ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) on cognitive dysfunction in immature epileptic rats. MethodsImmature epileptic rats were established by intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride-pilocarpine (li-pilo). Racine classification standard modified by Becker was used to evaluate behavior of epileptic seizure, and the survival rats within RacineⅣmagnitude were selected in the experiment. The function of learning and memory of epileptic rats when they were adult was assessed using Morris water maze experiment, and their independent exploratory behavior was evaluated by the open-field test. Field potential was recorded by electrophysiological technology to detecte whether hippocampal LTP was essential of cognitive dysfunction. ResultsThe function of learning and memory was significantly impaired when compared with controls(n=8, t=10.86, P < 0.05;n=8, t=9.98, P < 0.05). In addition, independent exploratory behavior was significantly reduced when compared with controls(n=8, t=12.89, P < 0.05). Besides, CA1 hippocampal LTP induced by high-frequency stimulation presented the significant inhibition in epileptic rats with cognitive dysfunction when compared with controls(Slope:n=8, t=13.32, P < 0.05;Amplitude:n=8, t=20.02, P < 0.05). ConclusionInhibition of CA1 hippocampal LTP may be implicated in cognitive dysfunction of epileptic rats.
Epilepsy is defined as a disorder of brain neural function, characterized by the persistent possibility of seizures, which are usually sudden, brief, and recurrent. Cognition is a process of receiving information from the external world and analyzing and processing it, such as memory, language, visual-spatial, executive, calculation, comprehension, and judgement. With the increasing awareness of health, more and more scholars have begun to pay attention to the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and epilepsy. Data shows that over 80% of epilepsy patients have lower cognitive abilities than healthy people, and over 50% of patients have significant cognitive problems, which have a negative impact on their quality of life even greater than the seizures themselves. Cognitive impairment in epilepsy patients not only hinders their own treatment progress, but also has a negative impact on their daily life, academic and job performance, which brings huge care and economic pressure to their families and a heavy economic burden to the whole society. This review aimed to assess cognitive modules and provide key information for early diagnosis and treatment of patients.
ObjectivesTo explore the characteristics of cognitive deficits of Benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS).MethodsA total of 61 BECTS patients who visited Neurology Clinic of Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University between September 2010 to December 2019 and 60 healthy controls were enrolled in our study. All patients and healthy controls performed a series of neuropsychological tests to assess their cognitive function in the "Multi-dimensional psychology" of Beijing Normal University, including attention; memory; arithmetic calculation; language processing; executive function; visuospatial processing; visual perception; psychomotor speed. Lastly, independent sample t-test and friedman test were performed on the scores of BECTS group and controls using SPSS 20.0 and we conducted a multi-factor comprehensive analysis of correlation between clinical criteria and cognitive dysfunction in BECTS.ResultsCompared with 60 healthy controls, the as group got an average score of 19.56±2.91 in Paired Association Learning Test (P<0.001), (23.67±9.50) in Word Discrimination Test (P=0.017), (61.45±13.14) in Object Quantity Perception Task (P=0.040), (6.54±1.47) in Digit Span Test (P<0.001), (5.79±5.90) in Vocal Perception Test (P<0.001), (35.10±2.33) in Taylor Complex Figure Test (P<0.001) and (700.34±493.053) (P=0.008) in Choice Reaction Time Test. The results of these tests are inferior to the control group and the remaining 10 tests are of no statistical significance. There were 36 children with onset of seizure before 8 years of age. Compared with the patients experienced onset of illness at a later age, the 36 patients exhibited lower scores in most of the neuropsychological tests including Visual Tracking Task, Spatial Memory Task, Simple Subtraction Task, Number Comparison Test, Language Rhyme Test, Word Discrimination Testand Visual Perception Task (P<0.05). 34 patients received monotherapy, and 27 received a combination of 2 or 3 anti-epileptic drugs. The scores of attention, memory, visual perception and reaction tests in the multi drug treatment group were lower than those in the single drug treatment group (P<0.05).ConclusionsChildren with BECTS have impairment in attention, vocal perception, visual perception, memory and psychomotor speed. The younger the age of onset, the more severe the cognitive impairments. The degree of cognitive deficitsinchildren treated with multi drugs was more serious than that of children treated with single drugs.
