Beyond these specific studies, the so-called “connectome project

Beyond these specific studies, the so-called “Crizotinib order connectome project” deserves close attention.69 There is strong agreement regarding the fact that the human brain comprises a wide variety of functional systems. Obtaining brain images during rest shows large-amplitude spontaneous low frequency fluctuations in the fMRI signal. These fluctuations are related across areas sharing functions and the correlations show Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical up as an individual’s functional connectome. Biswall et al69 report findings obtained from 1414 participants from 35 laboratories. Their main results were: (i) there is a universal functional architecture; (ii) there are substantial sex differences and age-related

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical gradients; and (iii) it is possible to establish normative maps for the functional boundaries among identified networks. Integration of intelligence and cognitive findings The frontoparietal network is relevant for intelligence, but also for other cognitive functions.70 Thus, for instance, Wager and Smith71 reported a meta-analysis of 60 positron-emission tomography (PET) and fMRI studies of working memory. The effect of three content domains (verbal, spatial, and object), three executive functions (updating, temporal order, and manipulation) along with their interactions were analyzed. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Brain areas most involved in all these cognitive facets were located in the frontal and parietal lobes: (i)

spatial and nonspatial contents were separated in posterior, but not anterior areas; (ii) executive manipulation evoked more frontal activations, but with some exceptions; and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (iii) the parietal cortex was always implicated in executive processing. The meta-analysis by Wager, Jonides, and Reading72 after 31 PET and fMRI studies of shifting attention also highlights this fronto-parietal network (medial prefrontal, superior and inferior parietal, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical medial parietal, and premotor cortices). Similarly, Marois and Ivanoff 3 analyzed

the capacity limits of information processing in the brain. Three basic limitations for perception, working the memory, and action were explicitly considered. Their revision was based mainly on fMRI evidence and these were the basic conclusions: (i) perception and action limitations are related to fronto-parietal brain networks; and (ii) working memory capacity limitations are associated to parieto-ccipital brain networks. The lateral prefrontal cortex may support general target consolidation and response selection, using a flexible coding system for processing relevant information in any given task. In contrast, the lateral parietal cortex might provide support to more specific processing goals. This brain region is more sensitive to perception than to action. Thus, core cognitive functions (especially working memory) and intelligence share a frontoparietal brain network.

14 Evidence for an immune-mediated mechanism for MDD in MS The hi

14 Evidence for an immune-mediated mechanism for MDD in MS The high rate of CO-1686 research buy depression in MS begs the question

of what accounts for this close association. There is no correlation between the rate and severity of depression in MS and the degree of physical disability. Furthermore, the incidence of depression in devastating but noninflammatory diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is not similarly elevated.15 These observations argue against depression resulting primarily from the psychosocial stress of this chronic neurodegenerative disease.16-18 In addition, the risk of depression in first-degree relatives of depressed MS patients is no greater than the risk in nondepressed MS Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical patients, suggesting that the genetic contribution to the development of depression in MS is small compared with the effects of MS itself.19 Several studies Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical have demonstrated

an increased rate of depression and suicide at times of exacerbation, thereby providing clinical evidence for an association between immune activation and depression.20-22 Indeed, additional conditions characterized by chronic inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis, allergy, and stroke, also have high rates Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of comorbid depression.23 In the case of MS, the immune abnormalities have often been demonstrated to appear prior to the development of depression, consistent with the idea that the depression Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical occurs secondary to inflammation.24 Theories of mechanisms of depression in MS: etiology and pathophysiology Neuroimaging studies of brain pathology in MS depression Relevance of lesion location to depression Neuroimaging studies in patients with MS have revealed associations between brain abnormalities and depression. One of the earliest studies which analyzed data from computed tomography (CT) scans of patients with MS25 found that patients with lesions in the brain were more depressed than those with lesions only in the spinal cord. Subsequent studies have examined relationships

between the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical location of brain lesions and incidence of depression. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study in 45 outpatients Bay 11-7085 at an MS clinic reported that, although there was no relation between total lesion volume and depression, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores were significantly associated with lesions in the arcuate fasciculus of the left hemisphere.26 In a more recent MRI study, depressed MS patients had more hyperintense lesions in the left inferior medial frontal regions and greater atrophy of left anterior temporal regions. Together, these two brain regions accounted for -42% of the variance in a logistic regression model for predicting depression.27 Brain injury and atrophy MRI studies are useful in assessing the relationship between depression and not only lesion location, but also brain volume (ie, detection of atrophy).

