1
|
Serrano Del Pueblo VM, Serrano-Heras G, Romero Sánchez CM, Piqueras Landete P, Rojas-Bartolome L, Feria I, Morris RGM, Strange B, Mansilla F, Zhang L, Castro-Robles B, Arias-Salazar L, López-López S, Payá M, Segura T, Muñoz-López M. Brain and cognitive changes in patients with long COVID compared with infection-recovered control subjects. Brain 2024:awae101. [PMID: 38562097 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awae101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Between 2.5 and 28% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 suffer Long COVID or persistence of symptoms for months after acute illness. Many symptoms are neurological, but the brain changes underlying the neuropsychological impairments remain unclear. This study aimed to provide a detailed description of the cognitive profile, the pattern of brain alterations in Long COVID and the potential association between them. To address these objectives, 83 patients with persistent neurological symptoms after COVID-19 were recruited, and 22 now healthy controls chosen because they had suffered COVID-19 but did not experience persistent neurological symptoms. Patients and controls were matched for age, sex and educational level. All participants were assessed by clinical interview, comprehensive standardized neuropsychological tests and structural MRI. The mean global cognitive function of patients with Long COVID assessed by ACE III screening test (Overall Cognitive level - OCLz= -0.39± 0.12) was significantly below the infection recovered-controls (OCLz= +0.32± 0.16, p< 0.01). We observed that 48% of patients with Long COVID had episodic memory deficit, with 27% also impaired overall cognitive function, especially attention, working memory, processing speed and verbal fluency. The MRI examination included grey matter morphometry and whole brain structural connectivity analysis. Compared to infection recovered controls, patients had thinner cortex in a specific cluster centred on the left posterior superior temporal gyrus. In addition, lower fractional anisotropy (FA) and higher radial diffusivity (RD) were observed in widespread areas of the patients' cerebral white matter relative to these controls. Correlations between cognitive status and brain abnormalities revealed a relationship between altered connectivity of white matter regions and impairments of episodic memory, overall cognitive function, attention and verbal fluency. This study shows that patients with neurological Long COVID suffer brain changes, especially in several white matter areas, and these are associated with impairments of specific cognitive functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Gemma Serrano-Heras
- Research Unit. University General Hospital of Albacete, 02008 Albacete, Spain
| | | | | | | | - Inmaculada Feria
- Neurology Service, University General Hospital of Albacete, 02008 Albacete, Spain
| | | | - Bryan Strange
- The Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Madrid Polytechnic University, IdISSC, 28223 Madrid, Spain
- Reina Sofia Centre for Alzheimer's Research, 28031 Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Mansilla
- Radiology Service, University Hospital Complex of Albacete and Mansilla Diagnostic Imaging Clinic, 02008 Albacete, Spain
| | - Linda Zhang
- The Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Madrid Polytechnic University, IdISSC, 28223 Madrid, Spain
- Reina Sofia Centre for Alzheimer's Research, 28031 Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Susana López-López
- Research Unit. University General Hospital of Albacete, 02008 Albacete, Spain
| | - María Payá
- Neurology Service, University General Hospital of Albacete, 02008 Albacete, Spain
| | - Tomás Segura
- Faculty of Medicine, Albacete, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02008 Albacete, Spain
- Neurology Service, University General Hospital of Albacete, 02008 Albacete, Spain
- Institute for Research in Neurological Disabilities (IDINE), 02008 Albacete, Spain
| | - Mónica Muñoz-López
- Faculty of Medicine, Albacete, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02008 Albacete, Spain
