Behavioural Brain Research最新文献

{"title":"Aberrant prefrontal network patterns in post-stroke prolonged disorders of consciousness: Evidence from resting-state fNIRS","authors":"Yu Gong ,&nbsp;Ningqing Xie ,&nbsp;Ying Liu ,&nbsp;Junbin Lin ,&nbsp;Jun Zheng ,&nbsp;Chizi Hao ,&nbsp;Hailong Huang ,&nbsp;Ting Jiang ,&nbsp;Lu Xia ,&nbsp;Kai Fu ,&nbsp;Xin Zhang ,&nbsp;Weijing Liao","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115987","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115987","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stroke represents a leading cause of non-traumatic prolonged disorders of consciousness (pDoC). Given the prefrontal cortex's critical role in consciousness, this study aimed to explore the abnormalities in the prefrontal network in post-stroke pDoC patients. Using resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we acquired data from 21 post-stroke pDoC patients and 19 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). Based on the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised, patients were classified into 12 with minimally conscious state (MCS) and 9 with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS). We analyzed and compared functional connectivity and topological properties of the prefrontal network across groups. Compared to HCs, the pDoC group exhibited extensively weakened functional connectivity and disrupted network topology, as evidenced by a lower clustering coefficient (Cp), reduced local efficiency (Eloc), global efficiency (Eg) and a longer characteristic path length (Lp). Reductions in key nodal metrics which including nodal clustering coefficient (NCp), nodal efficiency (Ne), and degree centrality (DC) were also observed across several prefrontal regions. In the direct comparison between patient subgroups, the MCS group demonstrated significantly stronger functional connectivity within the right premotor and supplementary motor cortex (PreM &amp; SMA_R) than the UWS group, but conversely, showed weaker connectivity within the left frontopolar area (FPA_L). Consequently, assessing prefrontal network integrity with portable fNIRS holds promise for identifying potential biomarkers to diagnose and monitor post-stroke prolonged disorders of consciousness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115987"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145720902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role of hippocampal subfield volumes in the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation for late-life depression: An exploratory pilot randomized clinical trial","authors":"Chien-Chung Tseng ,&nbsp;Chi-Ieong Lau ,&nbsp;Yuan-Hwa Chou ,&nbsp;Kai-Chun Yang ,&nbsp;Chih-Ming Cheng ,&nbsp;Li-Yu Hu ,&nbsp;Cheng-Ta Li ,&nbsp;Chia-Fen Tsai ,&nbsp;Mu-N. Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115963","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115963","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>This exploratory pilot double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness and safety of combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with antidepressants for late-life depression (LLD), and examined whether baseline hippocampal subfield volumes moderated treatment response.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Thirty-three elderly patients with LLD receiving antidepressant treatment were enrolled in this pilot RCT and randomly assigned to active-tDCS (n = 18) or sham stimulation (n = 15). Of these, 23 completed the intervention and baseline MRI scans (active-tDCS, n = 13; sham, n = 10). Participants underwent 12 tDCS sessions over 4 weeks, with psychiatric symptoms assessed at baseline, weeks 2, 4, and 6. Baseline hippocampal volumes were measured using FreeSurfer 7.1.1.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Active-tDCS participants showed significant reductions in depression and anxiety scores at weeks 4 and 6, while the sham group exhibited no significant changes. No differences in hippocampal volumes were observed between active-tDCS and sham groups. Within the active-tDCS group, hippocampal subfield volumes did not differ between responders (clinical response is defined as a &gt;50 % reduction in total HAMD scores from baseline) and non-responders. However, reductions in depressive severity were positively associated with volumes of the right presubiculum head, right presubiculum body, right subiculum head, right subiculum body, right GC-ML-DG body, right fimbria, right hippocampal tail, and right whole hippocampal body.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>tDCS appears to be an effective adjunctive intervention for reducing depression in elderly LLD patients. Baseline hippocampal volume may serve as a predictive marker for tDCS outcomes. Larger-scale studies are warranted to confirm these findings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115963"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating panic-like defensive behaviors in mice using the beetle mania task","authors":"Paloma Molina Hernandes ,&nbsp;Jefferson Manoel do Nascimento-Silva ,&nbsp;Monali Campos Buzzo ,&nbsp;Gabriela Vitar Mendes Oliveira ,&nbsp;Thelma Anderson Lovick ,&nbsp;Rafael Carvalho Almada ,&nbsp;Helio Zangrossi Jr","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115969","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115969","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The beetle mania test (BMT) is a novel ethologically relevant behavioral test which measures the behavior of mice in an enclosed arena in the presence of an erratically moving robotic beetle. When the beetle approaches, the mouse may exhibit either passive behavior, disregarding the stimulus, or active defensive responses, such as escape or flight, which are indicative of panic-like reactions. We compared behavior of 4 different mouse strains in the BMT using undirected jumps as an index of panic-like behavior. Male C57BL/6 mice showed more jumps compared to Balb/c, Swiss, and CD1 strains. Panic-like jumping in C57B1/6 was enhanced when mice were tested in a small (50 cm×25 cm x 37 cm height) compared to the large arena (150 ×25 cm x 37 cm height) suggesting that the smaller arena enhanced perceived threat. Responses in the small arena were attenuated after prior exposure to the test. Panic-like jumping behavior in the small arena was reduced by pre-treatment with the anti-panic agent clonazepam (0.1 mg kg⁻¹ i.p) and enhanced by treatment with FG-7142 (10 or 20 mg kg⁻¹ i.p.), an panic-inducing drug. Our findings demonstrate that the BMT in the small arena is a reliable model for evaluating non-respiratory panic-like behaviors and also highlights strain-dependent differences in the expression of these responses, with C57BL/6 mice showing the highest reactivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115969"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145647263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Age-dependent effects of intranasal oxytocin administration were revealed by resting brain entropy (BEN)","authors":"Donghui Song ,&nbsp;Ze Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115985","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115985","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide known for its role in social behavior, has unclear neural mechanisms when administered intranasally, especially across different ages. Brain entropy (BEN), a metric of neural irregularity, shows promise for revealing OT’s neurophysiological effects. This study examined whether BEN could detect neural changes induced by intranasal OT and how these effects are modulated by age. