66 documents found, page 1 of 7
Untangling sex differences in glia-to-neuron communication in chronic alcohol e...
Pacheco, Raquel; Canedo, Teresa; Rodrigues, Ana Margarida; Moreira, Joana; Relvas, João B.; Vieira, Cristina P.; Socodato, Renato; Sumavielle, TeresaExcessive alcohol consumption is global health challenge with profound neurobiological consequences. Our laboratory has shown that alcohol exposure induces reactive astrocytic changes, affecting gene expression, activity, and proliferation, while also altering microglial morphology and immune responses [1]. This study aims to characterise sex-specific effects of chronic alcohol consumption on the prefrontal cor...
Regulating adult-use cannabis
Lourenço, Ana; Carvalho, Maria Carmo; Summavielle, Teresa; Marreiros, Hélia; Ribeiro, MafaldaThe public debate on adult-use cannabis regulation is often driven by prejudice rather than scientific evidence. This policy paper maps clinical, social, economic, and legal literature on cannabis regulation to promote informed discussion and support evidence-based policy design.
IL-10 and Cdc42 modulate astrocyte-mediated microglia activation in methampheta...
Silva, Ana Isabel; Socodato, Renato; Pinto, Carolina; Terceiro, Ana Filipa; Canedo, Teresa; Relvas, João Bettencourt; Saraiva, MargaridaMethamphetamine (Meth) use is known to induce complex neuroinflammatory responses, particularly involving astrocytes and microglia. Building upon our previous research, which demonstrated that Meth stimulates astrocytes to release tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and glutamate, leading to microglial activation, this study investigates the role of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) in this process....
Deciphering neuroimmune interactions in alcohol intake in mouse model of interm...
Pacheco, Raquel; Canedo, Teresa; Rodrigues, Ana M.; Moreira, Joana; Relvas, João B.; Socodato, Renato; Summavielle, Teresa; Summavielle, TeresaExcessive alcohol consumption continues to pose a significant global health challenge, with detrimental effects on millions of individuals. Our laboratory has shown that alcohol exposure triggers reactive changes in astrocytes, including alterations in gene expression, activity, and proliferation, while also affecting microglial morphology and immune responses. We are to characterizing the effects of chronic al...
The insula, a key brain area for bladder pain control, is modulated by stress
Summavielle, TeresaStress may cause or aggravate Bladder Pain Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis (BPS/IC) symptoms. Thus, stress models are being refined to be used as systemic in counterpoint to bladder centric animal models We hypothesised that different stress insults modulate the insula activity diversely. Two models were used in female Wistar rats, Maternal Deprivation Model (MDM, stress applied to new-borns and studies done at ...
Uncovering the microglia response during neonatal Group B Streptococcus meningitis
Soares, Joana; Lorga, Inês; Bravo, Joana; Summavielle, Teresa; Nova, Manuel Vila; Bonifácio Andrade, ElvaGroup B Streptococcus (GBS) remains the most common bacterial cause of meningitis in neonates. Microglia, the brain resident immune cells, have a critical role in the development of neural circuits. However, the role of GBS infection on microglia activation and neurological sequelae remains poorly characterised. Here, we aimed to evaluate whether GBS induces changes in microglia profile during the acute phase o...
Deciphering the astrocytic and synaptic changes under chronic alcohol exposure ...
Rodrigues, Ana Margarida; Canedo, Teresa; Terceiro, Ana Filipa; Tedim-Moreira, Joana; Silva, Ana Isabel; Magalhães, Ana; Relvas, JoãoDrug abuse is characterized by a compulsive and persistent drug-seeking behaviour, despite the harmful emotional, physical and social consequences. Our laboratory has previously found that the neuronal-glial crosstalk is critical in relaying the changes caused by acute exposure to psychoactive drugs through neuroimmune mechanisms. We have also reported that microglia can engulf postsynaptic components in the pr...
The impact of psychostimulants on central and peripheral neuro-immune regulatio...
Bravo, Joana; Magalhães, Catarina; Andrade, Elva B.; Magalhães, Ana; Summavielle, TeresaIt is now well-accepted that psychostimulants act on glial cells causing neuroinflammation and adding to the neurotoxic effects of such substances. Neuroinflammation can be described as an inflammatory response, within the CNS, mediated through several cytokines, reactive oxygen species, chemokines and other inflammatory markers. These inflammatory players, in particular cytokines, play important roles. Several...
Multimodal classification of anxiety based on physiological signals
Vaz, Mariana; Summavielle, Teresa; Sebastião, Raquel; Ribeiro, Rita P.Multiple studies show an association between anxiety disorders and dysregulation in the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). Thus, understanding how informative the physiological signals are would contribute to effectively detecting anxiety. This study targets the classification of anxiety as an imbalanced binary classification problem using physiological signals collected from a sample of healthy subjects under a n...
Microglial Rac1 is essential for experience-dependent brain plasticity and cogn...
Socodato, Renato; Almeida, Tiago O.; Portugal, Camila C.; Santos, Evelyn C.S.; Tedim-Moreira, Joana; Ferreira, João Galvão; Canedo, TeresaMicroglia, the largest population of brain immune cells, continuously interact with synapses to maintain brain homeostasis. In this study, we use conditional cell-specific gene targeting in mice with multi-omics approaches and demonstrate that the RhoGTPase Rac1 is an essential requirement for microglia to sense and interpret the brain microenvironment. This is crucial for microglia-synapse crosstalk that drive...