Background and Purpose—Niacin is the most effective medication in current clinical use for increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. We tested the hypothesis that niacin treatment of stroke promotes synaptic plasticity and axon growth in the ischemic brain. Methods—Male Wistar rats were subjected to 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion and treated with or without Niaspan (a prolon...

Two research areas that could benefit from a greater focus on the role of the reward pathway are maternal depression and maternal addiction. Both depression and addiction in mothers are mediated by deficiencies in the reward pathway and represent substantial risks to the health of offspring and future generations. This targeted review discusses maternal reward deficits in depressed and addicted...

CREB is a transcription factor implicated in the control of adaptive neuronal responses. Although one function of CREB in neurons is believed to be the regulation of genes whose products control synaptic function, the targets of CREB that mediate synaptic function have not yet been identified. This report describes experiments demonstrating that CREB or a closely related protein mediates Ca2+-d...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Niacin is the most effective medication in current clinical use for increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. We tested the hypothesis that niacin treatment of stroke promotes synaptic plasticity and axon growth in the ischemic brain. METHODS Male Wistar rats were subjected to 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion and treated with or without Niaspan (a prol...

The tyrosine kinase receptor trkB is thought to mediate the biological actions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This receptor is expressed by a large variety of neurons during development. Truncated trkB molecules lacking the tyrosine kinase domain have also been described, but their functions remain elusive. In order to gain insight into their role, we studied the pattern of expression an...

Abbreviations: AMPA: α-amino-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole4-propionate; ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate; BDNF: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; CNS: Central Nervous System; EAAT: Excitatory Amino-Acid Transporter; FGF: Fibroblast Growth Factor; GDNF: Glial-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; GLAST: Glutamate Aspartate Transporter; GLT-1: Glutamate Transporter-1; NO: Nitric Oxide; IL3: Interleukin-3; IL-6: ...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a candidate gene for response to antidepressant treatment. However, response to pharmacological treatments is moderated by both genetic and other factors within individuals. For example, there is evidence of an influence of the temperamental trait of harm avoidance on the outcome of depressive disorders. In the present study we aimed to investigate the effec...

The possibility to take advantage from the nerve growth factor (NGF) ability to induce recovery of damaged tissue has been largely explored in animal models and humans. Recently, the successful use of the ocular administration of NGF in ophthalmology, and the evidences that from the eyes NGF can access to the brain have stimulated new fields of research and open further perspectives to the clin...

Citation: Jiang H, Zhang X, Lu J, Meng H, Sun Y, Yang X, Zhao B and Bao T (2018) Antidepressant-Like Effects of Acupuncture-Insights From DNA Methylation and Histone Modifications of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Front. Psychiatry 9:102. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00102 antidepressant-like effects of acupuncture-insights From Dna Methylation and histone Modifications of Brain-Derived neurotro...