- Regional Centre for Biomedical Research (CRIB), 02008 Albacete, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Morales L, Castro-Robles B, Abellán A, Desfilis E, Medina L. A novel telencephalon-opto-hypothalamic morphogenetic domain coexpressing Foxg1 and Otp produces most of the glutamatergic neurons of the medial extended amygdala. J Comp Neurol 2021; 529:2418-2449. [PMID: 33386618 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 12/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in social cognition and behavior are a hallmark of many psychiatric disorders. The medial extended amygdala, including the medial amygdala and the medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, is a key component of functional networks involved in sociality. However, this nuclear complex is highly heterogeneous and contains numerous GABAergic and glutamatergic neuron subpopulations. Deciphering the connections of different neurons is essential in order to understand how this structure regulates different aspects of sociality, and it is necessary to evaluate their differential implication in distinct mental disorders. Developmental studies in different vertebrates are offering new venues to understand neuronal diversity of the medial extended amygdala and are helping to establish a relation between the embryonic origin and molecular signature of distinct neurons with the functional subcircuits in which they are engaged. These studies have provided many details on the distinct GABAergic neurons of the medial extended amygdala, but information on the glutamatergic neurons is still scarce. Using an Otp-eGFP transgenic mouse and multiple fluorescent labeling, we show that most glutamatergic neurons of the medial extended amygdala originate in a distinct telencephalon-opto-hypothalamic embryonic domain (TOH), located at the transition between telencephalon and hypothalamus, which produces Otp-lineage neurons expressing the telencephalic marker Foxg1 but not Nkx2.1 during development. These glutamatergic cells include a subpopulation of projection neurons of the medial amygdala, which activation has been previously shown to promote autistic-like behavior. Our data open new venues for studying the implication of this neuron subtype in neurodevelopmental disorders producing social deficits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lorena Morales
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Lleida's Institute for Biomedical Research-Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Beatriz Castro-Robles
- Laboratory of Cerebrovascular, Neurodegenerative and Neuro-oncology Diseases, Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
| | - Antonio Abellán
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Lleida's Institute for Biomedical Research-Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Ester Desfilis
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Lleida's Institute for Biomedical Research-Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Loreta Medina
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Lleida's Institute for Biomedical Research-Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), Catalonia, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Serrano-Heras G, Castro-Robles B, Romero-Sánchez CM, Carrión B, Barbella-Aponte R, Sandoval H, Segura T. Involvement of N-methylpurine DNA glycosylase in resistance to temozolomide in patient-derived glioma cells. Sci Rep 2020; 10:22185. [PMID: 33335215 PMCID: PMC7747563 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78868-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemotherapy for high-grade astrocytic tumors is mainly based on the use of temozolomide (TMZ), whose efficacy is limited by resistance mechanisms. Despite many investigations pointing to O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) as being responsible for tumor chemo-resistance, its expression does not predict an accurate response in most gliomas, suggesting that MGMT is not the only determinant of response to treatment. In this sense, several reports indicate that N-methylpurine-DNA-glycosylase (MPG) may be involved in that resistance. With that in mind, we evaluated for the first time the degree of resistance to TMZ treatment in 18 patient-derived glioma cells and its association with MGMT and MPG mRNA levels. Viability cell assays showed that TMZ treatment hardly caused growth inhibition in the patient-derived cells, even in high concentrations, indicating that all primary cultures were chemo-resistant. mRNA expression analyses showed that the TMZ-resistant phenotype displayed by cells is associated with an elevated expression of MPG to a greater extent than it is with transcript levels of MGMT. Our findings suggest that not only is MGMT implicated in resistance to TMZ but MPG, the first enzyme in base excision repair processing, is also involved, supporting its potential role as a target in anti-resistance chemotherapy for astrocytoma and glioblastoma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gemma Serrano-Heras
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, 02008, Albacete, Spain.
