Medical Bulletin 05/December/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Being overweight hampers body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2

University of Queensland-led research shows being overweight can impair the body’s antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection but not to the protection offered by vaccination. The study is published in Clinical & Translational Immunology.

Research lead, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences PhD candidate Marcus Tong, said the finding built on the ++ team’s existing research on how COVID-19 affects people who are overweight.

Reference: Being overweight hampers body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2; JOURNALClinical & Translational Immunology

New study maps ketamine's effects on brain

Ketamine – an anesthetic also known for its illicit use as a recreational drug – has undergone a thorough reputational rehabilitation in recent years as the medical establishment has begun to recognize its wide-ranging therapeutic effects. The drug is increasingly used for a range of medical purposes, including as a painkiller alternative to opioids, and as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression.

In a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, Columbia biologists and biomedical engineers mapped ketamine’s effects on the brains of mice, and found that repeated use over extended periods of time leads to widespread structural changes in the brain’s dopamine system. The findings bolster the case for developing ketamine therapies that target specific areas of the brain, rather than administering doses that wash the entire brain in ketamine.

Reference: New study maps ketamine's effects on brain; Cell Reports, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113491

Lost brain function restored in mice after stroke

Researchers have succeeded in restoring lost brain function in mouse models of stroke using small molecules that in the future could potentially be developed into a stroke recovery therapy. "Communication between nerve cells in large parts of the brain changes after a stroke and we show that it can be partially restored with the treatment," says Tadeusz Wieloch, senior professor of neurobiology at Lund University in Sweden.

An international study published recently in the journal Brain and led by a research team from Lund University in collaboration with University of Rome La Sapeinza and Washington University at St. Louis, shows promising results in mice and rats that were treated with a class of substances that inhibit the metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5), a receptor that regulates communication in the brain's nerve cell network.

Reference: Jakob Hakon, Miriana J Quattromani, Carin Sjölund, Daniela Talhada, Byungchan Kim, Slavianka Moyanova, Federica Mastroiacovo, Luisa Di Menna, Roger Olsson, Elisabet Englund, Ferdinando Nicoletti, Karsten Ruscher, Adam Q Bauer, Tadeusz Wieloch. Inhibiting metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 after stroke restores brain function and connectivity. Brain, 2023; DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad293