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Brain Sciences
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Imaging of Neuronal Environments
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Imaging of Neuronal Environments

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurotechnology and Neuroimaging".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 May 2021) | Viewed by 22132

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Silvia Middei

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Guest Editor
Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
Interests: synaptic plasticity; memory; neurodegenerative diseases; Autism Spectrum Disorders
Prof. Dr. Elisabetta Ferraro

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Interests: neuromuscular diseases; metabolism; neuroinflammation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Neuroimaging, which allows visualizing the structure and function of neurons and neuronal networks, is essential to monitor the activity of central and peripheral nervous systems as well as to diagnose their pathologies.

Functional neuroimaging in humans performing cognitive tasks, abstract thinking or mental visualization has led to important knowledge about the topography and activity of brain systems, bridging the gap between neuronal activity and subjective experience. In a narrower scale, microscopic visualization of neurons at cellular and subcellular levels has provided important clues for the understanding of cell-to-cell interactions as well as of molecular pathways governing a huge array of cognitive and physiological functions.

These issues have been very well characterized for neuron-to-neuron interaction within the central nervous system. However, much remains to be investigated about neuronal targeting of non-neuronal cells and tissues, or about nervous system interface with other systems.

This Special Issue will focus on neuroimaging studies for visualizing neuronal structure ranging from brain systems to subcellular components in both human and animal models. The emphasis should be on imaging of nervous system interactions with target organs and other tissues or systems.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following areas:

Peripheral nervous system: imaging applications on autonomic (sympathetic and parasympathetic) innervation of target organs and somatic innervation of skeletal muscles;

Neuronal microenvironment(s): imaging of perineuronal nets, including extracellular matrix; visualization of nerves in a tumor microenvironment, including tools for the identification of distributed neurites and specific synaptic markers; imaging of microglia and immune cells;

Immunohistochemistry and/or staining tools and their microscopy applications: characterization of novel antibodies for the localization of antigens in tissue sections; novel staining procedures and/or tracers for neurons, neurites and other subcellular components as well as for neuronal microenvironment components; novel applications of optical techniques; original computational analysis for imaging.

Research papers and case reports presenting original studies that fill the above criteria, as well as review articles that relate to the mentioned topics are welcome to this Special Issue.

Dr. Silvia Middei
Dr. Elisabetta Ferraro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • neuroimaging
  • neuronal microenvironment
  • NMJ (neuromuscular junction)
  • microglia
  • neurites
  • synapses

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review, Other

5 pages, 196 KiB  
Editorial
Neuroimaging Applications for Diagnosis and Therapy of Pathologies in the Central and Peripheral Nervous System
by Silvia Middei
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(2), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12020207 - 1 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2452
Abstract
Imaging in neurosciences allows for the visual representation of micro- and macro-components of the central (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) nervous systems with the intent of investigating their morphology and function, to provide diagnosis and prognosis of neurological diseases and to monitor responses to [...] Read more.
Imaging in neurosciences allows for the visual representation of micro- and macro-components of the central (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) nervous systems with the intent of investigating their morphology and function, to provide diagnosis and prognosis of neurological diseases and to monitor responses to treatments [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)

