Biomedical subjects

Jihuan Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Jihuan Chen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Prenatal stress suppresses cell proliferation in the early developing brain.

Although prenatal stress has been repeatedly shown to inhibit adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of offspring, its effects on embryonic and early postnatal brain development are not well described. Here, using the cell proliferation marker 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine, we examine for the first time the effect of prenatal stress at the embryonic stage on cell proliferation in the hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and amygdala. We show that prenatal stress induces a significant decrease in density of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-positive cells in the nucleus accumbens (40%) and hippocampus (60%), and a nonsignificant decrease in the amygdala (30%). Taken together, these results demonstrate the adverse effects of prenatal maternal stress on early development in limbic brain regions and the potential mechanisms are discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Enhancement of antibody production and expression of c-Fos in the insular cortex in response to a conditioned stimulus after a single-trial learning paradigm.

Immune responses can be modulated by Pavlovian conditioning techniques. In this study, to evaluate the conditionability of antibody response via a single-trial conditioning paradigm, we used a protein antigen ovalbumin as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that was paired with a novel taste of saccharin in a single-trial learning protocol. A significant enhancement of anti-ovalbumin antibody production was observed in the conditioned rats at Days 15, 20 and 25 after re-exposure to the conditioned stimulus. The pattern of conditioned antibody response is similar to that of antigen-induced antibody response. Furthermore, to identify the involvement of a limbic brain structure in the expression of conditioned antibody response, immediate-early gene c-fos expression was used as a marker of neuronal activation to detect the functional activation in the insular cortex (IC) in response to the conditioned stimulus. The re-exposure of conditioned rats to the conditioned stimulus resulted in a significant increase of c-Fos immunoreactivity in all three areas of the IC including the agranular, dysgranular, and granular areas, suggesting that IC is involved in the neural mechanism of expression of conditioned immune response.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2004

Antibody response can be conditioned using electroacupuncture as conditioned stimulus.

To establish a new model of conditioned enhancement of antibody production, electroacupuncture was served as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and an injection of a protein antigen ovalbumin as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). After a CS/UCS pairing was made, re-exposure of animals to the CS alone resulted in significant conditioned enhancement of anti-ovalbumin antibody production. Even in deep sleep induced by anesthesia, the animals can associate a single CS with UCS and an antibody response can be elicited upon subsequent re-exposure to CS in the absence of exogenous antigen. No effect of electroacupuncture on anti-ovalbumin antibody production was found.

Anesthesia↗