Human Frontal Brain Research Articles

Dejian Mind‐Body Intervention Improves the Cognitive Functions of a Child with Autism

There has been increasing empirical evidence for the enhancing effects of Dejian Mind-Body Intervention (DMBI), a traditional Chinese Shaolin healing approach, on human frontal brain activity/functions, including patients with autism who are well documented to have frontal lobe problems. This study aims to compare the effects of DMBI with a conventional behavioural/cognitive intervention (CI) on enhancing the executive functions and memory of a nine-year-old boy with low-functioning autism (KY) and to explore possible underlying neural mechanism using EEG theta cordance. At post-one-month DMBI, KY's inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and memory functioning have significantly improved from “severely-to-moderately impaired” to “within-normal” range. This improvement was not observed from previous 12-month CI. Furthermore, KY showed increased cordance gradually extending from the anterior to the posterior brain region, suggesting possible neural mechanism underlying his cognitive improvement. These findings have implicated potential applicability of DMBI as a rehabilitation program for patients with severe frontal lobe and/or memory disorders.

Measurement of N‐acetylaspartylglutamate in the human frontal brain by 1H‐MRS at 7 T

N-Acetylaspartylglutamate in human brain has been measured with difference editing at 7 T. The CH(2) proton resonances (∼ 2.5 ppm) of the aspartyl groups of N-acetylaspartylglutamate and N-acetylaspartate were difference edited (MEGA) using 20-msec gaussian radiofrequency pulses for selective 180 ° rotations of the coupling partners at 4.61 and 4.38 ppm, respectively. The echo time of the editing sequence, 108 msec, was obtained in phantom tests. Single-voxel localized in vivo measurements were conducted in the medial prefrontal and right frontal cortices of five healthy volunteers. The gray and white matter fractions within the voxels were obtained from T(1)-weighted image segmentation. Using linear regression of the metabolite concentration vs. fractional white matter contents within the voxels, the N-acetylaspartylglutamate-to-N-acetylaspartate concentration ratios in gray and white matter were estimated to be 0.13 and 0.28 by difference editing (95% confidence intervals 0.07-0.19 and 0.22-0.34), respectively, assuming identical relaxation effects between the metabolites.

Measurement of glycine in human prefrontal brain by point‐resolved spectroscopy at 7.0 tesla in vivo

Measurement of glycine in human frontal brain by an optimized point-resolved spectroscopy sequence at 7 T is reported. Echo time dependencies of the overlapping coupled resonances of myo-inositol, free choline, and threonine were investigated with density matrix simulations, incorporating the slice-selective radiofrequency and gradient pulses. The numerical simulations indicated that the selectivity of the 3.55-ppm glycine singlet is maximized at (TE(1), TE(2)) = (101, 51) ms. Phantom experiments indicated that the myo-inositol peak amplitude between 3.5 and 3.6 ppm is reduced by a factor of 30 following the optimized point-resolved spectroscopy, as predicted by the simulation. From LCModel analyses, the glycine concentration in the medial prefrontal cortex in healthy adults was estimated, with a mean Cramér-Rao lower bound of 7 +/- 1% (mean +/- standard deviation; n = 7), to be 0.8 +/- 0.1 mM, with reference to total creatine at 8 mM.

Disease State, Age, Sex, and Post-Mortem Time-Dependent Expression of Proteins in AD vs. Control Frontal Cortex Brain Samples

Human post-mortem brain samples are excellent source material for the analysis of age-related disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, data obtained from cell culture- or mouse model-related experiments often need to be validated by using human tissue. In a variety of studies over the last few years, a huge list of genes or proteins with differential expression or abundance between AD-related and control tissue has been reported. However, highly important issues such as changes in post-mortem time, sex, age etc. of the patients have been rarely included in the analysis. In our study we examined human frontal brain samples of 10 AD patients vs. 10 unaffected controls using state-of-the-art two dimensional DIGE proteomics in order to analyze protein expression of up to 10,000 proteins in parallel. Data were analyzed using well established DIGE-software tool as well as an analysis of covariance model including the factor effects of group and sex and the covariable effects of age and post-mortem time. Within this study we report protein expression changes in AD vs. control human frontal brain samples without any influence of other parameters as well as expression changes depending on the parameters mentioned above. In fact, some proteins previously suggested a state of being dysregulated in AD vs. controls revealed age or sex-dependent regulation. Our analysis suggests the necessity of integrating additionally available covariables in comparative proteome studies of two different sets of human tissue.

Cloning of GPR37, a Gene Located on Chromosome 7 Encoding a Putative G-Protein-Coupled Peptide Receptor, from a Human Frontal Brain EST Library

A cDNA sequence encoding a putative peptide-specific G-protein-coupled receptor (GPR37) was isolated from a set of human brain frontal lobe expressed sequence tags. The GPR37 cDNA predicts a single open reading frame coding for a 613-amino-acid protein with seven hydrophobic transmembrane domains. The GPR37 genomic sequence was mapped to chromosome 7q31, and it was isolated upon screening of a chromosome 7-specific genomic library. The GPR37 gene spans more than 25 kb and contains two exons and a single intron which interrupts the GPR37 cDNA within the sequence encoding the presumed third transmembrane domain. Northern blot analysis with GPR37 probes revealed a main 3.8-kb mRNA and a less abundant 8-kb mRNA, both expressed in human brain tissues, particularly in corpus callosum, medulla, putamen, and caudate nucleus. The lowest level of expression was detected in cerebellum. The 3.8-kb mRNA is also less abundantly expressed in liver and placenta. Although the ligand for the putative GPR37 receptor has not been identified, its deduced amino acid sequence shows a high degree of homology (∼40% in the transmembrane regions) with most mammalian peptide-specific G-protein-coupled receptors and particularly with the human endothelin-B, bombesin-BB1, and bombesin-BB2 receptors.

Organized inclusions in astrocytic and amorphous inclusions in neuronal mitochondria of human frontal brain tissue

Brain tissue specimens were obtained early post mortem from the frontal lobe of seven unselected elderly subjects known to have been free of neurologic disease. Electron microscopically, two types of intramitochondrial inclusions were seen in four of seven cases. In two cases a few astrocyte mitochondria of the gyral white matter showed dense, elongated inclusions with an ordered linear substructure. These inclusions were, as a rule, accompanied by a row of prismatic cristae. In three cases some nerve cell mitochondria contained amorphous material of medium density and compact appearance. The globular masses often occupied the whole width of the mitochondrion. A relationship between the observed finding and a particular disease or morbid condition was not apparent. The inclusions are regarded as the morphologic substrate of a nonspecific metabolic change or degenerative process of the mitochondrion.