The dorsal striatum has two functionally-defined subdivisions: a dorsomedial striatum (DMS) region involved in mediating goal-directed behaviors that require conscious effort, and a dorsolateral striatum (DLS) region involved in the execution of habitual behaviors in a familiar sensory context. Consistent with its presumed role in forming stimulus-response (S-R) associations, neurons in DLS rec...

The parafascicular nucleus (PFN) of thalamus, as a supraspinal structure, has an important role in processing of nociceptive information. In addition, μ-opioid receptor contributes to supraspinal modulation of nociception. In the present study, the effects of microinjection of naloxone (a non-specific opioid-receptor antagonist) and naloxonazine (a specific μ-opioid receptor antagonist) were in...

Cell-type diversity in the brain enables the assembly of complex neural circuits, whose organization and patterns of activity give rise to brain function. However, the identification of distinct neuronal populations within a given brain region is often complicated by a lack of objective criteria to distinguish one neuronal population from another. In the external segment of the globus pallidus ...

Our previous studies with estrogen receptor beta knockout (ERbeta(-/-)) mice demonstrated that ERbeta is necessary for embryonic development of the brain as early as embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5) and is involved in neuronal migration. Such early effects of ER were unexpected because estradiol synthesis and action in the brain occur at E18.5. In the present study, we examined the distribution of ER...

The present study was designed to investigate the function and mechanism of high-frequency stimulation (HFS) of the parafascicular nucleus (PF) used as a therapeutic approach for Parkinson's disease (PD). PD rat model was built by injecting 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the substartia nigra pars compacta of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Using the ethological methods, we examined the effect ...

The agranular insular cortex is transitional in location and structure between the ventrally adjacent olfactory allocortex primutivus and dorsally adjacent sensory-motor isocortex. Its ventral anterior division receives major afferent projections from olfactory areas of the limbic system (posterior primary olfactory cortex, posterolateral cortical amygdaloid nucleus and lateral entorhinal corte...

Neuronal G-protein-gated potassium (K(G)) channels are activated by several neurotransmitters and constitute an important mode of synaptic inhibition in the mammalian nervous system. K(G) channels are composed of combinations of four subunits termed G protein-gated inwardly rectifying K(+) channels (GIRK). All four GIRK subunits are expressed in the brain, and there is a general consensus conce...

The present study describes the thalamic innervation coming from the rat parafascicular nucleus (PF) onto striatal and subthalamic efferent neurons projecting either to the globus pallidus (GP) or to the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) by using a protocol for multiple neuroanatomical tracing. Both striatofugal neurons targeting the ipsilateral SNr (direct pathway) as well as striatal eff...

Having previously shown that lesions in the posteromedial group of thalamic nuclei abolish hypoxic inhibition of fetal breathing, we devised this study to identify thalamic loci that depress breathing by focal stimulation of specific sectors of the caudal thalamus and adjacent structures. Multipolar electrode arrays consisting of a series of eight stimulation contacts at 1.25-mm intervals were ...

Projections from the posterior intralaminar thalamic nuclei and the superior colliculus (SC) to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the zona incerta (ZI) have been described in the primate and rodent. The aims of this study was to investigate several questions on these projections, using modern neurotracing techniques in rats, to advance our understanding of the role of STN and ZI. We examined wh...