ObjectiveTo observe the influence of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) sensibilization to retinal ganglion cells (RGC) apoptosis of rats. MethodsThirty-five female Wistar rats were randomly divided into HSP27 sensibilization group (15 rats), borate buffer solution (BBS) control group (15 rats) and normal group (5 rats). The rats in HSP27 sensibilization group were received hypodermic injection in rear limb with 100 μg HSP27 and complete freund adjuvant, intraperitoneal injection with 1 μg pertussis toxin. The BBS control group received the same volume of BBS at the same site. The normal group received no intervention. The intraocular pressure was measured 3 days before injection and 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after injection. Four, 6 and 8 weeks after injection, the retinal frozen sections was made to observe RGC apoptosis by terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling. The anti-HSP27 level in serum and cerebrospinal fluid were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. ResultsThere was no obvious change of intraocular pressure in rats in 3 groups before injection (P>0.05). RGC apoptosis was observed in HSP27 sensibilization group 4 weeks after injection, and increased significantly at 6 weeks after injection. There was no RGC apoptosis in BBS control group and normal group. The level of anti-HSP27 in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of HSP27 sensibilization group occurred at 4 and 6 weeks after injection respectively, decreased with prolongation of injection time. Compared with BBS control group and normal group, the RGC apoptosis rate, anti-HSP27 level in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of HSP27 sensibilization group were significantly increased (P<0.05). There was no significant difference of the RGC apoptosis rate, anti-HSP27 level in serum and cerebrospinal fluid between BBS control group and normal group (P>0.05). ConclusionsHSP27 sensibilization could promote the RGC apoptosis. The variation trend of anti-HSP27 level in cerebrospinal fluid is consistent with the RGC apoptosis.
High-frequency steady-state asymmetric visual evoked potential (SSaVEP) provides a new paradigm for designing comfortable and practical brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. However, due to the weak amplitude and strong noise of high-frequency signals, it is of great significance to study how to enhance their signal features. In this study, a 30 Hz high-frequency visual stimulus was used, and the peripheral visual field was equally divided into eight annular sectors. Eight kinds of annular sector pairs were selected based on the mapping relationship of visual space onto the primary visual cortex (V1), and three phases (in-phase[0º, 0º], anti-phase [0º, 180º], and anti-phase [180º, 0º]) were designed for each annular sector pair to explore response intensity and signal-to-noise ratio under phase modulation. A total of 8 healthy subjects were recruited in the experiment. The results showed that three annular sector pairs exhibited significant differences in SSaVEP features under phase modulation at 30 Hz high-frequency stimulation. And the spatial feature analysis showed that the two types of features of the annular sector pair in the lower visual field were significantly higher than those in the upper visual field. This study further used the filter bank and ensemble task-related component analysis to calculate the classification accuracy of annular sector pairs under three-phase modulations, and the average accuracy was up to 91.5%, which proved that the phase-modulated SSaVEP features could be used to encode high- frequency SSaVEP. In summary, the results of this study provide new ideas for enhancing the features of high-frequency SSaVEP signals and expanding the instruction set of the traditional steady state visual evoked potential paradigm.
Approximately 70 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy, with about 9 million in China. About one-third of patients demonstrating resistance to traditional antiseizure medications (ASMs), Focal Cortical Stimulation (FCS) emerges as a novel neuromodulation therapy based on neural stimulation, showing potential in treating drug-resistant focal epilepsy. FCS reduces seizure frequency by diminishing abnormal excitability in cortical areas. Compared to traditional surgery, it carries lower risks and is particularly suited for patients whose epileptogenic foci are difficult to surgically localize. Its adjustability provides physicians with treatment flexibility, allowing them to tailor therapy based on patient conditions. Recent studies highlight the practical clinical application of FCS, underscoring its advantages in reducing the frequency of drug-resistant epilepsy seizures. The article concludes by exploring the future prospects of FCS, emphasizing the need for research in long-term efficacy assessment and patient adaptability, thus demonstrating its significant potential and direction for development in the field of epilepsy treatment.