Neuroscience letters
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Neuroscience letters · Dec 2012
Chronic dopamine depletion augments the functional expression of K-ATP channels in the rat subthalamic nucleus.
Symptoms of Parkinson's disease caused by dopamine depletion are associated with burst firing in the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Moreover, regularization or suppression of STN neuronal activity is thought to improve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. We reported recently that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor stimulation of rat STN neurons evokes ATP-sensitive K(+) (K-ATP) current via a Ca(2+)- and nitric oxide-dependent mechanism. ⋯ Moreover, extracellular, loose-patch recordings showed that NMDA increased spontaneous firing rate in STN neurons in slices from normal rats, whereas NMDA produced a tolbutamide-sensitive inhibition of firing rate in STN neurons located ipsilateral to 6-OHDA treatment. These results show that K-ATP channel function in STN neurons is up-regulated by chronic dopamine deficiency. We suggest that K-ATP channel activation in the STN might benefit symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
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Neuroscience letters · Dec 2012
Different functional reorganization of motor cortex after transfer of the contralateral C7 to different recipient nerves in young rats with total brachial plexus root avulsion.
Clinically, contralateral C7 transfer is used for nerve reconstruction in brachial plexus injuries. Postoperatively, synchronous motions at the donor limb are noteworthy. This study studied if different recipient nerves influenced transhemispheric functional reorganization of motor cortex after this procedure. 90 young rats with total root avulsion of the brachial plexus were divided into groups 1-3 of contralateral C7 transfer to anterior division of the upper trunk, to both the musculocutaneous and median nerves, and to the median nerve, respectively. ⋯ Logistic regression analysis showed that rate of fulfilled transhemispheric reorganization in group 1 was 12.19 times that in group 3 (95% CI 0.006-0.651, p=0.032). At 12 months, number of sites for hindlimb representations which had encroached upon original forelimb representations on the uninjured side was statistically more in group 3 than in group 2 (t=9.5, p<0.0001). It is concluded that contralateral C7 transfer to upper trunk or to both the musculocutaneous and median nerves induces faster transhemispheric functional reorganization of motor cortex than that to median nerve alone in rats.
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Neuroscience letters · Dec 2012
The involvement of Type II Neuregulin-1 in rat visuospatial learning and memory.
The cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia are considered a core feature of the disease. Neuregulin-1 is a risk gene for schizophrenia that is involved in many neurodevelopmental and synaptic plasticity-related processes relevant to schizophrenia. Here, we have utilized a rat model (Nrg1(Tn)), which is hypomorphic for the neuregulin-1 (Nrg1) gene, to test whether reduced Type II NRG1 in the rat brain leads to cognitive deficits relevant to schizophrenia. ⋯ Nrg1(Tn) rats were not impaired on the Morris water maze, but did show a deficit in the appetitive visuospatial discrimination test. Nrg1(Tn) rats committed more reference and working memory errors in this test. These results indicate that decreased Type II NRG1 in the brain may lead to deficits in visuospatial learning and memory.