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Adedara IA, Mohammed KA, Canzian J, Ajayi BO, Farombi EO, Emanuelli T, Rosemberg DB, Aschner M. Utility of zebrafish-based models in understanding molecular mechanisms of neurotoxicity mediated by the gut-brain axis. ADVANCES IN NEUROTOXICOLOGY 2024; 11:177-208. [PMID: 38741945 PMCID: PMC11090488 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ant.2024.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
The gut microbes perform several beneficial functions which impact the periphery and central nervous systems of the host. Gut microbiota dysbiosis is acknowledged as a major contributor to the development of several neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. Thus, elucidation of how the gut microbiota-brain axis plays a role in health and disease conditions is a potential novel approach to prevent and treat brain disorders. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an invaluable vertebrate model that possesses conserved brain and intestinal features with those of humans, thus making zebrafish a valued model to investigate the interplay between the gut microbiota and host health. This chapter describes current findings on the utility of zebrafish in understanding molecular mechanisms of neurotoxicity mediated via the gut microbiota-brain axis. Specifically, it highlights the utility of zebrafish as a model organism for understanding how anthropogenic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and bacteria exposure affect animals and human health via the gut-brain axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac A. Adedara
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
| | - Khadija A. Mohammed
- Laboratory of Experimental Neuropsychobiology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
- Graduate Program in Biological Sciences: Toxicological Biochemistry, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
| | - Julia Canzian
- Laboratory of Experimental Neuropsychobiology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
- Graduate Program in Biological Sciences: Toxicological Biochemistry, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
| | - Babajide O. Ajayi
- Graduate Program in Biological Sciences: Toxicological Biochemistry, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria
| | - Ebenezer O. Farombi
- Drug Metabolism and Toxicology Research Laboratories, Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
| | - Tatiana Emanuelli
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Center of Rural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
| | - Denis B. Rosemberg
- Laboratory of Experimental Neuropsychobiology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
- Graduate Program in Biological Sciences: Toxicological Biochemistry, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
- The International Zebrafish Neuroscience Research Consortium (ZNRC), Slidell, LA, United States
| | - Michael Aschner
- Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, United States
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de C Williams AC. Pain: Behavioural expression and response in an evolutionary framework. Evol Med Public Health 2023; 11:429-437. [PMID: 38022798 PMCID: PMC10656790 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoad038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2023] [Revised: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
An evolutionary perspective offers insights into the major public health problem of chronic (persistent) pain; behaviours associated with it perpetuate both pain and disability. Pain is motivating, and pain-related behaviours promote recovery by immediate active or passive defence; subsequent protection of wounds; suppression of competing responses; energy conservation; vigilance to threat; and learned avoidance of associated cues. When these persist beyond healing, as in chronic pain, they are disabling. In mammals, facial and bodily expression of pain is visible and identifiable by others, while social context, including conspecifics' responses, modulate pain. Studies of responses to pain emphasize onlooker empathy, but people with chronic pain report feeling disbelieved and stigmatized. Observers frequently discount others' pain, best understood in terms of cheater detection-alertness to free riders that underpins the capacity for prosocial behaviours. These dynamics occur both in everyday life and in clinical encounters, providing an account of the adaptiveness of pain-related behaviours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda C de C Williams
- Research Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, University College London, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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3
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Guerra DP, Wang W, Souza KA, Moscarello JM. A sex-specific role for the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in proactive defensive behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023:10.1038/s41386-023-01581-9. [PMID: 37142666 PMCID: PMC10267121 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01581-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2022] [Revised: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is a forebrain region implicated in aversive responses to uncertain threat. Much of the work on the role of BNST in defensive behavior has used Pavlovian paradigms in which the subject reacts to aversive stimuli delivered in a pattern determined entirely by the experimenter. Here, we explore the contribution of BNST to a task in which subjects learn a proactive response that prevents the delivery of an aversive outcome. To this end, male and female rats were trained to shuttle during a tone to avoid shock in a standard two-way signaled active avoidance paradigm. Chemogenetic inhibition (hM4Di) of BNST attenuated the expression of the avoidance response in male but not female rats. Inactivation of the neighboring medial septum in males produced no effect on avoidance, demonstrating that our effect was specific to BNST. A follow up study comparing hM4Di inhibition to hM3Dq activation of BNST in males replicated the effect of inhibition and demonstrated that activation of BNST extended the period of tone-evoked shuttling. These data support the novel conclusion that BNST mediates two-way avoidance behavior in male rats and suggest the intriguing possibility that the systems underlying proactive defensive behavior are sex-specific.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana P Guerra
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Wei Wang
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Karienn A Souza
- Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, TX, USA
- Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience (TAMIN), Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Justin M Moscarello
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
- Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience (TAMIN), Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
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Binti Affandi AH, Pike AC, Robinson OJ. Threat of shock promotes passive avoidance, but not active avoidance. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 55:2571-2580. [PMID: 33714211 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety and stress are adaptive responses to threat that promote harm avoidance. In particular, prior work has shown that anxiety induced in humans using threat of unpredictable shock promotes behavioral inhibition in the face of harm. This is consistent with the idea that anxiety promotes passive avoidance-that is, withholding approach actions that could lead to harm. However, harm can also be avoided through active avoidance, where a (withdrawal) action is taken to avoid harm. Here, we provide the first direct within-study comparison of the effects of threat of shock on active and passive avoidance. We operationalize passive avoidance as withholding a button press response in the face of negative outcomes, and active avoidance as lifting/releasing a button press in the face of negative outcomes. We explore the impact of threat of unpredictable shock on the learning of these behavioral responses (alongside matched responses to rewards) within a single cognitive task. We predicted that threat of shock would promote both active and passive avoidance, and that this would be driven by increased reliance on Pavlovian bias, as parameterized within reinforcement-learning models. Consistent with our predictions, we provide evidence that threat of shock promotes passive avoidance as conceptualized by our task. However, inconsistent with predictions, we found no evidence that threat of shock promoted active avoidance, nor evidence of elevated Pavlovian bias in any condition. One hypothetical framework with which to understand these findings is that anxiety promotes passive over active harm avoidance strategies in order to conserve energy while avoiding harm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aida Helana Binti Affandi
- Anxiety Lab, Neuroscience and Mental Health Group, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Alexandra C Pike
- Anxiety Lab, Neuroscience and Mental Health Group, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Oliver Joe Robinson
- Anxiety Lab, Neuroscience and Mental Health Group, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
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Demyttenaere K, Heirman E. The blurred line between anxiety and depression: hesitations on comorbidity, thresholds and hierarchy. Int Rev Psychiatry 2020; 32:455-465. [PMID: 32436448 DOI: 10.1080/09540261.2020.1764509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The delineation of anxiety and depression as well as the relation between anxiety and depression are still subject of debate. Many patients suffering from depression also suffer from anxiety, and many patients with anxiety suffer or will suffer from depression. The co-occurrence or co-morbidity is higher than what could be expected based on their respective prevalences, and even pushed some authors to call it cothymia. This epidemiological and clinical reality results in many conceptual hesitations. We first will summarize how the different (versions of the) classification systems do not seem to have been successful in their attempts to delineate the blurred line between depression and anxiety, before questioning whether a dialogue with a more phenomenological or psychopathological approach could be helpful in understanding the articulation between both affective phenomena, as well as in bridging neurobiological research and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen Demyttenaere
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,KU University Psychiatric Center, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Elke Heirman
- KU University Psychiatric Center, Leuven, Belgium
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7
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Nesse RM, Schulkin J. An evolutionary medicine perspective on pain and its disorders. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20190288. [PMID: 31544605 PMCID: PMC6790386 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Enormous progress in understanding the mechanisms that mediate pain can be augmented by an evolutionary medicine perspective on how the capacity for pain gives selective advantages, the trade-offs that shaped the mechanisms, and evolutionary explanations for the system's vulnerability to excessive and chronic pain. Syndromes of deficient pain document tragically the utility of pain to motivate escape from and avoidance of situations causing tissue damage. Much apparently excessive pain is actually normal because the cost of more pain is often vastly less than the cost of too little pain (the smoke detector principle). Vulnerability to pathological pain may be explained in part because natural selection has shaped mechanisms that respond adaptively to repeated tissue damage by decreasing the pain threshold and increasing pain salience. The other half of an evolutionary approach describes the phylogeny of pain mechanisms; the apparent independence of different kinds of pain is of special interest. Painful mental states such as anxiety, guilt and low mood may have evolved from physical pain precursors. Preliminary evidence for this is found in anatomic and genetic data. Such insights from evolutionary medicine may help in understanding vulnerability to chronic pain. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Randolph M Nesse
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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Fung BJ, Qi S, Hassabis D, Daw N, Mobbs D. Slow escape decisions are swayed by trait anxiety. Nat Hum Behav 2019; 3:702-708. [PMID: 31110337 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0595-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2018] [Accepted: 03/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Theoretical models distinguish between neural responses elicited by distal threats and those evoked by more immediate threats1-3. Specifically, slower 'cognitive' fear responses towards distal threats involve a network of brain regions including the ventral hippocampus (vHPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), while immediate 'reactive' fear responses rely on regions such as the periaqueductal grey4,5. However, it is unclear how anxiety and its neural substrates relate to these distinct defensive survival circuits. We tested whether individual differences in trait anxiety would impact escape behaviour and neural responses to slow and fast attacking predators: conditions designed to evoke cognitive and reactive fear, respectively. Behaviourally, we found that trait anxiety was not related to escape decisions for fast threats, but individuals with higher trait anxiety escaped earlier during slow threats. Functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that when subjects faced slow threats, trait anxiety positively correlated with activity in the vHPC, mPFC, amygdala and insula. Furthermore, the strength of functional coupling between two components of the cognitive circuit-the vHPC and mPFC-was correlated with the degree of trait anxiety. This suggests that anxiety predominantly affects cognitive fear circuits that are involved in volitional strategic escape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bowen J Fung