We then analyzed the younger and older patients separately In ke

We then analyzed the younger and older patients separately. In keeping with our finding in the Jerusalem sample alone,13 the T102C polymorphism was significantly associated with TD in the older patients only (ROCK inhibitor Figure 4). 10 Figure 3. Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale (AIMS) scores according to 5-HT2C (HTR2C) receptor (upper panel) and 5-HT2A (HTR2A) receptor (lower panel) genotype. Scores in younger patients (<47 years) are shown on the left of each panel and in older patients ... Figure 4. Frequency

of 102C allele carriers (TC heterozygotes and CC homozygotes) in younger patients (<47 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical years) with tardive dyskinesia (Y-TD) (n=96) and without TD (N-TD) (n=215) (left panel) and in older Y-TD (n=159) and N-TD patients (n=164) (right ... These replicated findings accentuate the importance of taking into account the possibility that pharmacogenetic effects Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical may be age-related. Thus, an association first, reported in an older sample may be missed if replication is

sought, in a younger sample. This was the case with our initial report, of an association of the T102C polymorphism in the 5-HT2A receptor gene with TD,14 which was initially not, replicated by Basile et al15 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical who studied a sample more than two decades younger than ours. The age range of the pooled sample studied by Lerer et al7 was wide enough to allow replication of the finding in the older subjects. Additive and interactive effects of genes Pharmacogenetic phenotypes (such as treatment outcome, onset, of therapeutic effect, rapidity of response, and adverse effects) are complex traits to which background and demographic factors contribute, as well as factors Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical related to the treatment. The genetic background is likely to be polygenic, with an as-yet unknown number of genes contributing a small proportion of the variance. These genes can be expected to act in different, ways. One model is additive, the assumption being Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical that, each gene

contributes cumulatively to the phenotype, and that, the overall risk is a sum of these individual contributions. A second, more complex model postulates that the effects of certain genes are conditional on others, implying gene-gene interaction or epistasis. Under this model, a specific allele of gene A will confer an effect, whatever in the presence of a specific allele of gene B, but will not confer susceptibility in its absence. The situation is rendered more complex by the possibility that haplotypes made up of two or more variants may contribute additively or interactively to susceptibility. In addition, gene-environment interaction must also be taken into account. These considerations are applicable to TD, which is a complex trait, related to drug treatment, to which several demographic and background factors contribute, most notably age, and with which several genes have been associated.

2A) were seen in mutant mice at P60 but not at P44 If we include

2A) were seen in mutant mice at P60 but not at P44. If we included these obviously pathological cells together with apparent normal, healthy cells in our counts at P60, then total numbers were comparable with WT (Fig. ​(Fig.2B2B and data not shown). By contrast, if vacuolated MNs were excluded from the counts, then there was a 20% decrease at P60 and a 30% decrease at P75 in mutant

spinal cords. By P115–140, there were few remaining vacuolated MNs in mutant mice and the number Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of surviving MNs was reduced by approximately 50%. The 30% reduction in MNs at P75 reflected the exclusion of vacuolated cells that account for about half of the total loss, and the other half by the complete absence of cell bodies. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Between P115 and P140, over 90% of the reduction in cell numbers reflected the actual loss of cell bodies. Taken together, these data indicate that cell death begins between P60 and P75, that cell death is heralded by cytoplasmic vacuolization visible at the light microscope beginning

