No abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced rapid growth over the past few years, moving from the experimental to the implementation phase in various fields, including medicine. Advances in learning algorithms and theories, the availability of large datasets and improvements in computing power have contributed to breakthroughs in current AI applications. Machine learning (ML), a subset of AI, allows computers to detect patterns from large complex datasets automatically and uses these patterns to make predictions. AI is proving to be increasingly applicable to healthcare, and multiple machine learning techniques have been used to improve the performance of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Despite various challenges, the integration of AI and reproductive medicine is bound to give an essential direction to medical development in the future. In this review, we discuss the basic aspects of AI and machine learning, and we address the applications, potential limitations and challenges of AI. We also highlight the prospects and future directions in the context of reproductive medicine.

We have recently shown in rats that adolescent cocaine exposure induces prolonged modifications on synapses in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which might contribute to long‐term behavioral outcomes in adulthood. In this study, we further investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying adolescent cocaine exposure‐related psychiatric problems in adulthood, especially focusing on the alterations of GABAergic transmission in prelimbic cortex (PrL), 1 subregion of mPFC. Consistent with a previous study, adolescent cocaine‐exposed mice exhibited enhanced anxiety‐like behaviors in their adulthood. In the same mice models, depression‐like behaviors increased as well, but the conditioned place preference formed normally. In parallel, activities of pyramidal neurons at layer V of PrL were reduced after adolescent cocaine exposure, accompanied by an increase in the percentage of symmetric synapses in PrL of adult mice. Additionally, miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents rather than miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents were increased on these pyramidal neurons, and increased levels of GABA were found in adult PrL. The molecules in the GABAergic system in adult PrL were also changed by adolescent cocaine use, as indicated by increased glutamate decarboxylase 67kDa, GAB AA‐αl, and decreased GABA transporter 1. In the same mice, some regulators to GABAergic transmission such as neuregulin l/ErbB4 signals were heightened as well. Collectively, these findings revealed that adolescent cocaine exposure results in permanent enhancement of GABAergic transmission on pyramidal neurons in PrL, which subsequently attenuate the activities of these neurons and ultimately contributes to the development of psychiatric disorders in later life.—Shi, P., Nie, J., Liu, H., Li, Y., Lu, X., Shen, X., Ge, F., Yuan, T.‐F., Guan, X. Adolescent cocaine exposure enhances the GABAergic transmission in the prelimbic cortex of adult mice. FASEB J. 33, 8614–8622 (2019). http://www.fasebj.org

We recently found that adolescent cocaine exposure (ACE) resulted in an enhancement of the γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter system in the prelimbic cortex (PrL) of adult mice. Here, we aim to further investigate the role of GABAergic transmission, especially parvalbumin (PV) interneurons within PrL in the development of ACE‐induced anxiety‐like behavior, and to assess whether and how electro‐acupuncture (EA) therapeutically manage the ACE‐induced abnormal behaviors in adulthood. ACE mice exhibited the enhanced anxiety‐like behaviors in their adulthood, accompanied by increased GABAergic transmission and PV interneurons in PrL. Chemogenetic blocking PV interneurons in PrL alleviated ACE‐enhanced anxiety‐like behaviors in mice. Importantly, 37‐day EA treatments (mixture of 2 Hz/100 Hz, 1 mA, 30 minutes once a day) at the acupoints of Yintang (GV29) and Baihui (GV20) also alleviated ACE‐induced anxiety‐like behaviors, and rescued ACE‐impaired GABAergic neurotransmitter system and PV interneurons in PrL. In parallel, EA treatments further suppressed the activities of pyramidal neurons in PrL, suggesting that EA treatments seem to perform it beneficial effects on the ACE‐induced abnormal emotional behaviors by “calming down” the whole PrL. Collectively, these findings revealed that hyper‐function of GABAergic transmission, especially mediating by PV interneurons in PrL may be key etiology underlying ACE‐induced anxiety‐like behaviors. At least by normalizing the function of GABAergic and PV interneurons, EA may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for managing adolescent substance use‐related emotional disorders.

The circRNAs, a new subclass of non-coding RNAs that are catalyzed by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), have been reported to be associated with the progression of multiple types of cancer. We previously discovered that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L (HnRNP-L), a multi-functional RBP, is associated with pro-proliferation and anti-apoptosis activities in prostate tumor cells. In this study, we aim to establish the biological relevance of circCSPP1 (a newly discovered signature circRNA in prostate cancer [PCa]) and HnRNP-L to prostate cancer progression. First, we demonstrated that circCSPP1 expression was higher in prostate cancer tissues than in benign tissues and higher in prostate cancer cells than in benign cells. Then, the in vitro gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that the circCSPP1 expression in prostate cancer cells was regulated by HnRNP-L, and the increased circCSPP1 significantly induced autophagy, which led to an enhanced potential in proliferation, migration, and invasion of prostate cancer cells. These results were consistent with the in vivo experiment where increased or decreased circCSPP1 was associated with higher or slower growth rate in grafted tumors. Finally, we demonstrated the potential competing endogenous RNA network, involving circCSPP1, miR-520h, and early growth response factor 1 ( EGR1 ), in prostate cancer cells, which may play an important role in prostate cancer progression. Our study indicated that the increase in circCSPP1 in prostate cancer, which may be catalyzed by HnRNP-L, can induce cellular autophagy through the circCSPP1-miR-520h- EGR1 axis, leading to the progression of prostate tumor. This newly discovered circRNA biomarker may be used for clinical prognosis of prostate cancer as well as for development of novel therapy plans.