Objective To investigate the characteristics of cognitive function and its correlation to neuroendocrine status in patients with refractory depression. Methods A total of 41 patients diagnosed by ICD-10 as depression onset who have been treated with more than two antidepressants drugs, fulfilled the criteria of refractory depression. Another 40 patients diagnosed by ICD-10 as depression onset but who have not been treated, or have been treated with only one antidepressant drug were selected as controls. Patients in both groups were evaluated by WAIS-RC, STROOP, VF, TRAILS A, B, TOH and M-WCST, and the concentrations of CORT, ACTH, T3, FT3, T4, FT4, TSH were also determined. Results A significant difference was found in VF between the refractory depression group and the control group. This showed that the damage to short-term memory, attention and interference rejection capability was much more serious in the refractory depression group. The ACTH concentration in the refractory depression group was significantly different from that of the control group, which indicated that the damage to the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis was more serious in the refractory depression group. In particular in relation to memory and attention defect. Conclusion Changes in the levels of CORT, ACTH, TSH, FT3 and T4 may be correlated to cognitive function damage in patients with refractory depression.
Objective To explore the characteristics of cognitive impairment in patients with alcohol dependence, and analyze the related influencing factors. Methods The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA) was used to evaluate the cognitive function of 65 alcohol dependent patients hospitalized between January 1st and December 31st, 2014. The features of cognitive impairment and related influencing factors were analyzed. Results The differences of MoCA attention and delayed recall between different drinking year groups had statistical significance (P<0.05). The correlations of drinking year with MoCA attention (r=–0.250,P=0.044), and with delayed recall (r=–0.326,P=0.008) were both negative. MoCA scores, naming, attention and delayed recall were different statistically among different age groups (P<0.05). The correlations of ages with MoCA scores (r=–0.429,P<0.001), naming (r=–0.261,P=0.035), attention (r=–0.391,P=0.001) and delayed recall (r=–0.461,P<0.001) were all negative. MoCA scores, the visuoconstructional skills, language, abstraction and delayed recall were significantly different among different education level groups (P<0.05). The correlations of education level with MoCA scores (rs=0.650,P<0.001), the visuoconstructional skills (rs=0.540,P<0.001), language (rs=0.486,P<0.001), abstraction (r=0.602,P<0.001) and delayed recall (rs=0.593,P<0.001) were all positive. Ages had an effect on MoCA scores by multiple linear regression analysis (P<0.01). Conclusions For alcohol dependent patients with cognitive impairment, cognitive function is correlated with drinking year, age and education level. The cognitive function is much serious in patients with older age and longer drinking years. This kind of patients should be focused on and intervened early.
With the increasing prominence of population aging, the cognitive decline of the elderly has gradually become a hotspot of clinical research. As a traditional rehabilitation exercise, Tai Chi has been proved to have a positive effect on improving cognitive function and delaying cognitive decline in the elderly. However, the related brain function mechanism is still unclear. In this paper, we collected studies which observed the changes of Tai Chi on brain regions related to cognitive function in the elderly using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We summarized relevant studies from perspective of structural and functional changes in the brain. The results showed that Tai Chi may delay and improve cognitive decline in the elderly by reshaping the structure and function of brain regions related to cognitive function such as memory, attention and execution. The effect of Tai Chi for cognitive function may be associated with positive regulation of cardiovascular function, emotion and meditation level of the elderly. In addition, the improvement of cognitive function further enhances the balance of the elderly. We also found that practice time, frequency and intensity of Tai Chi could be factors influencing the improvement of cognitive function and brain function in the elderly.
