Brain research bulletin
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Brain research bulletin · Mar 2007
Nucleus reuniens of the midline thalamus: link between the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.
The medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus serve well recognized roles in memory processing. The hippocampus projects densely to, and exerts strong excitatory actions on, the medial prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, the medial prefrontal cortex, in rats and other species, has no direct return projections to the hippocampus, and few projections to parahippocampal structures including the entorhinal cortex. ⋯ At ultrastructural level, we showed that medial prefrontal cortical fibers form asymmetric contacts predominantly with dendritic shafts of hippocampally projecting reuniens cells. These findings indicate that nucleus reuniens represents a critical link between the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. We discuss the possibility that nucleus reuniens gates the flow of information between the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus dependent upon attentive/arousal states of the organism.
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Brain research bulletin · Mar 2007
Mitochondrial localization of P2Y1, P2Y2 and P2Y12 receptors in rat astrocytes and glioma C6 cells.
We have previously shown that P2Y1, P2Y2 and P2Y12 nucleotide receptors are functionally expressed and active on the cell surface of rat glioma C6 cells. In the present study, we have immunocytochemically shown their sub-cellular colocalization with mitochondria in these cells. ⋯ Additionally, differences in intracellular distribution of examined receptors between both cell lines have been observed. This data indicates that P2Y1, P2Y2 and P2Y12 receptor proteins exist within mitochondria of astrocytes and C6 cells, although their role in these sub-cellular structures remains unclear.
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Brain research bulletin · Mar 2007
Comparative Study Clinical TrialDifferent modalities of painful somatosensory stimulations affect anticipatory cortical processes: a high-resolution EEG study.
Pain sensation is characterized by multiple features that allow to differentiate pricking, burning, aching, stinging, and electrical shock. These features are sub-served by neural pathways that might give flexibility and selectivity to the cerebral anticipatory processes. In this line, the present high-resolution electroencephalography (EEG) study tested the hypothesis that the anticipatory cortical processes are stronger for painful thermal (biologically relevant) than electrical ("artificial") stimuli with similar intensity. ⋯ However, the anticipatory SPN appeared over large scalp regions before painful laser but not electrical stimulation. The same was true for the nonpainful stimulations. The present results suggest that the motivational anticipatory cortical processes are induced by nonpainful and painful biologically/ecologically relevant laser stimuli rather than by "artificial" electrical stimuli with similar intensity.