Research

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12 pages, 1234 KiB  
Article
Peripheral Nerve Impairment in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease
by Alessio Torcinaro, Valentina Ricci, Georgios Strimpakos, Francesca De Santa and Silvia Middei
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(9), 1245; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11091245 - 20 Sep 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2917
Abstract
Sarcopenia, a geriatric syndrome involving loss of muscle mass and strength, is often associated with the early phases of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Pathological hallmarks of AD including amyloid β (Aβ) aggregates which can be found in peripheral tissues such as skeletal muscle. However, [...] Read more.
Sarcopenia, a geriatric syndrome involving loss of muscle mass and strength, is often associated with the early phases of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Pathological hallmarks of AD including amyloid β (Aβ) aggregates which can be found in peripheral tissues such as skeletal muscle. However, not much is currently known about their possible involvement in sarcopenia. We investigated neuronal innervation in skeletal muscle of Tg2576 mice, a genetic model for Aβ accumulation. We examined cholinergic innervation of skeletal muscle in adult Tg2576 and wild type mice by immunofluorescence labeling of tibialis anterior (TA) muscle sections using antibodies raised against neurofilament light chain (NFL) and acetylcholine (ACh) synthesizing enzyme choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). Combining this histological approach with real time quantification of mRNA levels of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, we demonstrated that in the TA of Tg2576 mice, neuronal innervation is significantly reduced and synaptic area is smaller and displays less ChAT content when compared to wild type mice. Our study provides the first evidence of reduced cholinergic innervation of skeletal muscle in a mouse model of Aβ accumulation. This evidence sustains the possibility that sarcopenia in AD originates from Aβ-mediated cholinergic loss. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)
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9 pages, 2092 KiB  
Article
Microglia Morphological Changes in the Motor Cortex of hSOD1G93A Transgenic ALS Mice
by Sara Migliarini, Silvia Scaricamazza, Cristiana Valle, Alberto Ferri, Massimo Pasqualetti and Elisabetta Ferraro
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(6), 807; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11060807 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3474
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by the progressive degeneration of spinal motor neurons as well as corticospinal (CSN) large pyramidal neurons within cortex layer V. An intense microglia immune response has been associated with both upper and lower motor neuron degeneration in [...] Read more.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by the progressive degeneration of spinal motor neurons as well as corticospinal (CSN) large pyramidal neurons within cortex layer V. An intense microglia immune response has been associated with both upper and lower motor neuron degeneration in ALS patients, whereas microgliosis occurrence in the motor cortex of hSOD1G93A mice—the best characterized model of this disease—is not clear and remains under debate. Since the impact of microglia cells in the neuronal environment seems to be crucial for both the initiation and the progression of the disease, here we analyzed the motor cortex of hSOD1G93A mice at the onset of symptoms by the immunolabeling of Iba1/TMEM119 double positive cells and confocal microscopy. By means of Sholl analysis, we were able to identify and quantify the presence of presumably activated Iba1/TMEM119-positive microglia cells with shorter and thicker processes as compared to the normal surveilling and more ramified microglia present in WT cortices. We strongly believe that being able to analyze microglia activation in the motor cortex of hSOD1G93A mice is of great importance for defining the timing and the extent of microglia involvement in CSN degeneration and for the identification of the initiation stages of this disease. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)
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22 pages, 6366 KiB  
Article
Three-Dimensional X-ray Imaging of β-Galactosidase Reporter Activity by Micro-CT: Implication for Quantitative Analysis of Gene Expression
by Olga Ermakova, Tiziana Orsini, Paolo Fruscoloni, Francesco Chiani, Alessia Gambadoro, Sabrina Putti, Maurizio Cirilli, Alessio Mezzi, Saulius Kaciulis, Miriam Pasquini, Marcello Raspa, Ferdinando Scavizzi and Glauco P. Tocchini-Valentini
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(6), 746; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11060746 - 4 Jun 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3554
Abstract
Acquisition of detailed anatomical and molecular knowledge from intact biological samples while preserving their native three-dimensional structure is still a challenging issue for imaging studies aiming to unravel a system’s functions. Three-dimensional micro-CT X-ray imaging with a high spatial resolution in minimally perturbed [...] Read more.
Acquisition of detailed anatomical and molecular knowledge from intact biological samples while preserving their native three-dimensional structure is still a challenging issue for imaging studies aiming to unravel a system’s functions. Three-dimensional micro-CT X-ray imaging with a high spatial resolution in minimally perturbed naive non-transparent samples has recently gained increased popularity and broad application in biomedical research. Here, we describe a novel X-ray-based methodology for analysis of β-galactosidase (lacZ) reporter-driven gene expression in an intact murine brain ex vivo by micro-CT. The method relies on detection of bromine molecules in the product of the enzymatic β-galactosidase reaction. Enhancement of the X-ray signal is observed specifically in the regions of the murine brain where expression of the lacZ reporter gene is also detected histologically. We performed quantitative analysis of the expression levels of lacZ reporter activity by relative radiodensity estimation of the β-galactosidase/X-gal precipitate in situ. To demonstrate the feasibility of the method, we performed expression analysis of the Tsen54-lacZ reporter gene in the murine brain in a semi-quantitative manner. Human mutations in the Tsen54 gene cause pontocerebellar hypoplasia (PCH), a group of severe neurodegenerative disorders with both mental and motor deficits. Comparing relative levels of Tsen54 gene expression, we demonstrate that the highest Tsen54 expression is observed in anatomical brain substructures important for the normal motor and memory functions in mice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)
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14 pages, 739 KiB  
Article
Detection of White Matter Ultrastructural Changes for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Characterization: A Diagnostic Study from Dti-Derived Data
by Fabiola De Marchi, Alessandro Stecco, Zeno Falaschi, Francesco Filippone, Alessio Pasché, Alen Bebeti, Massimiliano Leigheb, Roberto Cantello and Letizia Mazzini
Brain Sci. 2020, 10(12), 996; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10120996 - 16 Dec 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2364
Abstract
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows investigation at the microstructural level, employing techniques able to reveal white matter changes. In the current study, a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis, with a collection of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional [...] Read more.
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows investigation at the microstructural level, employing techniques able to reveal white matter changes. In the current study, a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis, with a collection of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) indexes, was performed in ALS patients to correlate geno- and phenotype features with MRI data, to investigate an in-vivo correlation of different neuropathological patterns. All patients who underwent the MR-DTI analysis were retrospectively recruited. MRI scan was collected within three months from diagnosis. FA and ADC values were collected in corpus callosum (CC), corona radiata (CR), cerebral peduncle (CR), cerebellar peduncle (CbP) and corticospinal tract at posterior limb of internal capsule (CST). DTI analysis performed in the whole ALS cohort revealed significant FA reduction and ADC increase in all selected regions, as widespread changes. Moreover, we observed a higher value of FA in rCR in bulbar patients. A positive correlation between ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised and FA in rCP was evident. In consideration of the non-invasiveness, the reliability and the easy reproducibility of the method, we believe that brain MRI with DTI analyses may represent a valid tool usable as a diagnostic marker in ALS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)
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Review