ObjectiveThrough neuropsychological assessment, explore the factors that may cause cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy.MethodsCollected 53 epilepsy patients in outpatients and inpatients of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from March 2016 to January 2020, including 25 males and 28 females, with an average age of (23.58±13.24) years old, and the course of disease (6.49±7.39), all met the 2017 ILEA diagnostic criteria for focal epilepsy, and there was no history of progressive brain disease or brain surgery. Carry out relevant cognitive assessments for the enrolled patients, use SPSS statistical software to conduct Spearman correlation analysis on the cognitive functions of the study subjects, and further analyze the related factors of cognition through Logistic regression analysis to clarify the factors related to cognition whether it may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy.Results Spearman correlation analysis showed that the FIQ of patients with focal epilepsy was related to education level, age of onset, seizure pattern, total number of seizures, AEDs and EEG interval discharge side (P<0.05). Binary Logistic regression analysis shows that among all cognitive-related factors, only the number of AEDs (P=0.003) and EEG interval discharge (P=0.013) are the risk of cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy factor.ConclusionIn the clinical treatment of epilepsy, seizures should be actively controlled, but the types of drugs should be minimized. When there are more than 3 kinds of drugs, surgical treatment or other non-surgical treatments can be considered. At the same time, the EEG should be reviewed regularly to understand the changes in epileptiform discharges between episodes.
ObjectiveAnalyzing the seizure and cognitive outcome after different treatment by observation of a large group of intractable child epilepsy patients under 15 years old. MethodsCollecting data of children with Intractable epilepsy from Apirl 2008 to December 2013 in Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University. Three historical cohorts of intractable child epilepsy defined by the final treatment including medication, curative operation and palliative operation depending on the surgical assessment and the families intension was retrospectively observed. 1 year and 3 years follow-up postoperatively were conducted including seizure outcome and cognitive outcome. ResultsThe curative operation group had significant better seizure free rate, and cognitive statement than medication group. And, the seizure free and cognitive outcome were better in palliative operation group than the medication group. ConclusionsEarly surgical intervention is highly recommended for intractable epilepsy chilelren in order to improve both the seizure and cognitive prognosis.
ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation and clinical significance of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels with cognitive dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and provide new idea for the prevention and treatment for cognitive dysfunction in COPD patients.MethodsA total of 103 COPD patients, according to the Montreal cognitive assessment scale standard for evaluation, were divided into a cognitive dysfunction group and a cognitive normal group. Serum 8-OHdG and ET-1 levels were compared between the two groups and their correlations with cognitive function were analyzed with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.ResultsThe levels of serum 8-OHdG and ET-1 in the COPD patients with cognitive impairment were significantly higher than those in the cognitive normal group ［8-OHdG: (13.91±9.04) ng/ml vs. (7.28±3.00) ng/ml; ET-1: (95.64±57.66)pg/ml vs. (69.20±7.89)pg/ml］ (both P<0.05). The levels of 8-OHdG (OR=22.94, 95%CI 7.06-74.53) and ET-1 (OR=19.76, 95%CI 6.59-59.31) were associated with cognitive impairment in the COPD patients. The areas under ROC curve of serum 8-OHdG and ET-1 levels to predict cognitive dysfunction in the COPD patients were 0.786 (95%CI 0.691-0.881) and 0.790(95%CI 0.695-0.885).ConclusionsThe serum levels of 8-OHdG and ET-1 are associated with cognitive impairment in COPD patients. The levels of 8-OHdG and ET-1 in serum can predict cognitive impairment with high specificity.
Objective This study aimed to observe the protective effects of 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) to the damage of phenobarbital (PB) upon the cognition of the newly-born rats. Methods Thirty healthy 3-day-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group (10 rats), PB group (10 rats) and PB+17β-E2 group (10 rats). The control group were injected saline water with a dose of 10 mL/(kg·d); the PB group were injected with PB of 10 mg/(kg·d); the PB+17β-E2 group were injected with PB 10 mg/(kg·d) and 17β-E2 300 ug/(kg·d). All the rats were intraperitoneal injected once a day after weighing, for three continuous days. They were normally raised to one month old and then 8 rats were selected out of each group respectively for water maze test. Results The PB group was reported to have increasing latent periods in finding the underwater stage compared with control group (P<0.05). In comparison with the PB group, the PB+17β-E2 group has a shorter latent period in finding the underwater stage, and furthermore statistically significantly fewer times in finding validation areas (P<0.05). During the 120s test, the stage quadrant journey to total journey ratio of PB+17β-E2 group was lower than the ratio of PB groups, but no statistics significance had been detected. The PB+17β-E2 group exhibits no significance difference from the control group in the above-mentioned indexes. Conclusions Even a short-term injection of PB with an usual clinical dose will bring a long-term damage to an immature brain in terms of the learning ability and memory, whereas the 17β-E2 may play a protective role in this course.