Capsaicin is a widespread spice known for its analgesic qualities. Although a comprehensive body of evidence suggests pleiotropic benefits of capsaicin, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-proliferative, metabolic, or cardioprotective effects, it is frequently avoided due to reported digestive side-effects. As the gut bacterial profile is strongly linked to diet and capsaicin displays modulatory effects on gut microbiota, a new hypothesis has recently emerged about its possible applicability against widespread pathologies, such as metabolic and inflammatory diseases. The present review explores the capsaicin–microbiota crosstalk and capsaicin effect on dysbiosis, and illustrates the intimate mechanisms that underlie its action in preventing the onset or development of pathologies like obesity, diabetes, or inflammatory bowel diseases. A possible antimicrobial property of capsaicin, mediated by the beneficial alteration of microbiota, is also discussed. However, as data are coming mostly from experimental models, caution is needed in translating these findings to humans.

Background and Objectives: Myelomeningocele is the most severe form of spina bifida, a congenital neural tube defect arising from an incomplete neural tube closure during early development with damage worsening with advancing gestational age. The Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS) Trial proved that surgery performed before 26 weeks of gestation significantly improved the prognosis, significantly changing treatment paradigms. This article aims to provide a review of the changes and updates in spina bifida repair over the 10-year period following the MOMS Trial. Material and methods: We performed a systematic review in the PubMed and Cochrane databases as well as a hand-search of high-impact journals using the reference list of all identified articles, searching for randomized controlled trials and observational studies. Results: We identified 27 articles published between 2011 and 2021 that fulfilled the inclusion criteria and review them in the present study. Conclusions: With growing experience and with the improvement of prenatal open and fetoscopic techniques, the outcome of SB-associated conditions could be improved and the risks to both the mother and the fetus reduced. A continuous follow-up of the treated infants and further randomized trials are essential to study the complications and advantages or disadvantages of any given treatment strategy.

The role of the claustrum in consciousness and vigilance states was proposed more than two decades ago; however, its role in anesthesia is not yet understood, and this requires more investigation. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of claustrum electrical stimulation during isoflurane anesthesia in adult rats. The claustrum in the left hemisphere was electrically stimulated using a bipolar tungsten electrode inserted stereotaxically. In order to monitor the anesthetic depth, the electrocorticogram (ECoG) was recorded before, during, and after claustrum stimulation using frontal and parietal epidural electrodes placed over the left hemisphere. After reaching stabilized slow-wave isoflurane anesthesia, twenty stimuli, each of one second duration with ten seconds interstimulus duration, were applied. ECoG analysis has shown that, after a delay from the beginning of stimulation, the slow-wave ECoG signal changed to a transient burst suppression (BS) pattern. Our results show that electrical stimulation of the claustrum area during slow-wave isoflurane anesthesia induces a transitory increase in anesthetic depth, documented by the appearance of a BS ECoG pattern, and suggests a potential role of claustrum in anesthesia.

The reactivity of an electroencephalogram (EEG) to external stimuli is impaired in comatose patients showing burst-suppression (BS) patterns following hypoxic–ischemic brain injury (HIBI). We explored the reactivity of BS induced by isoflurane in rat models of HIBI and controls using intermittent photic stimulation (IPS) delivered to one eye. The relative time spent in suppression referred to as the suppression ratio (SR) was measured on the contralateral fronto-occipital cortical EEG channel. The BS reactivity (BSR) was defined as the decrease in the SR during IPS from the baseline before stimulation (SR_PRE). We found that BSR increased with SR_PRE. To standardize by anesthetic depth, we derived the BSR index (BSRi) as BSR divided by SR_PRE. We found that the BSRi was decreased at 3 days after transient global cerebral ischemia in rats, which is a model of brain injury after cardiac arrest. The BSRi was also reduced 2 months after experimental perinatal asphyxia in rats, a model of birth asphyxia, which is a frequent neonatal complication in humans. Furthermore, Oxytocin attenuated BSRi impairment, consistent with a neuroprotective effect in this model. Our data suggest that the BSRi is a promising translational marker in HIBI which should be considered in future neuroprotection studies.

Electrophysiological mapping (EM) using acute electrode probes is a common procedure performed during functional neurosurgery. Due to their constructive specificities, the EM probes are lagging in innovative enhancements. This work addressed complementing a clinically employed EM probe with carbonic and circumferentially segmented macrocontacts that are operable both for neurophysiological sensing (“recording”) of local field potentials (LFP) and for test stimulation. This paper illustrates in-depth the development that is based on the direct writing of functional materials. The unconventional fabrication processes were optimized on planar geometry and then transferred to the cylindrically thin probe body. We report and discuss the constructive concept and architecture of the probe, characteristics of the electrochemical interface deduced from voltammetry and chronopotentiometry, and the results of in vitro and in vivo recording and pulse stimulation tests. Two- and three-directional macrocontacts were added on probes having shanks of 550 and 770 μm diameters and 10–23 cm lengths. The graphitic material presents a ~2.7 V wide, almost symmetric water electrolysis window, and an ultra-capacitive charge transfer. When tested with clinically relevant 150 μs biphasic current pulses, the interfacial polarization stayed safely away from the water window for pulse amplitudes up to 9 mA (135 μC/cm²). The in vivo experiments on adult rat models confirmed the high-quality sensing of LFPs. Additionally, the in vivo-prevailing increase in the electrode impedance and overpotential are discussed and modeled by an ionic mobility-reducing spongiform structure; this restricted diffusion model gives new applicative insight into the in vivo-uprisen stimulation overpotential.

Electrophysiological mapping (EM) using acute electrode probes is a common procedure performed during functional neurosurgery. Due to their constructive specificities, the EM probes are lagging in innovative enhancements. This work addressed complementing a clinically employed EM probe with carbonic and circumferentially segmented macrocontacts that are operable both for neurophysiological sensing ("recording") of local field potentials (LFP), and for test stimulation. The paper illustrates in-depth the development, that is based on direct writing of functional materials. The unconventional fabrication processes were optimized on planar geometry and then transferred to the cylindrically thin probe body. We report and discuss on the constructive concept and architecture of the probe, characteristics of the electrochemical interface deduced from voltammetry and chronopotentiometry, and the results of in vitro and in vivo recording and pulse stimulation tests. Two and three directional macrocontacts were added on probes having shanks of 550 and 770 m diameters and 10-23 cm lengths. The graphitic material presents a ~2.7 V-wide, almost symmetric water electrolysis window, and an ultra-capacitive charge transfer. When tested with 150 s biphasic current pulses, the interfacial polarization stayed safely away from the water window for pulse amplitudes up to 9 mA (135 C/cm2). The in vivo experiments on adult rat models confirmed the high-quality sensing of LFPs. Additionally, the in vivo-prevailing increase of the electrode impedance and overpotential are discussed and modeled by an ionic mobility-reducing spongiform structure; this restricted diffusion model gives new applicative insight into the in vivo-uprisen stimulation overpotential.