Endophenotypes Related to Attention, Inhibition, and Executive Control in Different Mental Disorders. The Search of Specific Patterns

Editors

Zinaida Storozheva

V. Serbsky Federal Medical Research Centre of Psychiatry and Narcology, Ministry of Health (Russia)

Timur Syunyakov

Samara State Medical University

Georg Northoff

University of Ottawa

Impact

Original Research

25 July 2022

The association between ST8SIA2 gene and behavioral phenotypes in children with autism spectrum disorder

Xiaolei Yang

, 2 more and

Jicheng Liu

Objective: ST8 alpha-N-acetyl-neuraminide alpha-2,8-sialyltransferase 2 (ST8SIA2) encodes a type II membrane protein that is thought to catalyze the transfer of sialic acid (SA) from CMP-SA to N-linked oligosaccharides and glycoproteins. Some population and animal studies have indicated an association between the ST8SIA2 gene and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is limited information on the correlation between ST8SIA2 and autistic behavioral symptoms.

Methods: In this study, 69 ASD and 76 normal control children who were age- and sex-matched were recruited. ST8SIA2 expression and methylation levels were measured by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR and pyrosequencing, respectively, and the behavioral phenotypes of ASD children were assessed.

Results: The ASD group had lower ST8SIA2 gene expression levels than the control group [t_(0.05/2,143) = 2.582, p = 0.011]. Moreover, ST8SIA2 expression levels were positively correlated with daily life skills (r_s = 0.381, p = 0.008) and negatively associated with stereotyped behaviors in the ASD group (r_s = -0.510, p = 0.004). The methylation levels of the Chr. 15: 92984625 and Chr. 15: 92998561 sites of the ST8SIA2 gene in ASD children were higher than those of controls. The Chr. 15: 92984625 site was positively correlated with the stereotyped behaviors of ASD children (r_s = 0.41, p = 0.039).

Conclusion: This study provides a scientific basis to elucidate the relationship between the ST8SIA2 gene and behavioral phenotypes of ASD.

2,478 views

8 citations

Review

20 May 2022

Cognitive Neural Mechanism of Backward Inhibition and Deinhibition: A Review

Jiwen Chen

, 1 more and

Fuhong Li

Task switching is one of the typical paradigms to study cognitive control. When switching back to a recently inhibited task (e.g., “A” in an ABA sequence), the performance is often worse compared to a task without N-2 task repetitions (e.g., CBA). This difference is called the backward inhibitory effect (BI effect), which reflects the process of overcoming residual inhibition from a recently performed task (i.e., deinhibition). The neural mechanism of backward inhibition and deinhibition has received a lot of attention in the past decade. Multiple brain regions, including the frontal lobe, parietal, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, are activated during deinhibition. The event-related potentials (ERP) studies have shown that deinhibition process is reflected in the P1/N1 and P3 components, which might be related to early attention control, context updating, and response selection, respectively. Future research can use a variety of new paradigms to separate the neural mechanisms of BI and deinhibition.

3,023 views

6 citations

Review

30 June 2022

Comparative Analysis of Dopaminergic and Cholinergic Mechanisms of Sensory and Sensorimotor Gating in Healthy Individuals and in Patients With Schizophrenia

Andrey T. Proshin

2,517 views

1 citations

Original Research

10 December 2021

Alteration of Behavioral Inhibitory Control in High-Altitude Immigrants

Jiazheng Wang

, 8 more and

Hailin Ma

Behavioral inhibitory control (BIC) acts as a key cognitive ability, which is essential for humans to withhold inappropriate behaviors. Meanwhile, many studies reported that long-term exposure to high altitude (HA) may affect cognitive ability. However, it is not clear whether long-term exposure to HAs may affect the BIC of an individual. To clarify the role of altitude in the behavioral control of adults and the underlying neural mechanism, we explored the BIC neural activity profiles of healthy immigrants from low-altitude (LA) regions to HA regions. Combining a two-choice oddball paradigm and electrophysiological techniques, this study monitored the N2 and P3 event-related components and neural oscillations across LA and HA groups. Results showed longer reaction times (RTs) for the HA group than the LA group. Relative to the LA group, lower N2 and P3 amplitudes were observed for the HA group. Significant positive correlations were also found between P3 amplitude and theta/delta band power across both groups. Importantly, lower theta/delta band powers were only observed for the HA group under the deviant condition. Collectively, these findings suggest that long-term exposure to HAs may attenuate BIC during the response inhibition stage and provide valuable insights into the neurocognitive implications of environmental altitude on BIC.

2,154 views

12 citations