Changes of evoked potential in different hippocampal regions induced by electrostimulation at medial mamillary nucleus of rats

BACKGROUND： Morphological data have shown that the most important afferent fibers of papillary body come from hippocampal structure.OBJECTIVE： To observe the changes of evoked potential in hippocampus and the significance after electrostimulation at medial mamillary nucleus. DESIGN： An observational control experiment.SETTING： Department of Physiology, Shenyang Medical College.MATERIALS ： Twenty-three male or female Wistar rats, 3-4 months old, weighing 270-350 g, were provided by bhe animal room of Shenyang Medical College [the license number was scxk（Liao）2003-0016]. METHODS： The Wistar rats were anaesthetized by intraperintoneal injection of 20% urethane （1 g/kg）, tracheal intubation was also given. The self-made double-pole metal stimulating electrode with the point diameter of 1 mm was inserted into medial mamillary nucleus, the wanted hippocampal guidance spot was found within the rang of the hippocampal region at the same side of tee mamillary body range （CA1-CA4）, inserted with same-core guidance electrode, a sole square-wave stimulation of wave wide 0.2 ms stimulated with electrodes at the applied intensity of 7-9 V, the evoked potential was induced through guidance electrodes, and then input to the ATAC-350 data-processing machine for memory showing wave processing, the memory recorded wave recording graph was separately drawn up by the X-Y recording instrument to observe the latency, time procedure and amplitude of the evoked potential in each hippocampal region of the rats and calculate the percentage of the evoked potential in each hippocampal region. Totally 78 guidance spots in hippocampus were recorded, including 30 positive reaction spots and 48 negative ones. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： ① Latency, time procedure and amplitude of the evoked potentials in each hippocampal region of rats; ②percentage of the evoked potentials in each hippocampal region; ③ the wave shapes of the evoked potentials in each hippocampal region from different arrangement in the same positive reaction spot. RESULTS ：① Of the 30 recorded positive reactions, 9 positive spots fused into the stimulated false marks because of the short latency. The analysis of variance showed that the latency had significant difference （P 〈 0.05）, time procedure had highly significant difference （P 〈 0.01 ）, but there was no significant difference in the amplitude （P 〉 0.05） among the hippampal regions.② Among the 30 positive spots, the percentage of evoked potential in the hippocampal regions were 34.5% for CA1, 2.0% for CA2, 24.1% for CA3 and 22.4% for CA4. ③ In different levels of the same positive spot, different changes of the evoked potential wave shapes could be observed, and the most obvious change was that of positive wave amplitude. At different positive spots, evoked potentials of positive phase, negative and the double-phase could be observed. CONCLUSION： There are nerve associations between mamillary body and hippocampus, afferent fibers of mamillary body come from hippocampal CA1 region are a little more.

Effects of electrostimulation and administration of succinylcholine on the expression of Fos protein in mesencephalic periaqueductal gray matter of rats after simulated weightlessness

