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Aim and Objective: The Dendrobium officinalis flower (DOF) is popular in China due to common belief in its anti-aging properties and positive effects on "nourish yin". However, there have been relatively few confirmatory pharmacological experiments conducted to date. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether DOF has beneficial effects on learning and memory in senescent rats, and, if so, to determine its potential mechanism of effect., Materials and Methods: SD rats were administrated orally DOF at a dose of 1.38, or 0.46 g/kg once a day for 8 weeks. Two other groups included a healthy untreated control group and a senescent control group. During the 7th week, a Morris water maze test was performed to assess learning and memory. At the end of the experiment, serum and brain samples were collected to measure concentrations of antioxidant enzymes, including malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GSH-Px) in serum, and the neurotransmitters, including γ-aminobutyric acid (γ-GABA), Glutamic (Glu), and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) in the brain. Histopathology of the hippocampus was assessed using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining., Results: The results suggested that treatment with DOF improved learning as measured by escape latency, total distance, and target quadrant time, and also increased levels of γ-GABA in the brain. In addition, DOF decreased the levels of MDA, Glu, and MAO-B, and improved SOD and GSHPx. Histopathological analysis showed that DOF also significantly reduced structural lesions and neurodegeneration in the hippocampus relative to untreated senescent rats., Conclusion: DOF alleviated brain aging and improved the spatial learning abilities in senescent rats, potentially by attenuating oxidative stress and thus reducing hippocampal damage and balancing the release of neurotransmitters., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Occupational manganese (Mn) exposure has been associated with cognitive and olfactory dysfunction; however, few studies have incorporated cumulative biomarkers of Mn exposure such as bone Mn (BnMn). Our goal was to assess the cross-sectional association between BnMn, blood Mn (BMn), and fingernail Mn (FMn) with cognitive and olfactory function among Mn-exposed workers. A transportable in vivo neutron activation analysis (IVNAA) system was designed and utilized to assess BnMn among 60 Chinese workers. BMn and FMn were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Cognitive and olfactory function was assessed using Animal and Fruit Naming tests, World Health Organization/University of California-Los Angeles Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) and the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). Additional data were obtained via questionnaire. Regression models adjusted for age, education, factory of employment, and smoking status (UPSIT only), were used to assess the relationship between Mn biomarkers and test scores. In adjusted models, increasing BnMn was significantly associated with decreased performance on average AVLT scores [β (95% confidence interval (CI)) = -0.65 (-1.21, -0.09)] and Animal Naming scores [β (95% CI) = -1.54 (-3.00, -0.07)]. Increasing FMn was significantly associated with reduced performance measured by the average AVLT [β (95% CI) = -0.35 (-0.70, -0.006)] and the difference in AVLT scores [β (95% CI) = -0.40 (-0.77, -0.03)]. BMn was not significantly associated with any test scores; no significant associations were observed with Fruit Naming or UPSIT tests. BnMn and FMn, but not BMn, are associated with cognitive function in Mn-exposed workers. None of the biomarkers were significantly associated with olfactory function., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In male Caucasian subjects, learning is facilitated by receipt of social compared with non-social feedback, and the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) facilitates this effect. In this study, we have first shown a cultural difference in that male Chinese subjects actually perform significantly worse in the same reinforcement associated learning task with social (emotional faces) compared with non-social feedback. Nevertheless, in two independent double-blind placebo (PLC) controlled between-subject design experiments we found OXT still selectively facilitated learning with social feedback. Similar to Caucasian subjects this OXT effect was strongest with feedback using female rather than male faces. One experiment performed in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that during the response, but not feedback phase of the task, OXT selectively increased activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and putamen during the social feedback condition, and functional connectivity between the amygdala and insula and caudate. Therefore, OXT may be increasing the salience and reward value of anticipated social feedback. In the PLC group, response times and state anxiety scores during social feedback were associated with signal changes in these same regions but not in the OXT group. OXT may therefore have also facilitated learning by reducing anxiety in the social feedback condition. Overall our results provide the first evidence for cultural differences in social facilitation of learning per se, but a similar selective enhancement of learning with social feedback under OXT. This effect of OXT may be associated with enhanced responses and functional connectivity in emotional memory and reward processing regions., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Tap water (unfiltered), filtered tap water and processed bottled water (purified water, artificial mineralized water, or natural water) are now the five most widely consumed types of drinking water in China. However, the constituents (organic chemicals and inorganic ingredients) of the five waters differ, which may cause them to have different long-term health effects on those who drink them, especially sensitive children. In order to determine which type of water among the five waters is the most beneficial regarding reproductive outcomes and the developmental behaviors of offspring, two generations of Sprague-Dawley rats were given these five waters separately, and their reproductive outcomes and the developmental behaviors of their offspring were observed and compared. The results showed that the unfiltered tap water group had the lowest values for the maternal gestation index (MGI) and offspring's learning and memory abilities (OLMA); the lowest offspring survival rate was found in the purified water group; and the highest OLMA were found in the filtered tap water group. Thus, the best reproductive and offspring early developmental outcomes were found in the group that drank filtered tap water, which had the lowest levels of pollutants and the richest minerals. Therefore, thoroughly removing toxic contaminants and retaining the beneficial minerals in drinking water may be important for both pregnant women and children, and the best way to treat water may be with granular activated carbon and ion exchange by copper zinc alloy.

Transgenic Cry1Ac+CpTI cotton (CCRI41) is a promising cotton cultivar throughout China but side effects and especially sublethal effects of this transgenic cultivar on beneficial insects remain poorly studied. More specifically potential sublethal effects on behavioural traits of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. have not been formally assessed despite the importance of honey bees for pollination. The goal of our study was to assess potential effects of CCRI41 cotton pollen on visual and olfactory learning by honey bees. After a 7-day oral chronic exposure to honey mixed with either CCRI41 pollen, imidacloprid-treated conventional pollen (used as positive sublethal control) or conventional pollen (control), learning performance was evaluated by the classical proboscis extension reflex (PER) procedure as well as a T-tube maze test. The latter assay was designed as a new device to assess potential side effects of pesticides on visual associative learning of honey bees. These two procedures were complementary because the former focused on olfactory learning while the latter was involved in visual learning based on visual orientation ability. Oral exposure to CCRI41 pollen did not affect learning capacities of honey bees in both the T-tube maze and PER tests. However, exposure to imidacloprid resulted in reduced visual learning capacities in T-tube maze evaluation and decreased olfactory learning performances measured with PER. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of risks of transgenic CCRI41 cotton crops for honey bees.