between P44 and P60, and that the total MN loss by end stage is approximately 50% in lumbar spinal cord of mutant mice. Figure 2 Motoneurons contain NVP-AUY922 mw numerous cytoplasmic vacuoles that are an early sign of impending degeneration. (A) Photomicrograph of 1 μm section through P60 lateral motor column of SOD1G93A mice. MNs are easily identified by their large Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical size, nucleus, … The cytoplasmic organelles responsible for the vacuoles in MNs observed at the light level were examined at the ultrastructual level. Examination of ventral Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical spinal cord at P75 revealed an increased presence of many markedly swollen/vacuolated mitochondria in MNs (Fig. ​(Fig.3).3). A single, swollen/vacuolated mitochondria often occupied entire portions of dendrites in the neuropil. Another

striking feature was the ubiquitous Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical presence of small empty cytoplasmic vacuoles throughout the MN soma. There was no apparent cytoplasmic pathology in putative γMNs (Fig. ​(Fig.33). Figure 3 Ultrastructural analysis reveals profound mitochondrial and cytoplasmic pathology by P75. At P75, there is no cytoplasmic pathology in SOD1 γMNs (A; area = PD184352 (CI-1040) 225 μm2) but profound pathology in the cytoplasm of αMNs in the same section … Interneurons also undergo degeneration While spinal MNs are the main focus of dysfunction and degeneration in ALS, interneurons may also be affected (Eisen 1995; Jiang et al. 2009; Martin and Chang 2012). Because ultrastructural analysis of spinal MNs revealed mitochondrial swelling and vacuolization in presynaptic terminals on their soma and dendrites, we next wanted to determine if there was a degeneration of spinal cord interneurons because they were the source of the majority of these afferent terminals. We found that at P75, the number of interneurons in the lumbar spinal cord was significantly decreased (Fig. ​(Fig.44). Figure 4 Interneurons also undergo degeneration in SOD1G93A spinal cord.

The conflict effect in error rate can be predicted by the conflic

The conflict effect in error rate can be predicted by the conflict-selleck kinase inhibitor related ACC activation (r = 0.56, F(1, 22) = 9.81, P < 0.01). To examine whether the relation of conflict-related ACC activity and error rate between groups were parallel, the conflict effect in error rate was regressed on ACC activation, group, and ACC activation-by-group variables. The interaction term was significant (t = −3.16, P < 0.01), indicating that the slopes were not parallel. Further examination of the

relation between conflict-related ACC activity and error rate by group showed a significant correlation in the ASD group (r = −0.66, F(1, 10) = 7.80, P < 0.05), but not in the HC group (r = 0.26, F < 1). These results suggest that an increased cost of conflict (in error rate) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is correlated with decreases in ACC activation in the ASD group, but no significant relation in the HC group (see Fig. 4E). Similar to error rate, the conflict effect in RT can be predicted by conflict-related ACC activation (r = −0.46, F(1, 22) = 6.04, P < 0.05) in both groups. More efficient conflict processing (less increase in RT under Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the incongruent condition compared with the congruent condition) was related to greater ACC activation. The interaction term in a model testing the parallelism of the two slopes with conflict-related ACC activation, group, and conflict-related

ACC activation-by-group interaction as predictors showed that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the interaction term was not significant (t = −0.23, P > 0.05). This indicates that the conflict-related ACC activation does

not differentially predict the conflict effect in RT Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical between groups (see Fig. 4F). ACC activity was related to the conflict effect measured by RT in both groups. The relation between functional activation during the conflict processing of the ROI, which was identified by group difference, the behavioral effect of conflict, and ADI-R subscores in ASD group was also examined. Results indicate that the communication and language domain Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was significantly correlated with the efficiency (measured as accuracy) during conflict processing (Fig. 5). That is, domain symptoms in communication and language are related to less efficient conflict processing. Figure 5 Symptom-executive control association. More symptoms of communication/language are related to greater cost on accuracy in conflict processing. Discussion Our results indicate until significant behavioral deficits of the alerting and executive attentional networks in ASD relative to HC, but not the orienting network or network interactions. Behavioral deficits were associated with abnormalities in the neural networks supporting attentional functions. Even in the absence of behavioral differences among the orienting network and network interactions, neural differences were present. Individuals with ASD made more errors if there was no alerting cue preceding the target. This alerting deficit was associated with abnormal activation of MFG and caudate nucleus in ASD.

