Pain perception and its genesis in the human brain

In the past two decades, pain perception in the human brain has been studied with EEG/MEG brain topography and PET/ fMRI neuroimaging techniques. A host of cortical and subeortical loci can be activated by various nociceptive conditions. The activation in pain perception can be induced by physical (electrical, thermal, mechanical), chemical (capsacin, ascoric acid), psychological (anxiety, stress, nocebo) means, and pathological (e.g. migraine, neuropathic) diseases. This article deals mainly on the activation, but not modulation, of human pain in the brain. The brain areas identified are named pain representation, matrix, neuraxis, or signature. The sites are not uniformly isolated across various studies, but largely include a set of cores sites: thalamus and primary somatic area (SI), second somatic area (SII), insular cortex (IC), prefrontal cortex (PFC), cingnlate, and parietal cortices. Other areas less reported and considered important in pain perception include brainstem, hippocampus, amygdala and supplementary motor area (SMA). The issues of pain perception basically encompass both the site and the mode of brain function. Although the site issue is delineared to a large degree, the mode issue has been much less explored. From the temporal dynamics, IC can be considered as the initial stage in genesis of pain perception as conscious suffering, the unique aversion in the human brain.     

The adaptive classification of the dynamic spectral patterns in the human EEG]

The classification technique of single spectra based on a matrix of intercorrelation between these spectra and the fixed set of standard spectral patterns (SP) has been put forward. Including in the classification technique a special procedure for automatic adaptation of the standard SP to given EEG records makes it possible to reduce the number of unclassified single spectra to a minimum (6-10%), which we can ignore during comparative analysis of the EEG classification profiles. Using the universal set of standard SP makes it possible to compare the results of classification of different EEG records. The results of the analysis of classification profiles of human multichannel EEG during performance of the memory task on perception of visual images are described in the paper. It has been shown that both the total EEG reorganization associated with the alpha rhythm blockade during eyes opening and less noticeable EEG shifts accompanying changes in the stages of cognitive activity are underlain by a rather differentiated transformations of relative contributions of each type of the SP into the total power spectrum. It has been revealed that a relatively small part (15-20%) of the elementary EEG segments participates in the reorganization of the EEG classification profile.     

Quantitative DNA patterns in human preneoplastic breast lesions

In 12 cases of human mammary carcinoma in which a preneoplastic atypical ductal hyperplasia was also identified, quantitative DNA (QDNA) measurements of thionein-stained samples from both lesions were performed using the Cell Image Analysis 100 system. The QDNA values in the preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions from each case showed concordance (six as euploid and six as aneuploid/hyperdiploid). Such congruence suggests a stable inheritance of the somatic mutation(s) that is involved in carcinogenesis and that affects ploidy. If this relationship between concurrent preneoplasia and neoplasia in the ipsilateral breast is confirmed, it offers the possibilities of (1) identifying individuals at risk for developing neoplasias with defined biologic characteristics and (2) developing therapeutic regimens more appropriate to the risk assessment of each patient. It may be possible to conceive of a rational preventive regimen for cancer of the breast.     

Dynamics of the spectral-coherent characteristics of the human EEG in healthy subjects and brain pathology

EEGs of 15 healthy subjects and 30 patients in early period after surgical ablation of tumours with basal localization, were investigated by means of monitor "Neuro-1" which allows to obtain in continuous regime characteristics of EEG dynamics according to power spectra and reveal the characteristics of intercentral relations of electrical brain processes by coherence and phase shifts. In healthy subjects in the period of transition from wakefulness to drowsiness highly coherent beta-rhythm (16-18 Hz) was revealed, preceeding typical picture of drowsiness and sleep. Study of the patients shows that certain characteristics of coherence and phasic shifts have an important prognostic value. Conclusion is made that for estimation of the functional state of healthy subjects during transition from wakefulness to drowsiness and of patients in early postoperative period the data on spectra of coherence are most informative.     

Characteristics of the interhemispheric EEG relationships in assessing the functional state of the human brain

In healthy subjects (11 right-handed men) reorganization was studied of intra- and interhemispheric correlation of the electrical brain activity at transition from the state of alertness to drowsiness. At the lowering of alertness level, the coherence of hemispheres symmetrical points changed not abruptly, with a tendency towards an increase at differently directed character of changes of combinations of separate physiological rhythms ranges. Comparison of the EEG coherence changes within the right and left hemispheres revealed a greater reactivity of the left (dominant) hemisphere. The reduction of the predominance (observed in the dominant hemisphere in alertness) of the degree of EEG conjunction, at transition to drowsiness, leads to smoothing of interhemispheric asymmetry in the organization of electrical brain processes.     

The encoding of temporally irregular and regular visual patterns in the human brain

In the work reported here, we set out to study the neural systems that detect predictable temporal patterns and departures from them. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to locate activity in the brains of subjects when they viewed temporally regular and irregular patterns produced by letters, numbers, colors and luminance. Activity induced by irregular sequences was located within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, including an area that was responsive to irregular patterns regardless of the type of visual stimuli producing them. Conversely, temporally regular arrangements resulted in activity in the right frontal lobe (medial frontal gyrus), in the left orbito-frontal cortex and in the left pallidum. The results show that there is an abstractive system in the brain for detecting temporal irregularity, regardless of the source producing it.     

