Brain research bulletin
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Brain research bulletin · Apr 1999
The effect of morphine on responses of nucleus ventroposterolateralis neurons to colorectal distension in the rat.
In 71 halothane-anesthetized rats, we characterized the responses of single neurons in the nucleus ventroposterolateralis (VPL) of the thalamus to a noxious visceral stimulus (colorectal balloon distension; CRD) and studied the effects of intravenous morphine on these responses using standard extracellular microelectrode recording techniques. One hundred nine neurons were isolated on the basis of spontaneous activity. Sixty-four (59%) responded to CRD, of which 52 (81 %) had excitatory and 12 (19%) had inhibitory responses. ⋯ Naloxone (0.4 mg/ kg, i.v.) reversed the effects of morphine. Morphine and naloxone had no significant effects on spontaneous activity. These data support the involvement of VPL neurons in visceral nociception and are consistent with a role of VPL in sensory-discriminative aspects of nociception.
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Brain research bulletin · Dec 1998
Glutamate/aspartate and leu-enkephalin immunoreactivity in mammillothalamic projection neurons of the rat.
We have used retrograde transport and immunohistochemistry to study glutamate, aspartate, and enkephalin-like immunoreactive pathways from the mammillary nuclei to the anterior nuclei of the thalamus. Injections of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase into the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus resulted in retrogradely labelled cell bodies in the lateral mammillary nucleus, bilaterally, whereas injections into the anteroventral thalamic nucleus resulted in retrogradely labelled neurons in the ipsilateral medial mammillary nucleus. ⋯ The enkephalin-immunoreactive neurons may coincide with or constitute a separate population from the glutamate/aspartate-containing neurons. These results are compatible with the possibility that mammillothalamic projection neurons may use glutamate and/or aspartate and enkephalin as neurotransmitters.
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Brain research bulletin · Sep 1998
The fasciculus retroflexus controls the integrity of REM sleep by supporting the generation of hippocampal theta rhythm and rapid eye movements in rats.
The fasciculus retroflexus (FR) fiber bundle comprises the intense cholinergic projection from the medial division of the habenula nucleus (Hbn) of the epithalamus to the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) of the limbic midbrain. Due to the widespread connections of the Hbn and IPN, it could be surmised that the FR is integrated in the processings of various subsystems that are known to be involved in the sleep-wake mechanisms; relevant sites include the limbic forebrain and midbrain areas and more caudal pontine structures. Consequently, the present study addressed the significance of the FR in the spontaneous sleep-wake stage-associated variations of the different activity patterns of frontal cortex and hippocampal electroencephalograms (EEGs), the electrooculogram, and body movements, in freely behaving rats that had been subjected to either bilateral electrolytic lesioning of the FR or control operations. ⋯ Of those individual features that were used to determine different sleep-wake stages, the overall hippocampal theta time (41% decrease) and single REM frequency (71% reduction during the REM sleep) were most affected. In contrast, the various properties of desynchronization/synchronization patterns of frontal cortex EEGs were consistently hardly influenced by the FR lesioning. Therefore, the present data suggest the involvement of the FR in the REM sleep processes by establishing prominent associations with the limbic and REM control mechanisms that involve the hippocampus and plausibly pontine ocular activity networks.
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Brain research bulletin · Sep 1998
Propriospinal neurons in the C1-C2 spinal segments project to the L5-S1 segments of the rat spinal cord.
Physiological studies indicate that neurons in the upper cervical spinal cord have descending projections to the lumbosacral spinal cord and mediate inhibition of dorsal horn neurons activated from afferent input. In the present study, retrograde tracing techniques were used to examine the distribution of propriospinal neurons in C1-C2 spinal segments that project to lumbosacral spinal segments. Fluorogold or horseradish peroxidase were injected unilaterally or bilaterally into the L5-S1 spinal segments. ⋯ Retrogradely labeled neurons were located in the following locations: lateral cervical and spinal nuclei, nucleus proprius, ventral horn and the central gray region (area X). These studies demonstrate a descending projection from C1-C2 segments to the lower lumbar and sacral spinal cord. We hypothesize that many of these C1-C2 propriospinal neurons are important in modulating responses of spinal neurons at lower segmental levels to various peripheral stimuli.
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Brain research bulletin · Aug 1998
Metabotropic glutamate receptors are involved in calcium-induced LTP of AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated responses in the rat hippocampus.
Effects of metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors on calcium-induced long-term potentiation (LTP) of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazoleproprionate (AMPA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated components were investigated in rat hippocampal slices using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). Calcium-induced LTP comprises a parallel, long-lasting increase of AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated components. The calcium-induced LTP of the AMPA receptor-mediated component can be significantly attenuated by the use of a selective NMDA antagonist. (R. ⋯ These results suggest that calcium-induced LTP involves a parallel, long-lasting enhancement in ionotropic AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated components. More importantly, the mGlu receptor plays a critical role in the establishment of both AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated components underlying calcium-induced LTP. In addition, the present study also described an experimental condition in which the coapplication of the high calcium pulse and Schaffer fiber stimulation (20 Hz) can synergistically elicit a long-term increase of neuronal excitability.