Resources to manage and act on the transmitted information from t

Resources to manage and act on the transmitted information from these patients are vital to the success of home monitoring. Studies have shown that the amount of information in a controlled, limited-time trial setting already seems overwhelming.

The legal implications of timely follow-up of continuously monitored information and the scope of false positives with health care utilizations is a daunting aspect for handling the information. Moreover, the cost of phone monitoring with no reimbursements might make this modality Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical less lucrative as opposed to using already available ICD/CRT-D technology. Also, the presence of selleck chemicals multiple vendors and proprietary Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical algorithms of each device company poses a challenge in creating a universally simplified approach to implement a structured algorithm. For those who do not need an implantable device, advancements in wearable monitors and Bluetooth transmission of information seems promising, yet with no strong evidence. Patient compliance issues with these technologies might be overcome by emerging piezo crystal sensors. Recently, Benett et al.30 reported the feasibility of

using the EarlySense’s EverOn® (EarlySense, Waltham, MA) under-the-mattress Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical sensor system to track physiological information such as respiratory rate, heart rate, and movement rate during sleep in three patients. Also, advancements in implantable Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical wireless technology seen with the pulmonary capillary pressure monitoring device CardioMEMS® (CardioMEMS, Inc., Atlanta, GA) and the left atrial pressure monitor HeartPOD™ System (St. Jude Medical, Inc., St. Paul, MN) or Promote® LAP System (St. Jude Medical, Inc., St. Paul, MN) bring us closer to finding the holy grail of home monitoring systems. Attempts at shifting the burden of self management to patients have not been very effective due to the complexity of the therapies and the advancing age of HF patients in the United Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical States. Between 27–44%

of Medicare enrollees have marginal or inadequate health literacy,31 making this task more challenging. Powell et al.32 in the HART study found that the addition of self-management counseling to an educational intervention did not make a difference in death mafosfamide or HF hospitalization in patients with mild to moderate HF. Earlier smaller studies also have not shown any convincing evidence for self-management.33-36 Therefore, a strategy that minimizes patient responsibility in monitoring and care might be more pragmatic. All strategies should still aim at having a patient-centered care plan along with stressing patient education.37 Moreover, there is overwhelming evidence that a multidisciplinary approach to HF care reduces hospital readmissions and improves outcomes in these patients.38 Hence, it is recommended in both U.S. and European guidelines.

Table 1 Patient characteristics In the HS group, three patients

Table 1 Patient Selleckchem STA4783 characteristics. In the HS group, three patients were taking hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), two were taking bumetanide,

two were taking furosemide, one was taking torsemide, one was taking metolazone, one was taking spironolactone, and three were taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI; one escitalopram, one citalopram, one fluoxetine). In the conivaptan group, five patients were taking furosemide, four were taking HCTZ, two were taking spironolactone, two were taking torsemide, one was taking bumetanide, and one was taking escitalopram. No significant difference between groups was noted when taking into account medical history such as congestive heart failure Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (CHF), hypertension (HTN), or the clinician’s estimation of SIADH as the

cause of the patient’s hyponatremia. Similarly, no significant difference Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was found between the groups with regard to other comorbidities. In the HS group, at the time of initiating treatment, six patients were recovering from surgery, eight patients had been admitted for management of a central nervous system (CNS) lesion (one for normal pressure hydrocephalus, one for intracranial bleed, one for a pituitary tumor, one for medulloblastoma, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical one for leptomeningitis, one for skull fracture, one for subdural hematoma, and one for an unidentified CNS lesion), one patient had a pleural effusion, one had small cell lung carcinoma, one had scoliosis, one had undergone heart transplant, and one suffered from liver cirrhosis. In the conivaptan group, at Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the time of initiating treatment, two patients were