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, young adults (YA) and older adults (OA) were assigned to receive intranasal OT or placebo (PL). Using fMRI-based BEN mapping, we identified a significant age-dependent effect in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), where OT increased BEN in YA but decreased it in OA. Further analyses showed OT also elevated the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) in the same region, particularly in YA. Additionally, OT enhanced functional connectivity within the left TPJ and between the left and right TPJ in both age groups. These results establish BEN as a sensitive biomarker capable of capturing age-specific OT effects, providing information beyond traditional measures of oscillatory power and temporal synchronization. The findings suggest that the timing of post-administration brain state changes under OT may vary with age, potentially due to differences in OT receptor density.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115985"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145707153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neurophysiological correlates of reward and punishment feedback processing in individuals with test anxiety","authors":"Yuhong Ou ,&nbsp;Renlai Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115991","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115991","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding how individuals with high test anxiety (HTA) process evaluative feedback is essential to clarifying their responses in evaluative situations. This study examined how individuals with HTA differ from those with low test anxiety (LTA) in processing positive and negative outcomes presented in reward and punishment contexts. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a probabilistic learning task, we implemented separate reward and punishment blocks with test-related and test-unrelated images.</div><div>Behavioral results indicated that, across reward and punishment blocks, both HTA and LTA individuals responded more quickly and accurately as the task progressed, with no significant performance differences between the groups. ERP findings revealed no deficits in reward processing for individuals with HTA. However, during punishment processing, HTA individuals showed smaller feedback-related negativity (FRN) and larger late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes in response to negative feedback for test-related stimuli. They also exhibited larger FRN amplitudes after positive feedback for test-related stimuli, while no significant group differences were observed in P3 or LPP amplitudes. These findings suggest altered neural responses to evaluative feedback in individuals with HTA, particularly under punitive conditions, which may reflect differences in expectancy and emotional engagement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115991"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145755172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PVN AVP neurons projecting to MeA modulate social recognition and anxiety-like behavior in female mice","authors":"Weizheng Zhang ,&nbsp;Caihong Huang ,&nbsp;Jing Liu ,&nbsp;Lu Li ,&nbsp;Yuting Bai ,&nbsp;Yahan Sun ,&nbsp;Lizi Zhang ,&nbsp;Lu Ren ,&nbsp;Kaizhe Huang ,&nbsp;Shaoxiong Yan ,&nbsp;Zhixiong He ,&nbsp;Fadao Tai","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115984","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115984","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is well established in regulating social cognition and emotional responses in males. However, its roles in these processes in females and the underlying circuit mechanisms, remain poorly understood. In this study, female mice spent significantly more time sniffing the anogenital region of unfamiliar conspecifics compared to familiar individuals. Fiber photometry recordings revealed that the calcium activity in paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) AVP neurons was elevated when sniffing unfamiliar mice relative to familiar ones. No significant differences were observed during non-social exploratory behaviors such as bedding sniffing or self-grooming, indicating a specific involvement of these neurons in social investigation. Retrograde tracing using cholera toxin B (CTB) confirmed direct projections from AVP neurons in the PVN to the medial amygdala (MeA). Chemogenetic inhibition of the PVN-MeA AVPergic pathway impaired social recognition and reduced anxiety-like behaviors. Furthermore, bilateral microinjection of the V1a receptor (V1aR) antagonist into the MeA decreased both anxiety-like behaviors and social investigation toward unfamiliar mice. These findings demonstrate that the AVPergic projection from the PVN to the MeA modulates social cognition and emotional state in female mice, providing a circuit mechanism for social and affective dysregulation and offering potential targets for the treatment of related neuropsychiatric disorders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115984"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145707120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inferring agency: A two-stage process from early integration to late differentiation during action-outcome monitoring","authors":"Yunyun Chen ,&nbsp;Xintong Zou ,&nbsp;Jianxin Zhao ,&nbsp;Xuemin Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115999","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115999","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Inferring agency—the experience of controlling one’s own actions and their consequences—often relies on integrating cues from multiple sources, and recent studies have highlighted the importance of considering the temporal dynamics of this integration process. While previous research has examined how the presence or absence of agency (i.e., reliable versus unreliable sensorimotor cues) affects the neural processing of action-outcomes, it remains unclear whether sensorimotor cues influence this processing dynamically or statically, and how these neural changes relate to explicit judgments of agency. In the present study, participants performed a task in which they moved a ball to a target