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11 pages, 1951 KiB  
Review
Diagnostic Accuracy of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Adult Post-Ganglionic Brachial Plexus Traumatic Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
by Massimiliano Leigheb, Stefano Tricca, Ilaria Percivale, Davide Licandro, Andrea Paladini, Michela Barini, Giuseppe Guzzardi, Federico A. Grassi, Alessandro Stecco and Alessandro Carriero
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020173 - 30 Jan 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2653
Abstract
Background: Traumatic brachial plexus injuries are rare but serious consequences of major traumas. Pre-ganglionic lesions are considered irreparable, while post-ganglionic injuries can be potentially treated if an early diagnosis is available. Pre-surgical diagnosis is important to distinguish low-grade from high-grade lesions and to [...] Read more.
Background: Traumatic brachial plexus injuries are rare but serious consequences of major traumas. Pre-ganglionic lesions are considered irreparable, while post-ganglionic injuries can be potentially treated if an early diagnosis is available. Pre-surgical diagnosis is important to distinguish low-grade from high-grade lesions and to identify their location. The aim of the review is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the identification of adult post-ganglionic lesions due to traumatic brachial plexus injuries, compared to intraoperative findings. Methods: Research on the main scientific electronic databases was conducted. Studies of adults with traumatic post-ganglionic brachial plexus injuries were included. The index test was preoperative MRI and the reference standard was surgical exploration. Pooled sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Results: Four studies were included for the systematic review, of which three articles met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. Pooled sensitivity and pooled specificity values resulted high. The sensitivity value is associated with a high heterogeneity index of the selected literature. Conclusion: MRI can be considered, despite the limits, the gold standard exam in morphological evaluation of brachial plexus injuries, particularly in the diagnosis of post-ganglionic traumatic injuries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)
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Other

8 pages, 1722 KiB  
Case Report
Intracranial Carotid Artery Aneurysm Treatment: First Reported Case of DERIVO®Flow-Diverter Placement by Direct Carotid Artery Puncture
by Giuseppe Guzzardi, Bruno Del Sette, Carmelo Stanca, Andrea Paladini, Andrea Galbiati, Marco Spinetta, Massimiliano Cernigliaro, Massimiliano Leigheb and Alessandro Carriero
Brain Sci. 2020, 10(5), 320; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050320 - 25 May 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3786
Abstract
Brain health may be threatened by aneurysm ruptures, and early recognition of these vascular malformations allows for neuroradiological intervention. Neurointerventional procedures are usually performed with femoral artery access. In patients with severe anatomical complexity of the supra-aortic vessels, however, treatment by this approach [...] Read more.
Brain health may be threatened by aneurysm ruptures, and early recognition of these vascular malformations allows for neuroradiological intervention. Neurointerventional procedures are usually performed with femoral artery access. In patients with severe anatomical complexity of the supra-aortic vessels, however, treatment by this approach could be hindered or impossible. Flow-diverter stent deployment is an effective and safe treatment for large, wide necked intracranial aneurysms, but it requires a complete and firm stability of the coaxial system to achieve a correct and precise deployment of the device. We present the first reported Italian case of a patient with an intracranial aneurysm which was treated with Flow-diverter stent (DERIVO®; AcandisGmbH & Co. KG; Pforzheim; Germany) by direct common carotid artery puncture due to severe tortuosity of supra-aortic trunks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging of Neuronal Environments)
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