going for a walk to refresh our mind or running excessively in the park to recuperate from a stressful event, we are all well aware of the beneficial impact. In fact, the plain view that exercise can prevent anxiety and depression has been supported by accumulating prospective cohort studies in recent years. Yet, apart from some general interactions between the periphery of our body and our central nervous system, it has remained unclear which mechanisms inside our brain underlie this process of motor-dependent anxiolysis.
In a recent study “A role for the cerebellum in motor-triggered alleviation of anxiety” published in the journal Neuron, Dr. Jing-Ning Zhu's group from the School of Life Sciences at Nanjing University, explores a hypothalamo-cerebello-amygdalar circuit that may mediate motor-dependent alleviation of anxiety. This three-neuron loop, in which the cerebellum takes center stage, bridges the motor system with the emotional system.
The cerebellum is the largest subcortical motor structure. The attention to the potential role of the cerebellum in higher functions, including emotion and cognition, next to that for sensorimotor coordination, has been increasing. It has been implicated in orchestrating and integrating somatic and non-somatic activities to generate an appropriate behavioral response to changes in external and internal environments. However, little is known about whether there are direct neural connections between the cerebellum and the limbic system, which is responsible for emotional regulation. Notably, the study finds a trend of negative correlation between cerebello-amygdalar functional connectivity and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) score in patients with bipolar disorder, suggesting an interaction between two brain regions that may be related to anxiety.
By employing the trans-monosynaptic retrograde rabies tracing and fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography (fMOST), the researchers map, for the first time, the long-range direct afferent projections from the cerebellar nuclear neurons to amygdala neurons at the mesoscopic scale in rodents, suggesting that the cerebello-amygdalar circuit appears well conserved among species. Furthermore, using miniature fluorescence microscopy, they find amygdala neurons are activated while rats are running on a rotating rotarod, and among them, the majority also respond to optogenetic stimulation of the cerebellar nuclei, indicating that the cerebello-amygdalar projections carry exercise-dependent information. Electrophysiological results show that the cerebello-amygdalar projections are monosynaptic glutamatergic and can not only excite but also evoke long-term potentiation in amygdala neurons, which may account for the persistent effect of exercise on mood. Opto-/chemo-genetic activation of cerebello-amygdalar projections significantly ameliorates anxiety, while chemogenetic suppression of the projections eliminates the anxiolytic effect of rotarod running.
So, what kind of motor paradigm can more effectively improve anxiety? Based on their previous findings that hypothalamic neuropeptide orexin not only helps to cope with motor challenges (Neuron, 2011) but also promotes stress resilience (Mol Psychiatry, 2019), the researchers find that challenging animals on an accelerated rather than a constant rotarod engages hypothalamic neurons that provide a superimposed anxiolytic effect via an orexinergic projection to the cerebellar nuclear neurons that activate the amygdala. Thus, the hypothalamo-cerebello-amygdalar loop may exert anxiolytic effects at two levels of intensity, operating like an engine with multiple transitions.
“The results advance our understanding of cerebellar nonmotor functions and the neural mechanisms underlying motor-emotional interaction and somatic-nonsomatic integration,” said Jing-Ning Zhu. “The findings may also shed light on developing more effective movement prescriptions for anxiety and mood disorders in general, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA), and provide a novel strategy for both invasive and non-invasive forms of interventions targeting cerebellum to alleviate anxiety.”
###
The researchers of this project include Xiao-Yang Zhang, Wen-Xia Wu, Li-Ping Shen, Miao-Jin Ji, Lei Yu, Jun Yin, Shu-Tao Xie, Yun-Yong Xie, Yang-Xun Zhang, Hong-Zhao Li, Qi-Peng Zhang, Chao Yan, Jian-Jun Wang and Jing-Ning Zhu of State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, National Resource Center for Mutant Mice, Department of Anesthesiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, and Department of Physiology, School of Life Sciences, and Institute for Brain Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China; Peng-Fei Zhao and Fei Wang of Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing 14 Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China; and Chris I. De Zeeuw of Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, 3015 CN Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The work was supported by STI2030-Major Project-2021ZD0202805; grants 32030044, 31961160724, 32171012, 12227808, 81725005, U20A6005, 81671107 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China; grant BK20190008 from the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China; grant 020814380164 from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China; grant 824.02.001 from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO-ALW); grant 91120067 from the Netherlands Organization for Medical Sciences (ZonMW); grant 01092019-31082023 from the Medical Neuro-Delta (MD); Gravitation grant DBI2 (NWO); grant TTW/00798883 INTENSE from LSH-NWO; as well as grant NIN-01CDZ Vriendenfonds (KNAW).
