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Background: A reliable measure of PSP-specific midbrain atrophy, the midbrain-to-pons ratio (MTPR) has been reported to support the differential diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) from idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). Since longitudinal analyses are lacking so far, the present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the relative change of MTPR (relΔt_MTPR) over a 1-year period in patients with PSP, IPD, and healthy controls (HC). Methods: Midsagittal individual MRIs of patients with PSP (n = 15), IPD (n = 15), and healthy controls (HC; n = 15) were assessed and the MTPR at baseline and after 1 year were defined. The diagnostic accuracy of the MTPR and its relative change were evaluated using ROC curve analyses. Results: PSP-patients had a significantly lower MTPR at baseline (M = 0.45 ± 0.06), compared to both non-PSP groups (F (2, 41) = 62.82, p < 0.001), with an overall predictive accuracy of 95.6% for an MTPR ≤ 0.54. PSP-patients also presented a significantly stronger 1-year decline in MTPR compared to IPD (p < 0.001). Though predictive accuracy of relΔt_MTPR for PSP (M = − 4.74% ± 4.48) from IPD (M = + 1.29 ± 3.77) was good (76.6%), ROC analysis did not reveal a significant improvement of diagnostic accuracy by combining the MTPR and relΔt_MTPR (p = 0.670). Still, specificity for PSP increased, though not significantly (p = 0.500). Conclusion: The present results indicate that the relΔt_MTPR is a potentially useful tool to support the differential diagnosis of PSP from IPD. For its relative 1-year change, still, more evaluation is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recently, therapeutic attempts to control motor choreatic hyperkinesia of Huntington’s disease (HD) by means of pallidal deep brain stimulation (Gp-DBS) were successful. With respect to the clinical effects of Gp-DBS in juvenile hypokinetic-rigid HD (jHD; Westphal variant), only one single-case has been reported up to date. Oscillatory patterns of the Gp in jHD are not known.Objectives and methods: This work aimed to analyse pallidal local field potential oscillations (LFP) in two patients with jHD treated with Gp-DBS. Safety data and clinical scores up to 12 months after DBS-electrode implantation were collected in the framework of a prospective trial (ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT00902889).Results: Intraoperative LFP revealed local alpha and beta oscillations similar to those found in other movement disorders with akinetic rigid and dystonic presentation. Significant motor improvement was not found. There were no treatment-related complications or unresolved long-term adverse events.Conclusions: In spite of similar intraoperative LFP patterns of jHD with those of movement disorders benefitting from DBS, clinical results were not convincing in our patients, so that Gp-DBS in jHD cannot be generally recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary dissociated brain tissue from rodents is widely used in a variety of different scientific methods to investigate cellular processes in vitro. Often, for this purpose cell cultures need to be generated just on time, requiring extensive animal lab infrastructure. We show here that cryopreservation and thawing of dissociated tissue from rat cerebral cortex at embryonic day 18 is feasible without affecting its ability to form functional neuronal networks in vitro. Vitality of fresh and re-thawed cortical cells was comparable, assessed by CellTiter-Blue-assay, CytoTox-ONE assay, immunocytochemical characterization and in vitro neuronal network activity recordings on microelectrode arrays. These findings suggest that planning and execution of experiments might be considerably facilitated by using cryo-preserved neurons instead of acutely dissociated neural cultures due to fewer logistical issues with regard to animal breeding and pregnancy timed preparations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy smoking and schizophrenia are diversely associated with nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression, as was shown for brain and lymphocytes. Most studies so far have not systematically differentiated between schizophrenia smokers and non-smokers and were confined either to in vivo or post-mortem study approaches. In order to avoid variable in vivo influences or post-mortem bias, we used stably transformed B-lymphoblast cultures derived from healthy and schizophrenia subjects stratified for smoking versus non-smoking in order to differentiate these clinical conditions with regard to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression and regulation. Receptor quantities were measured using [H]-nicotine and [H]-epibatidine binding. At baseline, [H]-nicotine binding was not statistically different between healthy smokers and never-smokers (1.59 ± 0.73 vs. 1.26 ± 0.91 fmol/10 cells), while it was reduced in schizophrenia smokers compared to healthy smokers (1.05 ± 0.69 fmol vs. 1.44 ± 0.84/10 cells, P = 0.01). In schizophrenia, baseline [H]-nicotine correlated inversely with higher PANSS negative subscale scores. After long-term nicotine incubation (1 μM), [3H]-nicotine binding increased in the group of schizophrenia smokers only (from 1.05 ± 0.69 to 1.54 ± 0.77 fmol/106 cells, P = 0.013), while [H]-epibatidine binding decreased in this group (4.52 ± 1.52 to 3.82 ± 1.38 fmol/10 cells, P = 0.038). Our data are in further support of a decrease of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression in schizophrenia linked to negative psychotic symptoms, which may be counter-regulated by nicotine exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurosyphilis is an infectious disease that has reappeared over the past two decades. It is caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum that can affect the central nervous system (CNS) during any stage of the disease. Besides early CNS involvement predominantly presenting with symptoms of meningitis, a parenchymal affection of the brain leading to severe neuropsychiatric symptoms particularly emerges at later stages, but is rarely seen nowadays due to early antibiotic treatment. Together with the clinical findings, a characteristic combination of serological and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) abnormalities leads to the diagnosis of neurosyphilis and is required to assess its activity. However, particularly at later stages of disease and after antibiotic treatment, serological and CSF abnormalities may become ambiguous and, therefore, difficult to interpret. This can be accompanied by persisting or fluctuating neuropsychological deficits. To this day, no well-controlled clinical data exists concerning the treatment of late-stage neurosyphilis, neither on type, optimal dosage, duration, and long-term efficacy of antibiotic therapy. Therefore, treatment and follow-up of late-stage neurosyphilis are challenging tasks. Here, we present three cases of neurosyphilis with severe neuropsychiatric symptoms in non-immunocompromised patients and a review of the recent literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]