Biology subjects

Rezaee, Z.

Publications and source records attributed to Rezaee, Z..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

High-Intensity Interval Training Remodels Adipose Tissue Inflammatory Signaling and Enhances Immunometabolic Health via microRNA Regulation

Sedentary behavior promotes chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissue, contributing to metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a time-efficient exercise strategy with potent anti-inflammatory and metabolic benefits; however, its effects on adipose tissue inflammatory signaling and microRNA (miRNA) regulation remain incompletely understood. This study investigated the effects of eight weeks of HIIT on inflammatory and epigenetic markers in interscapular white adipose tissue (iWAT) of male Wistar rats. Fourteen rats were randomly assigned to either a sedentary (SED; n = 7) or HIIT (n = 7) group. The HIIT protocol consisted of treadmill running five days per week for eight weeks. Body weight and iWAT mass were assessed, and molecular adaptations were evaluated at multiple regulatory levels using RT-qPCR for mRNA targets (NLRP3, TNF-, PPAR-{gamma}, and IL-10) and miRNAs (miR-21 and miR-30d-5p), while protein levels of NLRP3 and PPAR-{gamma} were assessed using Western blotting. Compared with the SED group, HIIT significantly reduced body weight (p < 0.001) and iWAT mass (p = 0.002). Furthermore, HIIT downregulated the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators, including NLRP3 (gene: p = 0.001; protein: p < 0.001) and TNF- (p = 0.025), while upregulating anti-inflammatory regulators PPAR-{gamma} (gene: p = 0.026; protein: p = 0.020) and IL-10 (p = 0.010). In parallel, inflammation-associated miRNAs, including miR-21 (p = 0.004) and miR-30d-5p (p = 0.002), were markedly downregulated. These coordinated transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and translational adaptations suggest that HIIT attenuates adipose tissue inflammation and promotes a favorable immunometabolic phenotype through integrated molecular and epigenetic mechanisms.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy in conjunction with electroencephalography of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation responses in the latent neurovascular coupling space a chronic stroke study

Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) can facilitate motor learning; however, ctDCS effects have not been investigated using portable neuroimaging vis-a-vis lobular electric field strength. This is important since the subject-specific residual architecture for cerebellar interconnections with the cerebral cortex, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the sensorimotor cortex (SMC), can influence the ctDCS effects on the cerebral functional activation. In this study, we investigated functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in conjunction with electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the changes in the brain activation at the PFC and the SMC following virtual reality (VR)-based Balance Training (VBaT), before and after ctDCS treatment in 12 hemiparetic chronic stroke survivors. Furthermore, we performed general linear modeling (GLM) that can putatively associate the lobular electric field strength due to ctDCS priming with the changes in the fNIRS-EEG measures in the chronic stroke survivors. Here, fNIRS-EEG based measures were investigated in their latent space found using canonical correlation analysis (CCA) that is postulated to capture neurovascular coupling. We found that the ctDCS electrode montage, as well as the state (pre-intervention, during intervention, post-intervention), had a significant (p<0.05) effect on the changes in the canonical scores of oxy-hemoglobin (O2Hb) signal measured with fNIRS. Also, skill acquisition during first exposure to VBaT decreased the activation (canonical score of O2Hb) of PFC of the non-lesioned hemisphere in the novices at their first exposure before the ctDCS intervention. Moreover, ctDCS intervention targeting the leg representation in the cerebellum led to a decrease in the canonical scores of O2Hb at the lesioned SMC, which is postulated to be related to the cerebellar brain inhibition. Furthermore, ctDCS electrode montage, as well as the state, had a significant (p<0.05) interaction effect on the canonical scores of log10-transformed EEG bandpower. Our current study showed the feasibility of fNIRS-EEG imaging of the ctDCS responses in the latent neurovascular coupling space that can not only be used for monitoring the dynamical changes in the brain activation associated with ctDCS-facilitated VBaT, but may also be useful in subject-specific current steering for tDCS to target the cerebral fNIRS-EEG sources to reduce inter-individual variability.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Lobule-specific dosage considerations for cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation during healthy aging - a computational modeling study using age-specific MRI templates