END
Nuclear facilities, particularly during decommissioning, face significant challenges due to hazardous materials and environments. Traditional methods often rely heavily on human intervention, posing risks and inefficiencies. A groundbreaking research introduces a symbiotic autonomous robot ecosystem, designed to transform nuclear facility decommissioning. This innovative approach leverages a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) coordinated through a digital twin interface, significantly enhancing safety, efficiency, and operational awareness ...
Intensive agricultural cultivation and the resulting changes in soil structure cause low humidity in the near-surface air during heat waves in really dry years. As a result, summer cold fronts roar across the Plain without the usual thunderstorms and precipitation, researchers at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences at Eötvös Loránd University explain in a review of articles on topics ranging from geodynamics to soil science to meteorology what made the summer of 2022 so severe in the eastern part of the country.
In 2022, the 7-week period starting in mid-June was disastrous for eastern Hungary. Almost no rain fell for weeks, and in the eastern part of the country, ...
Research in recent years displays that several chemical modifications (binders, composite materials, and electrolytes) provide superior stability and enhance electrochemical performance in Si-based anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Thus far, several different chemical interactions on structural alterations to Si-based anode materials have been tried to enhance Li+ kinetics, structural stability, and volume development control throughout the delithiation/lithiation process.
Despite significant advancements, Si and Si-based electrodes are still in their infancy and are still far from finding widespread practical use. Si-based anodes face some difficulties, including substantial ...
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors - ACE inhibitors for short - are effective antihypertensive drugs. They block the formation of the hormone angiotensin II, which plays a central role in the development of high blood pressure. On the other hand, these drugs increase the concentration of the vasoactive signaling substance bradykinin. Among other things, this can lead to acute swelling of the skin or mucous membranes. In general, such swellings are not life-threatening. However, if they affect the tongue, throat or larynx, angioedema can be life-threatening for the patient due to the potential risk of suffocation. Research to date suggests that susceptibility to such drug-induced angioedema ...
Space solar power satellite (SSPS) is a tremendous energy system that collects and converts solar power to electric power in space, and then transmits the electric power to earth, spacecraft, or moving targets via microwave. It is regarded as one of the most potential ways to solve the problem of energy crisis.
In 2022, a team of researchers from Xidian University in China has completed a full-link and full-system ground demonstration and verification system for an SSPS, named the Sun-Chasing Project. Their study, recently published in Engineering, introduces the design concept of OMEGA 2.0 SSPS, the related key technologies, and the development of ground demonstration ...
WASHINGTON—Coronary artery calcification is increasing in prevalence, leading to greater risks both during procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and adverse events in the short and long term. Along with these challenges, treatment options are expanding, increasingly including calcium modification prior to stent implantation. A newly published SCAI Expert Consensus Statement on the Management of Calcified Coronary Lesions outlines methods for interventional cardiologists to identify various types of calcified coronary lesions ...
Brain function depends on the swift movement of electrical signals along axons, the long extensions of nerve cells that connect billions of brain cells. The nerve fibers are insulated by a fatty layer called myelin, which is produced by specialized cells called oligodendrocytes. These cells wrap around and insulate nerve fibers ensuring the rapid and efficient transmission of signals that is essential for brain function.
Oligodendrocytes sense and respond to the electrical signals
Now, a team of neuroscientists led by Aiman Saab at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University ...
Northwestern University researchers have successfully coaxed a deadly pathogen to destroy itself from the inside out.
In the new study, researchers modified DNA from a bacteriophage or “phage,” a type of virus that infects and replicates inside of bacteria. Then, the research team put the DNA inside Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), a deadly bacterium that is also highly resistant to antibiotics. Once inside the bacterium, the DNA bypassed the pathogen’s defense mechanisms ...
NIH study shows higher mortality rates for patients on respiratory support in rural intermediate care units
Findings highlight the importance of providing ICU-level care to rural patients with respiratory failure
A new National Institutes of Health-supported study finds that patients receiving ventilator life support in the intermediate care units – a potentially less costly alternative for people not sick enough for the intensive care units (ICUs) but too ill for the general ward – of rural hospitals had significantly higher death rates than patients in the same type of ...
A researcher from the New Jersey Institute of Technology has published a perspective paper that examines sentience and its application to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Sentience describes the ability to sense and feel, drawing its meaning from the Latin word sentire which means “to feel.” The paper addresses a set of ideological commitments at stake in debates over sentient machines. The author proposes that artificial sentience is both necessary and impossible.
The perspective paper is published in the Journal of Social Computing on December 31, 2023.
“I argue ...