recovering from surgery, one suffered from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), one had unidentified lung carcinoma, and one had been admitted for acute respiratory distress syndrome Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (ARDS). A small percentage of patients received dextrose water shortly after the administration of either HS or conivaptan, but the difference in numbers between these two groups did not reach statistical significance. The baseline [Na+] was not significantly different between the HS (120.5 ± 3.8 mEq/L) and conivaptan (118.3 ± 6.7 mEq/L) groups (Table 2). No significant difference was noted in [Na+] at 4, 12, 24, or 48 hours after initiation of treatment. Figure 2 displays the change in [Na+] at serial time points (-)-p-Bromotetramisole Oxalate after initiation of therapy. There was no significant difference between HS and conivaptan groups at 4, 12, 24, or 48 hours after initiation of treatment. When stratified by volume status, the absence of significant change in [Na+] between the HS and conivaptan groups persisted. Figure 3 displays the percent of over-correctors based on expert guidelines, stratified by volume status. There was no significant difference between HS and conivaptan groups in [Na+] over-correction at 4, 24, or 48 hours after initiation of therapy. Table 2 Serial serum sodium concentrations. Figure 2. Change in [Na+] from baseline. Error bars represent standard error of the mean.

Such brain activation would be in accordance with (yet no definit

Such brain activation would be in accordance with (yet no definite proof of) the recruitment of prediction processes during MOT. Hypothesis and experimental approach In the current study, we aimed to provide first evidence for the employment

of sensorimotor prediction processes during the parallel tracking of several identical objects following arbitrary this website motion trajectories (MOT paradigm). We operated under the rationale that prediction processes should be reflected by premotor activation during MOT. While potential findings of activation in the DLFC would neither allow for the inevitable conclusion of PM involvement, nor for this PM involvement to be an indicator of prediction processes, we took experimental measures to smooth the way for Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a respective result interpretation. In order to test our hypothesis, we adopted a standard

MOT task (Pylyshyn and Storm 1988) where participants had to track either two or three out of eight identical objects (for a detailed description, see Methods section). As control condition, we implemented a cognitive task that allowed application Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of identically the same stimulus material in both conditions, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with an initial cue signaling which task to execute. With this experimental design, we ensured identical visual input and minimized differences between MOT and control condition in regard to level of vigilance and attentional load. We also circumvented the problem of response preparation as a source of premotor activation (Jovicich et al. 2001), as Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a response was required in both conditions. As described above, previous fMRI studies on MOT (Culham et al. 1998, 2001; Jovicich et al. 2001; Howe et al. 2009) found increased activation in the DLFC. This activation was interpreted to originate from Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the FEF, a region anatomically adjacent to PMd (Paus 1996; Schubotz and von Cramon 2001). Since a major concern was the dissociation between the FEF and the PM, we sought to considerably reduce later confusions regarding the origin of potential activations. To that end, we (1) conducted a behavioral prescreening

and selected participants with minimal eye movements, and (2) functionally localized the FEF and later masked the main contrast (MC) with localizer activation. Methods Participants Participants were recruited via the subject pool of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI-CBS) in Leipzig, Germany. Out of 23 that took part in a prescreening (procedure many described below), the 13 participants with the least eye movements and concomitant highest behavioral performance were invited to participate in the fMRI scanning. The data of two participants were later removed from further analyses due to error rates of >25% during fMRI scanning. The remaining 11 participants ranged in age from 22 to 33 (mean age 26.9 years, three female). Experimental conditions: MOT and luminance changes Stimuli Stimuli featured eight identical objects (white squares, roughly 0.