BACKGROUND： Expression of Fos in neurons of periaqueductal gray （PAG） is used to reflect the excitability. However, changes of expression of Fos in neurons of PAG are caused by injured electrostimulation after simulated weightlessness, and the relationship between pretreatment and injection of succinylcholine has not been determined yet. OBJECTIVE ： To investigate the changes of expression of Fos in PAG induced by injured electrostimulation pretreatment and injection of succinylcholine at 2 weeks after simulated weightlessness.DESIGN： Observational and controlled animal study.SETTING： Department of Physiology, Medical School, Xi＇an Jiaotong University; Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education. MATERIALS： A total of 24 adult female SD rats, of clean grade and weighing 180-220 g, were selected in this study. METHODS： The experiment was completed in the Experimental Animal Center of Xi＇an Jiaotong University.① All rats were randomly divided into 2 groups according to body mass： simulated weightlessness group and control group with 12 in each group. And then, each group was also divided into 3 subgroups： electrostimulation group, succinylcholine-pretreatment group and succinylcholine-injection group with 4 in each subgroup. ②The model of weightlessness was simulated by tail-suspended female rats, which were described and modified by Cheng Jie. Rats in normal control group were given the same interventions as simulated weightlessness group except for tail-suspended. ③ Experimental method： The rats in electrostimulation group were given nociceptive stimulus by a pair of subcutaneous electrodes inserted into 1 and 5 claw of left hindlimb. The stimulus （current： 10 mA; duration： 1 ms; interval： 1 s） lasted for 30 minutes. The rats in succinylcholine-pretreatment group received stimulus after intravenous administration of succinylcholine, rats in succinylcholine-injection group were not given stimulus, just received succinylcholine. ④ All rats were perfused and fixed after 2 hours from the end of stimulation. The brains were removed, and serial frozen sections of midbrain were stained using immunocytochemical method, observed and taken photos under light-microscope. The number and morphological characters of Fos-immunoreactive （Fos-IR） neurons in ventrolateral part of PAG were investigated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： The alterations in number and morphological characters of Fos-IR neurons in ventrolateral PAG of all rats.RESULTS： A total of 24 rats were involved in the final analysis. ① The morphological changes of Fos-IR neurons： The expressions of Fos in ventrolateral part of PAG were observed in both control and simulated weightlessness groups rats after being given nociceptive stimulus. As compared with control group, Fos-IR neurons in simulated weightlessness group were dyed lightly, cellular integrity was impaired, and cellular verge was unclear. ② The numbers of Fos-IR neurons： In control group, the numbers of Fos-IR neurons in ventrolateral part of PAG in simulated weightlessness group were obviously lower than succinylcholine-pretreatment group, but obviously higher than succinylcholine-injection group （46.94±3.38, 71.06±8.96 and 35.04±4.62, respectively, P 〈 0.05）. In 14-day simulated weightlessness group, the numbers of Fos-IR neurons in electrostimulation group were also obviously lower than succinylcholine-pretreatment group, and obviously higher than succinylcholine-injection group （27.77±3.27, 32.91±2.99 and 11.75±1.00, respectively, P 〈 0.05）. The numbers of Fos-IR neurons in all subgroups in control group were obviously higher than those subgroups in simulated weightlessness group. Compared with electrostimulation group, the percentage of expression of Fos in ventrolateral part of PAG responsed to nociceptive stimulus after administration of succinylcholine （SCH） was increased to 51.83% in control group and 18.51% in simulated weightlessness group.CONCLUSION ：① The expression of Fos in neurons in ventrolateral part of PAG were increased by the pretreatment of SCH before nociceptive stimulus.② Nociceptive stimulus could increase the expression of Fos in neurons in ventrolateral part of PAG. ③ The numbers of Fos-IR neurons in ventrolateral part of PAG were decreased obviously after 2-week simulated weightlessness.

Robot Animals Based on Brain-Computer Interface

The study of robot animals based on brain-computer interface （BCI） technology is an important field in robots and neuroscience at present. In this paper, the development status at home and abroad of the motion control of robot based on BCI and principle of robot animals are introduced, then a new animals＇ behavior control method by photostimulation is presented. At last, the application prospect is provided.

Pelvic muscle floor rehabilitation as a therapeutic option in lifelong premature ejaculation： long-term outcomes

The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of pelvic floor muscle （PFM） rehabilitation in males with lifelong premature ejaculation （PE）, using intravaginal ejaculatory latency time （IELT） and the self-report Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool （PEDT） as primary outcomes. A total of 154 participants were retrospectively reviewed in this study, with 122 completing the training protocol. At baseline, all participants had an IELT 〈60 s and PEDT score 〉11. Participants completed a 12-week program of PFM rehabilitation, including physio-kinesiotherapy treatment, electrostimulation, and biofeedback, with three sessions per week, with 20 min for each component completed at each session. The effectiveness of intervention was evaluated by comparing the change in the geometric mean of IELT and PEDT values, from baseline, at 3, 6, and 12 months during the intervention, and at 24 and 36 months postintervention, using a paired sample 2-tailed t-test, including the associated 95% confidence intervals. Of the 122 participants who completed PFM rehabilitation, 111 gained control of their ejaculation reflex, with a mean IELT of 161.6 s and PEDT score of 2.3 at the 12-week endpoint of the intervention, representing an increase from baseline of 40.4 s and 17.0 scores, respectively, for IELT and PEDT （P 〈 0.0001）. Of the 95 participants who completed the 36-month follow-up, 64% and 56% maintained satisfactory eiaculation control at 24 and 36 months oostintervention, respectively.