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
| | - Song Qi
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | | | - Nathaniel Daw
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Dean Mobbs
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
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Tabor A, Vollaard N, Keogh E, Eccleston C. Predicting the consequences of physical activity: An investigation into the relationship between anxiety sensitivity, interoceptive accuracy and action. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0210853. [PMID: 30921331 PMCID: PMC6438567 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2017] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to predict the consequences of our actions is imperative for the everyday success of our interactions. From negotiating an uneven surface, to mounting an immune response, we continually infer the limits of our body. The current investigation considered the impact that the inferred consequences of action has on the placement of limits. We hypothesised that the performance of individuals in a novel, sprint task would reflect both their ability to accurately detect changes in bodily arousal (Interoceptive Accuracy) and the inferred consequences associated with heightened arousal signals (Anxiety Sensitivity). We found that individuals who demonstrated accuracy associated with physiological arousal changes, and who showed a heightened fear of the consequences of arousal symptoms, modified their actions by decreasing their power output (mean Watts•kg-1) in a sprint task (ΔR2 = 0.19; F(1,34) = 19.87); p<0.001). These findings provide a basis for understanding the varying actions taken as we encounter bodily perturbation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abby Tabor
- Centre for Pain Research, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Niels Vollaard
- Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Edmund Keogh
- Centre for Pain Research, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Eccleston
- Centre for Pain Research, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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10
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Chumbley J, Steinhoff A. A computational perspective on social attachment. Infant Behav Dev 2019; 54:85-98. [PMID: 30641469 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2018] [Revised: 12/07/2018] [Accepted: 12/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Humans depend on social relationships for survival and wellbeing throughout life. Yet, individuals differ markedly in their ability to form and maintain healthy social relationships. Here we use a simple mathematical model to formalize the contention that a person's attachment style is determined by what they learn from relationships early in life. For the sake of argument, we therefore discount individual differences in the innate personality or attachment style of a child, assuming instead that all children are simply born with an equivalent, generic, hardwired desire and instinct for social proximity, and a capacity to learn. In line with the evidence, this innate endowment incorporates both simple bonding instincts and a capacity for cognitively sophisticated beliefs and generalizations. Under this assumption, we then explore how distinct attachment styles might emerge through interaction with the child's early caregivers. Our central question is, how an apparently adaptive capacity to learn can yield enduring maladaptive attachment styles that generalize to new relationships. We believe extensions of our model will ultimately help clarify the complex interacting mechanisms - both acquired and innate - that underpin individual differences in attachment styles. While our model is relatively abstract, we also attempt some connection to known biological mechanisms of attachment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Chumbley
- Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Annekatrin Steinhoff
- Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich, Switzerland
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Frankenhuis WE, Nettle D, McNamara JM. Echoes of Early Life: Recent Insights From Mathematical Modeling. Child Dev 2018; 89:1504-1518. [PMID: 29947096 PMCID: PMC6175464 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
In the last decades, developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) has emerged as a central framework for studying early‐life effects, that is, the impact of fetal and early postnatal experience on adult functioning. Apace with empirical progress, theoreticians have built mathematical models that provide novel insights for DOHaD. This article focuses on three of these insights, which show the power of environmental noise (i.e., imperfect indicators of current and future conditions) in shaping development. Such noise can produce: (a) detrimental outcomes even in ontogenetically stable environments, (b) individual differences in sensitive periods, and (c) early‐life effects tailored to predicted future somatic states. We argue that these insights extend DOHaD and offer new research directions.
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12
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Bergstrom CT, Meacham F. Depression and anxiety: maladaptive byproducts of adaptive mechanisms. EVOLUTION MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2016; 2016:214-8. [PMID: 27378798 PMCID: PMC4972939 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eow019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2016] [Accepted: 06/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Carl T Bergstrom
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98125, USA
| | - Frazer Meacham
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98125, USA
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