| | - Beatriz Castro-Robles
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, 02008, Albacete, Spain
| | | | - Blanca Carrión
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, 02008, Albacete, Spain
| | - Rosa Barbella-Aponte
- Department of Anatomical Pathology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Hernán Sandoval
- Department of Neurosurgery, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Tomás Segura
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain.,Instituto de Investigación en Discapacidades Neurólogicas (IDINE), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Serrano-Heras G, Díaz-Maroto I, Castro-Robles B, Carrión B, Perona-Moratalla AB, Gracia J, Arteaga S, Hernández-Fernández F, García-García J, Ayo-Martín O, Segura T. Isolation and Quantification of Blood Apoptotic Bodies, a Non-invasive Tool to Evaluate Apoptosis in Patients with Ischemic Stroke and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Biol Proced Online 2020; 22:17. [PMID: 32765191 PMCID: PMC7395395 DOI: 10.1186/s12575-020-00130-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Improper regulation of apoptosis has been postulated as one of the main factors that contributes to the etiology and/or progression of several prevalent diseases, including ischemic stroke and neurodegenerative pathologies. Consequently, in the last few years, there has been an ever-growing interest in the in vivo study of apoptosis. The clinical application of the tissue sampling and imaging approaches to analyze apoptosis in neurological diseases is, however, limited. Since apoptotic bodies are membrane vesicles that are released from fragmented apoptotic cells, it follows that the presence of these vesicles in the bloodstream is likely due to the apoptotic death of cells in tissues. We therefore propose to use circulating apoptotic bodies as biomarkers for measuring apoptotic death in patients with ischemic stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. Results Since there is no scientific literature establishing the most appropriate method for collecting and enumerating apoptotic bodies from human blood samples. Authors, here, describe a reproducible centrifugation-based method combined with flow cytometry analysis to isolate and quantify plasma apoptotic bodies of patients with ischemic stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and also in healthy controls. Electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and proteomic characterization in combination with flow cytometry studies revealed that our isolation method achieves notable recovery rates of highly-purified intact apoptotic bodies. Conclusions This easy, minimally time consuming and effective procedure for isolating and quantifying plasma apoptotic bodies could help physicians to implement the use of such vesicles as a non-invasive tool to monitor apoptosis in patients with cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases for prognostic purposes and for monitoring disease activity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gemma Serrano-Heras
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, CP: 02008, Albacete, Spain
| | - Inmaculada Díaz-Maroto
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Beatriz Castro-Robles
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, CP: 02008, Albacete, Spain
| | - Blanca Carrión
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, CP: 02008, Albacete, Spain
| | - Ana B Perona-Moratalla
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Julia Gracia
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Sandra Arteaga
- Research Unit, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Laurel, s/n, CP: 02008, Albacete, Spain
| | | | - Jorge García-García
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Oscar Ayo-Martín
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain
| | - Tomás Segura
- Department of Neurology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, Spain.,Instituto de Investigación en Discapacidades Neurológicas (IDINE), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Morales-Delgado N, Castro-Robles B, Ferrán JL, Martinez-de-la-Torre M, Puelles L, Díaz C. Regionalized differentiation of CRH, TRH, and GHRH peptidergic neurons in the mouse hypothalamus. Brain Struct Funct 2013; 219:1083-111. [PMID: 24337236 PMCID: PMC4013449 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-013-0554-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2013] [Accepted: 04/11/2013] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
According to the updated prosomeric model, the hypothalamus is subdivided rostrocaudally into terminal and peduncular parts, and dorsoventrally into alar, basal, and floor longitudinal zones. In this context, we examined the ontogeny of peptidergic cell populations expressing Crh, Trh, and Ghrh mRNAs in the mouse hypothalamus, comparing their distribution relative to the major progenitor domains characterized by molecular markers such as Otp, Sim1, Dlx5, Arx, Gsh1, and Nkx2.1. All three neuronal types originate mainly in the peduncular paraventricular domain and less importantly at the terminal paraventricular domain; both are characteristic alar Otp/Sim1-positive areas. Trh and Ghrh cells appeared specifically at the ventral subdomain of the cited areas after E10.5. Additional Ghrh cells emerged separately at the tuberal arcuate area, characterized by Nkx2.1 expression. Crh-positive cells emerged instead in the central part of the peduncular paraventricular domain at E13.5 and remained there. In contrast, as development progresses (E13.5-E18.5) many alar Ghrh and Trh cells translocate into the alar subparaventricular area, and often also into underlying basal neighborhoods expressing Nkx2.1 and/or Dlx5, such as the tuberal and retrotuberal areas, becoming partly or totally depleted at the original birth sites. Our data correlate a topologic map of molecularly defined hypothalamic progenitor areas with three types of specific neurons, each with restricted spatial origins and differential migratory behavior during prenatal hypothalamic development. The study may be useful for detailed causal analysis of the respective differential specification mechanisms. The postulated migrations also contribute to our understanding of adult hypothalamic complexity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicanor Morales-Delgado
- Department of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Regional Centre for Biomedical Research and Institute for Research in Neurological Disabilities, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Calle Almansa, 14, 02006, Albacete, Spain
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|