Indirectly, the study will generate: – Organisational and operati

Indirectly, the study will generate: – Organisational and operational protocols for programs such as SAIATU in the future. – Work systems which utilise liaison committees for assessment and co-ordination between different levels of care and across sectors. – Protocols for the primary assessment of the needs of end-of-life patients, which take into account both clinical and social aspects, supplementing the assessment of the illness itself with an account of patient’s degree of suffering, their level of dependence, and their social

support network, thus allowing for better allocation of resources. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical – Criteria for referrals between professionals of different levels, according to the needs of patients and their families. Abbreviations

PC: Palliative care; PCU: Palliative care unit; HH: Home hospitalisation. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions The idea for this study was initially conceived by RN, EH, and GE. EH, JO and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical SL designed the study’s methodology and see more contributed to the analysis of a previous retrospective study on the SAIATU experience. NH coordinated the interventions, as well as the inclusion of patients and variables in the study. All authors have given Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical final approval of the version submitted. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-684X/12/3/prepub Acknowledgment This project is financed through the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation (ETORBIZI) from funds allocated for the development of socio-health innovation in the Basque Country for the years Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 2012–2013. A special mention of gratitude is made to Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the professionals of Osakidetza, who have supported requests for information, professionals from Oberri and Denokkin who contributed to the implementation of the SAIATU program, and especially to all those professionals who work in the SAIATU program and in Palliative Care services, providing

care for all patients Metalloexopeptidase and families who find themselves in an end-of-life situation in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. Translation: TRANScienci@
The annual number of deaths in France, ranging between 500,000 and 600,000, has varied relatively little since World War II, with the decline in mortality rates being offset by population growth. However, as the large post-war cohorts grow older, the numbers of deaths will increase considerably (to 770,000 by 2050). Whereas just after World War II most people died at home, in France, as in other developed countries, most now die in hospital. These changes are bound to affect the way death is seen and experienced, and to influence future health policy and medical practices.

29 Recently the amygdala was also implicated in CO2 and acid chem

29 Recently the amygdala was also implicated in CO2 and acid chemosensation and CO2-evoked fear.32 The amygdala is a chemosensor that detects CO2 and acidosis to elicit fear It is well established that the amygdala integrates sensory input from other brain structures to orchestrate fear behavior; however, the amygdala itself was not previously known to act as a pH sensor. Ziemann et al suspected this possibility after observing that the acid sensing ion channel-1a (ASIC1a) was abundantly expressed in the basolateral amygdala and

other fear circuit structures,91,92 and it was found that breathing 10% CO2 lowered pH to levels sufficiently to activate ASIC1a in amygdala neurons.32 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical To test CO2 triggered fear Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in mice, four behavioral paradigms were developed: (i) CO2-evoked

freezing; (ii) CO2-potentiated center avoidance in the open field; (iii) CO2 aversion; and (iv) CO2-enhanced fear conditioning.32 Genetically disrupting or pharmacologically inhibiting ASIC1a reduced fear-like behavior in these paradigms.32 Particularly striking was the freezing behavior, which is often used as a correlate of fear and panic in mice. Like other fear-evoking stimuli, breathing 10% CO2 induced a dramatic freezing response in wild-type Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical mice. Disrupting or inhibiting ASIC1a significantly blunted this response.32 To test whether the amygdala itself might sense pH, acidic artificial cerebrospinal fluid was microinfused into the amygdala to lower pH to ~6.8 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical from

normal pH 7.35. Acidifying the amygdala produced freezing behavior in wild-type mice that resembled the freezing evoked by CO2 inhalation. Interestingly, in the ASIC1a knockout mice amygdala acidosis induced little or no freezing. The freezing deficit was likely specific to low pH because the ASIC1a knockouts froze normally when the amygdala was electrically stimulated. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Finally, the authors tested whether ASIC1a in the amygdala might be sufficient from to produce CO2-evoked freezing. Restoring ASIC1a GSK690693 research buy expression to the amygdala of ASIC1a-null mice with an ASIC1a-expressing adeno-associated virus corrected the CO2-evoked freezing deficit ((Figure 1).)Together these findings suggest that the amygdala itself can act as a chemosensor. These experiments further identify ASIC1a as key molecular mediator of this chemosensitive response. Figure 1. Expressing acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC)1a bilaterally in the basolateral amygdala of ASIC1a knockout (ASIC1a-/–) mice increased CO2 -evoked freezing behavior, (a) Examples of adeno-associated virus vector (AAV) injections that led to ASIC1a expression … Interoception and false alarms It is intriguing that a brain structure that mediates fear has a chemosensory role.