position under varying motion fluency conditions and then received social feedback regarding their performance, followed by an agency judgement task. Electroencephalography was recorded to capture neural responses during feedback processing. Analyses revealed a dynamic interaction between motion fluency and feedback valence on both the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and explicit agency ratings. Under disfluent motion, the influence of social feedback on both neural responses and agency ratings intensified over time. In contrast, under fluent motion, the influence of social feedback diminished over time. Additionally, FRN was associated with the integration of fluency and feedback, whereas the later P3 component was primarily associated with the influence of fluency on agency ratings. These results indicated that the reflective agency during outcome monitoring could involve an early integration and later differentiation of cues, with the early phase integrating both the sensorimotor and external cues, and the later phase focusing on a more in-depth processing of sensorimotor cues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115999"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145767028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vitamin D3 supplementation reverses aging-related changes in cholinergic functions and improves spatial memory in aged rats","authors":"Elif Aksoz ,&nbsp;Medine Karabulut ,&nbsp;Mustafa Hilmi Yaranoğlu","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115998","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115998","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aim</h3><div>Dietary intake and synthesis of vitamin D synthesis decline with age, increasing the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease development are closely linked to vitamin D deficiency. In this study, we investigated whether vitamin D supplementation could attenuate age-related effects on memory and the hippocampal cholinergic system in aged rats.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Thirty Wistar albino male rats (young: 4–5 months old, aged: 21–22 months old) were included in this study. Animals were divided into three groups: The Young control and the Aged control groups were administered physiological serum and the Aged + Vitamin D group was administered vitamin D (500 IU/kg/day). Spatial memory was assessed with the Morris Water Maze test. Then, ACh level and ChAT, AChE, and BChE enzyme activities in the hippocampus were examined.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Vitamin D supplementation given to aged rats increased the AchE and BuChE enzyme activities and ACh levels which decreased with aging. The activity of the ChAT enzyme did not change in the aged group, and vitamin D supplementation did not affect it. Increased hippocampal cholinergic transmission improved the spatial memory of aged rats in the MWM test.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Vitamin D supplementation improved spatial memory in rats, probably by reversing the aging-related changes in brain cholinergic functions. Vitamin D shows promise in delaying cognitive decline associated with aging and AD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115998"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145767103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Time-dependent characterisation of sex differences in the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of neuropathic pain","authors":"Joana Gonçalves ,&nbsp;Diana Fonseca-Rodrigues ,&nbsp;Inês Martins Laranjeira ,&nbsp;Armando Almeida ,&nbsp;Filipa Pinto-Ribeiro","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115990","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115990","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chronic neuropathic pain affects 7–10 % of the population and is often accompanied by emotional impairments, greatly reducing the quality of life of patients. Recently, we showed that in the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of experimental neuropathic pain, female (but not male) rats showed a delayed but progressive development of mechanical and cold allodynia, which did not improve over time. In this work, we characterised the CCI-induced nociceptive and emotional impairments at earlier (2 weeks) and later (8 weeks) time points in both male and female rats. Both neuropathic males and females developed mechanical allodynia from week 1 onwards; however, males were shown to recover earlier at week 3, corroborated by sciatic nerve histopathology. Importantly, both males and females displayed cold allodynia throughout the experimental period (8 weeks). Regarding emotional impairments, males showed a more anxious and depressive phenotype than females, independently of CCI. Electrophysiological recordings suggest time-dependent changes in descending inhibition from the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) in response to CCI-induced neuropathic pain. Altogether, our results show the existence of sex-specific differences in the development and maintenance of CCI-induced nociceptive and emotional impairments, highlighting the need to include female subjects in the study of neuropathic pain mechanisms and treatments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115990"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145740731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review of treatment methods for movement disorders","authors":"Mahdi Khezri ,&nbsp;Shakiba Afsar","doi":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115979","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115979","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Movement is a critical component of human functionality, influencing daily activities and overall quality of life. For this reason, precise and complete execution of the movements is extremely important. However, traumatic and non-traumatic pathologies can impair neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems, leading to motor dysfunction. Accurate etiological diagnosis and evidence-based therapeutic strategies are crucial in managing movement disorders, whether through restorative treatment or symptomatic relief. This study investigates the multifactorial pathogenesis of movement disorders and provides a comprehensive review of current therapeutic approaches, including rehabilitation strategies, pharmacological management, surgical interventions, and emerging treatment modalities. The selection of accurate, patient-specific therapeutic interventions enables clinicians to optimize motor function and minimize disability in patients with movement disorders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8823,"journal":{"name":"Behavioural Brain Research","volume":"500 ","pages":"Article 115979"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145692583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}