The world population aged 60 years and older is expected to double between 2015 and 2050. Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive and motor performances which are a part of geriatric syndromes. Aging is also associated with the loss of cerebellar volume where the cerebellum has a considerable contribution in cognitive and motor functions. Therefore, cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) has been proposed to study and facilitate cerebellar function during aging. However, the one-size-fits-all approach used for ctDCS can lead to variability in the cerebellar lobule-specific dosing due to age-related changes in the cerebellar structure. Therefore, we investigated lobular electric field (EF) distribution during healthy aging for age groups of 18 to 89 years where computational modeling was based on age-appropriate human brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) templates (http://jerlab.psych.sc.edu/NeurodevelopmentalMRIDatabase/). A fully automated open-source pipeline (Realistic vOlumetric-Approach to Simulate Transcranial Electric Stimulation - ROAST) was used for the age-group specific EF modeling. Then, we extracted the EF distribution at the 28 cerebellar lobules based on a spatially unbiased atlas (SUIT) for the cerebellum. Our computational results showed that the EF strength increased significantly at certain important cerebellar lobules (e.g., Crus I and Crus II relevant for cognitive function) contralateral (contra) to the targeted (ipsi) cerebellar hemisphere at an older age that reduced the ctDCS specificity. Specifically, two-way ANOVA showed that the lobules as well as the age-group (and their interaction term) had a significant effect (p<0.01). Post-hoc multiple comparison tests at Alpha=0.01 using Bonferroni critical values showed that Right (Ipsi) Crus I, Right (Ipsi) Crus II, Right (Ipsi) VI, Vermis VIIb, Vermis VIIIa, Right (Ipsi) VIIb, Left (Contra) VIIIb, Left (Contra) IX, Right (Ipsi) VIIIa, Right (Ipsi) VIIIb, Vermis VIIIb, Right (Ipsi) IX, and Vermis IX, and the age-group 18, 18.5, 19, 20-24, 45-49, 50-54, 70-74, 75-79, 85-89 years experienced higher electric field strength (>0.11V/m). Since there is a dichotomy between the sensorimotor cerebellum and the cognitive cerebellum, therefore, subject-specific MRI based head modeling for lobule-specific dosage considerations will be necessary for clinical translation of ctDCS to address geriatric cerebellar syndromes.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

A computational pipeline to determine lobular electric field distribution during cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation

ObjectiveCerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) is challenging due to the complexity of the cerebellar structure. Therefore, our objective is to develop a freely available computational pipeline to perform cerebellar atlas-based electric field analysis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guided subject-specific head modeling. MethodsWe present a freely available computational pipeline to determine subject-specific lobular electric field distribution during ctDCS. The computational pipeline can isolate subject-specific cerebellar lobules based on a spatially unbiased atlas (SUIT) for the cerebellum, and then calculates the lobular electric field distribution during ctDCS. The computational pipeline was tested in a case study using a subject-specific head model as well as using a Colin 27 Average Brain. The 5cmx5cm anode was placed 3 cm lateral to inion, and the same sized cathode was placed on the contralateral supraorbital area (called Manto montage) and buccinators muscle (called Celnik montage). A 4x1 HD-ctDCS electrode montage was also implemented for a comparison using analysis of variance (ANOVA). ResultsEta-squared effect size after three-way ANOVA for electric field strength was 0.05 for lobule, 0.00 for montage, 0.04 for head model, 0.01 for lobule*montage interaction, 0.01 for lobule* head model interaction, and 0.00 for montage*head model interaction in case of Enorm. Here, the electric field strength of both the Celnik and the Manto montages affected the lobules Crus II, VIIb, VIII, IX of the targeted cerebellar hemispheres while Manto montage had more bilateral effect. The HD-ctDCS montage primarily affected the lobules Crus I, Crus II, VIIb of the targeted cerebellar hemisphere. Our freely available computational modeling approach to analyze subject-specific lobular electric field distribution during ctDCS provided an insight into healthy human anodal ctDCS results

neuroscience↗