The effect of perfusion of the cerebral ventricles with artificial cerebrospinaJ fluid containing carbachol on the blood flow in the caudate nucleus of the cat and the possibility to inhibit this effect by anticholinergic drugs was studied by means of the hydrogen clearance technique. After a control period during which both lateral ventricles were perfused with artificial CSF of Identical comp...

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in alpha(1)-adrenergically and cholinergically stimulated protein secretion in rat lacrimal gland acinar cells and the pathways used by these agonists to activate MAPK. Acini were isolated by collagenase digestion and incubated with the alpha(1)-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine or the choliner...

In the present study, we investigated in anesthetized rats the influences of the pontine rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep center on trigeminally induced respiratory responses. We evoked the nasotrigeminal reflex by electrical stimulation of the ethmoidal nerve (EN5) and analyzed the EN5-evoked respiratory suppression before and after injections into the pontine reticular nuclei of the cholinergic...

A characteristic of acute pancreatitis is the premature activation and retention of enzymes within the pancreatic acinar cell. Because ligands linked to cAMP production may prevent some forms of pancreatitis, we evaluated the effects of increased intracellular cAMP in the rat pancreatic acinar cell. Specifically, this study examined the effects of the cholinergic agonist carbachol and agents th...

PURPOSE The authors developed an assay to observe the contraction of a single human ciliary muscle cell. METHODS Cultured human ciliary muscle cells were partially detached from the culture dish by incubation with a nonenzymatic dissociation buffer and treated with carbachol or pilocarpine. Contraction was quantified by measuring the cross-sectional surface areas of the cells. RESULTS Carba...

In the present study, we report that the cuneiform (Cun) nucleus, a brainstem structure that before now has not been implicated in sleep processes, exhibits a large number of neurons that express c-fos during carbachol-induced active sleep (AS-carbachol). Compared with control (awake) cats, during AS-carbachol, there was a 671% increase in the number of neurons that expressed c-fos in this stru...

Background: The authors previously reported that the isoflurane-caused reduction of the carbachol-evoked cytoplasmic Ca transient increase ([Ca ]cyt) was eliminated by K or caffeine-pretreatment. In this study the authors investigated whether the isoflurane-sensitive component of the carbacholevoked [Ca ]cyt transient involved Ca 2 influx through the plasma membrane. Methods: Perfused attached ...

OBJECTIVES Carbachol-induced contraction of the rat colon is impaired in rats with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis. The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of colitis on the expression and function of muscarinic (M) receptor subtypes in the rat colon. MATERIALS AND METHODS Rats (n = 80) were treated with TNBS and used 5 days later for measurement of con...

Central administration of losartan effectively blocked the increase of blood pressure and drinking response induced by angiotensin II (Ang II) or carbachol. However, the relationship between angiotensin AT(1) receptors and the natriuresis induced by brain cholinergic stimuli is still not clear. The purpose of the study is to reveal the role of brain angiotensin AT(1) receptor in the carbachol-i...

Small molecules interfering with Rac1 activation are considered as potential drugs and are already studied in animal models. A widely used inhibitor without reported attenuation of RhoA activity is NSC23766 [(N(6)-[2-[[4-(diethylamino)-1-methylbutyl]amino]-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinyl]-2-methyl-4,6-quinolinediamine trihydrochloride]. We found that NSC23766 inhibits the M2 muscarinic acetylcholine rec...