Spontaneous, highly rhythmic episodes of propagating bursting activity are present early during the development of chick and mouse spinal cords. Acetylcholine, and GABA and glycine, which are both excitatory at this stage, provide the excitatory drive. It was previously shown that a moderate decrease in the frequency of bursting activity, caused by in ovo application of the GABA(A) receptor blo...

Subconvulsive hippocampal neural disinhibition, that is reduced GABAergic inhibition, has been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by attentional and memory deficits, including schizophrenia and age-related cognitive decline. Considering that neural disinhibition may disrupt both intra-hippocampal processing and processing in hippocampal projection sites, we hypothesized that...

Low-voltage fast (LVF)- and hypersynchronous (HYP)-seizure onset patterns can be recognized in the EEG of epileptic animals and patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Ripples (80-200 Hz) and fast ripples (250-500 Hz) have been linked to each pattern, with ripples predominating during LVF seizures and fast ripples predominating during HYP seizures in the rat pilocarpine model. This evidence led u...

I.c.v. injection of L-ornithine has been shown to have sedative and hypnotic effects on neonatal chicks exposed to acute stressful conditions. To clarify the mechanism, we conducted three experiments under strengthened stressful conditions with corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). In Experiment 1, the effect of i.c.v. injection of CRF, L-ornithine (0.5 μmol) or CRF with L-ornithine on the stre...

Human amniotic fluid and a mixture of eight fatty acids (FAT-M) identified in this maternal fluid (C12:0, lauric acid, 0.9 μ g%; C14:0, myristic acid, 6.9 μ g%; C16:0, palmitic acid, 35.3 μ g%; C16:1, palmitoleic acid, 16.4 μ g%; C18:0, stearic acid, 8.5 μ g%; C18:1 cis, oleic acid, 18.4 μ g%; C18:1 trans, elaidic acid, 3.5 μ g%; C18:2, linoleic acid, 10.1 μ g%) produce anxiolytic-like effects ...

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD), mainly characterized by short-term decline of learning and memory, occurs after operations under anesthesia. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The μ-opioid receptors (MOR) are highly expressed in interneurons of hippocampus, and is believed to be critical for the dysfunction of synaptic plasticity between hippocampal neurons. T...

The central nervous system depressant activity of the crude methanol extract (REC) and fractions (RE1, RE2, and RE3) of Russelia equisetiformis were evaluated in mice using the following models: amphetamine-induced stereotypy, picrotoxin-induced convulsion and phenobarbitone sleeping time. At 200-400 mg/kg, REC significantly increased phenobarbitone-sleeping time [P < 0.05] in a dose- dependent...

In the present study, Solanum melongena Linn. (Brinjal; Solanaceae), was evaluated for its antiepileptic activity against experimental seizures. The roots ethanolic extract of Solanum melongena protected mice against tonic convulsion induced by maximal electroshock, Pentylenetetrazole and Picrotoxin. It was found that ethanolic extract up to a dose of 300 mg/kg p.o. decreased the duration of to...

Erythrophleum ivorense is used traditionally for many ailments such as convulsion, swellings, pain and emesis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anticonvulsant and sedative activities of extracts of Erythrophleum ivorense stem bark in mice. Anticonvulsant effect of the extracts was assessed using picrotoxin, pentylenetetrazole and strychnine-induced convulsion and sedative effect w...