introduction: previous studies have shown that stimulation of lateral hypothalamus (lh) produces antinociception. orexin-a (oxa) receptor is strongly expressed in the nucleus locus coeruleus (lc) and orexinergic fibers densely project from lh to lc. in this study, we assessed the role of lc and its oxa receptors in antinociceptive response induced by lh chemical stimulation in the rat. methods:...

Tfap2a is a transcriptional activator expressed in many different cell types, including neurons, neural crest derivatives and epidermis. We show that mutations at the zebrafish locus previously called mont blanc (mob) or lockjaw (low) encode tfap2a. The mutant phenotype reveals that tfap2a is essential for the development of hindbrain noradrenergic (NA) neurons of the locus coeruleus, medulla a...

BACKGROUND Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are effective for arthritic pain, but it is unknown whether they also benefit anxiety and depression that frequently coexist with pain. Using the monoarthritis model, the authors evaluated the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) in structures implicated in both sensorial and emotional pain spheres, and it was veri...

Introduction: In the present work, spontaneous postsynaptic currents were assessed to investigate the postnatal development of excitatory postsynaptic currents in locus coeruleus neurons. Methods: In this study, AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated spontaneous synaptic currents in the neurons of locus coeruleus were assessed using whole cell voltage-clamp recording during the first three weeks. Resu...

A novel neuronal tauopathy, mainly confined to hypothalamus and brainstem tegmentum, has recently been reported in patients with autoantibodies to the neuronal cell-adhesion molecule IgLON5. We describe a patient with anti-IgLON5 syndrome, who presented with dysautonomia and sleep disorder, followed by subacute dementia. Postmortem brain examination disclosed neuronal tau pathology prevailing i...

Bilateral electrolytic lesions of the locus coeruleus were performed in rats. In comparison with controls, lesioned rats showed decreased acquisition of two-way avoidance response, less intertrial responses, longer latency of avoidance responses on the first day of training, and needed more trials to reach the extinction criterion. It is suggested that locus coeruleus, contrary to the ventral n...

We present a model for the attentional neuromodulation of decision and selection processes. The model assumes that phasic responses in the brain nucleus Locus Coeruleus modulate, via the transmission of norepinephrine, the synaptic efficiency of neural circuits, at specific (stimulus and task dependent) time intervals. The model is applied first, to a task of perceptual choice, simulating atten...

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the identity of presumed noradrenergic or serotonergic neurons recorded by single cell techniques in the mammalian brain. A double labeling method was developed in which intracellular injections of a red fluorescing dye (ethidium bromide) could be co-localized with the formaldehyde-induced green fluorescence of norepinephrine or yellow fluorescence of ...

Adaptation of the skin colour to the background light condition in the amphibian Xenopus lae6is is achieved by migration of pigment granules in the skin melanophores, a process regulated by a-MSH secretion from melanotrope cells in the pituitary pars intermedia (PI). a-MSH secretion in turn, is regulated by various stimulatory and inhibitory messengers synthesized in brain nuclei, especially th...

Locus coeruleus (LC) explants were co-cultured with dissociated spinal neurons of mice. Nerve fibers exhibiting catecholamine fluorescence radiated from the explants and frequently invested spinal cord (SC) neurons close to the explants. Electrical stimulation of the explant and iontophoretic application of norepinephrine evoked a spectrum of slow depolarizing, hyperpolarizing, and biphasic res...