Brain research bulletin
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The neural system associated with face perception in the human brain was investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In contrast to many studies that focused on discreet face-responsive regions, the objective of the current study was to demonstrate that regardless of stimulus format, emotional valence, or task demands, face perception evokes activation in a distributed cortical network. Subjects viewed various stimuli (line drawings of unfamiliar faces and photographs of unfamiliar, famous, and emotional faces) and their phase scrambled versions. ⋯ This hemispheric asymmetry was manifested by larger and more significant clusters of activation and larger number of subjects who showed the effect. A region of interest analysis revealed that while all face stimuli evoked activation within all regions, viewing famous and emotional faces resulted in larger spatial extents of activation and higher amplitudes of the fMRI signal. These results indicate that a mere percept of a face is sufficient to localize activation within the distributed cortical network that mediates the visual analysis of facial identity and expression.
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Brain research bulletin · Sep 2005
Systemic administration of lipopolysaccharide and interleukin-1beta have different effects on memory consolidation.
Sickness behaviour is an adaptive response to infection that includes lethargy, anorexia and of direct relevance to this work, learning and memory impairments. It has been suggested that proinflammatory cytokines may disrupt learning and memory by interfering with memory consolidation [C. R. ⋯ Lipopolysaccharide-injected animals, but not interleukin-1beta-injected animals, exhibited less conditioned fear of context compared to saline-treated controls. All groups showed similar conditioned fear of tone. Our results suggest that systemic interleukin-1beta is not sufficient to disrupt memory consolidation, but rather, the synergistic actions of the proinflammatory cytokines released by lipopolysaccharide are required to disrupt memory consolidation.
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Brain research bulletin · Aug 2005
Taurine-induced modulation of voltage-sensitive Na+ channels in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons.
The physiological role of taurine, an abundant free amino acid in the neural system, is still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate its effect on TTX-sensitive (TTX-S) and TTX-resistant (TTX-R) Na+ currents in enzymatically dissociated neurons from rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) with conventional whole-cell recording manner under voltage-clamp conditions. A TTX-S Na+ current was recorded preferentially from large DRG neurons and a TTX-R Na+ current preferentially from small ones. ⋯ All the effects of taurine were weakly concentration-dependent and partly recovered quite slowly after washout. Our data indicate that taurine alters the properties of Na+ currents in intact DRG neurons. These may contribute to the understanding of taurine as a natural neuroprotectant and the potential of taurine as a useful medicine for the treatment of sensory neuropathies.
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Brain research bulletin · Aug 2005
Limits on recovery in the corticospinal tract of the rat: partial lesions impair skilled reaching and the topographic representation of the forelimb in motor cortex.
Although evidence suggests that there are impairments in skilled movements following very large lesions of the pyramidal component of the corticospinal tract, the behavioral and electrophysiological effects of partial lesion has not received equal attention. Here, rats with complete lesions or partial lesions (medial, central, or lateral third) of the pyramidal tract at the medullary pyramids were evaluated for their quantitative and qualitative postsurgical performance on a skilled reaching task, following which the topographic representation of their forelimb was mapped with intracortical microstimulation (ICMS). Complete lesions impaired reaching success, impaired the qualitative features of reaching movements, and abolished ICMS evoked movement from the forelimb region of motor cortex. ⋯ ICMS indicated a reduction in the size of the forelimb area, especially the distal area of the caudal forelimb area (CFA), of the motor map. The behavioral and electrophysiological impairments did not vary with lesion location within the pyramidal tract. The incomplete recovery, as measured both behaviorally and electrophysiologically, demonstrates that plasticity within the corticospinal system is limited even with lesions that permit substantial sparing of pyramidal tract fibers.
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Brain research bulletin · Jul 2005
Comparative StudyDissociation of synaptic zinc level and zinc transporter 3 expression during postnatal development and after sensory deprivation in the barrel cortex of mice.
In the neocortex, synaptic zinc level is regulated by sensory experience. Previously, we found that trimming of mystacial vibrissae resulted in an increase of synaptic zinc level in corresponding deprived barrels in the cortex of mice. ⋯ Further, neither long-term deprivation in young mice nor short deprivation in adult mice, that resulted in an increase of synaptic zinc level, produced alterations in ZnT3, synapsin I or synaptophysin expression in deprived barrels. These results suggest that in the barrel cortex ZnT3, synapsin I or synaptophysin are not determinant for the activity-dependent regulation of the synaptic zinc level.