The genesis of movement-related human brain potentials in different forms of motor pathology]

To study the role of subcortical structures and cerebellum nuclei in the genesis of the human brain potentials connected with motion patients were examined with parkinsonism and hyperkinetic form of children cerebral paralysis. In one group of patients the motor responses were recorded by means of long-term electrodes implanted with the medical purpose into the ventro-oral group of thalamus nuclei, subcortical nuclei and dentate cerebellum nuclei. In patients of the second group potentials, connected with motion were led from the scalp before and after one-moment destruction in the zone of the same structures. In ventro-oral and reticular thalamus nuclei lateral and medial segments of the pale globe and in the cerebellum dentate nucleus post-motor components were recorded which were considered as electrographic expression of motion realization and completion processes (P2 and N3) and also as slow negative oscillation (component N1), that pointed to participation of the studied structures not only in regulation of voluntary movement but also in the process of movement preparation. Absence of N2 component at recording motor responses from deep electrodes and its sufficient stability at scalp leads gave the reason to suggest that its genesis was connected with the cortex activity.     

Normal and pathological oscillatory communication in the brain

The huge number of neurons in the human brain are connected to form functionally specialized assemblies. The brain's amazing processing capabilities rest on local communication within and long-range communication between these assemblies. Even simple sensory, motor and cognitive tasks depend on the precise coordination of many brain areas. Recent improvements in the methods of studying long-range communication have allowed us to address several important questions. What are the common mechanisms that govern local and long-range communication and how do they relate to the structure of the brain? How does oscillatory synchronization subserve neural communication? And what are the consequences of abnormal synchronization?     

Expressional patterns of chaperones in ten human tumor cell lines

BACKGROUND: Chaperones (CH) play an important role in tumor biology but no systematic work on expressional patterns has been reported so far. The aim of the study was therefore to present an analytical method for the concomitant determination of several CH in human tumor cell lines, to generate expressional patterns in the individual cell lines and to search for tumor and non-tumor cell line specific CH expression.Human tumor cell lines of neuroblastoma, colorectal and adenocarcinoma of the ovary, osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, malignant melanoma, lung, cervical and breast cancer, promyelocytic leukaemia were homogenised, proteins were separated on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with in-gel digestion of proteins and MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis was carried out for the identification of CH. RESULTS: A series of CH was identified including the main CH groups as HSP90/HATPas_C, HSP70, Cpn60_TCP1, DnaJ, Thioredoxin, TPR, Pro_isomerase, HSP20, ERP29_C, KE2, Prefoldin, DUF704, BAG, GrpE and DcpS. CONCLUSIONS: The ten individual tumor cell lines showed different expression patterns, which are important for the design of CH studies in tumor cell lines. The results can serve as a reference map and form the basis of a concomitant determination of CH by a protein chemical rather than an immunochemical method, independent of antibody availability or specificity.     

Temporal patterns of cortical proliferation of glial cell populations after traumatic brain injury in mice

TBI (traumatic brain injury) triggers an inflammatory cascade, gliosis and cell proliferation following cell death in the pericontusional area and surrounding the site of injury. In order to better understand the proliferative response following CCI (controlled cortical impact) injury, we systematically analyzed the phenotype of dividing cells at several time points post-lesion. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to mild to moderate CCI over the left sensory motor cortex. At different time points following injury, mice were injected with BrdU (bromodeoxyuridine) four times at 3-h intervals and then killed. The greatest number of proliferating cells in the pericontusional region was detected at 3 dpi (days post-injury). At 1 dpi, NG2⁺ cells were the most proliferative population, and at 3 and 7 dpi the Iba-1⁺ microglial cells were proliferating more. A smaller, but significant number of GFAP⁺ (glial fibrillary acidic protein) astrocytes proliferated at all three time points. Interestingly, at 3 dpi we found a small number of proliferating neuroblasts [DCX⁺ (doublecortin)] in the injured cortex. To determine the cell fate of proliferative cells, mice were injected four times with BrdU at 3 dpi and killed at 28 dpi. Approximately 70% of proliferative cells observed at 28 dpi were GFAP⁺ astrocytes. In conclusion, our data suggest that the specific glial cell types respond differentially to injury, suggesting that each cell type responds to a specific pattern of growth factor stimulation at each time point after injury.     

人睾丸与脑基因表达谱的相似性

人类的物种形成与进化问题一直是研究的一个焦点。近年来,对于人和灵长类以及果蝇等其他一些动物多种组织基因表达谱的研究表明,在人的进化过程中脑基因表达的改变最为显著,并且脑中许多基因的表达呈显著上调。信息学分析显示,在多种组织当中,人的脑与睾丸可能存在最为相似的基因表达谱。这些结果提示睾丸可能与脑类似,也在人的物种形成和进化历程中起着重要作用。本文对人睾丸和脑基因表达谱的研究进行了回顾,并提出了该研究方向今后的一些研究设想。     

Principal component analysis of the cytokine and chemokine response to human traumatic brain injury

There is a growing realisation that neuro-inflammation plays a fundamental role in the pathology of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). This has led to the search for biomarkers that reflect these underlying inflammatory processes using techniques such as cerebral microdialysis. The interpretation of such biomarker data has been limited by the statistical methods used. When analysing data of this sort the multiple putative interactions between mediators need to be considered as well as the timing of production and high degree of statistical co-variance in levels of these mediators. Here we present a cytokine and chemokine dataset from human brain following human traumatic brain injury and use principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis to demonstrate the pattern of production following TBI, distinct phases of the humoral inflammatory response and the differing patterns of response in brain and in peripheral blood. This technique has the added advantage of making no assumptions about the Relative Recovery (RR) of microdialysis derived parameters. Taken together these techniques can be used in complex microdialysis datasets to summarise the data succinctly and generate hypotheses for future study.