Several studies have shown that noradrenergic mechanisms are important for locomotion. For instance, L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) can initiate "fictive" locomotion in immobilized acutely spinalized cats and alpha(2)-noradrenergic agonists, such as 2,6,-dichloro-N-2-imidazolidinylid-enebenzenamine (clonidine), can induce treadmill locomotion soon after spinalization. However, the activation...

Aloe vera is a herbal medicine for skin therapeutical objects. Many products like pomade, cream, gel, and shampoo for skin injuries have been made from this plant. Sometimes, the powder of this plant has also been used by mothers to keep out their infants from breast-feeding. In some of the books, this plant has been introduced as an opioid–receptors antagonist. In this study, 30 male mice (45-...

A single dose of clonidine developed tolerance to its analgesic effect. The tolerance reached its peak acutely on the 2nd day and lasted more than 5 days. Neither the analgesic effect nor the development of tolerance was modified by the pretreatment with naloxone. On the 2nd day, clonidine tolerant animals were also tolerant to morphine, but morphine tolerant animals, after a single dose of mor...

Li, De-Pei, Lindsay M. Atnip, Shao-Rui Chen, and Hui-Lin Pan. Regulation of synaptic inputs to paraventricular-spinal output neurons by 2 adrenergic receptors. J Neurophysiol 93: 393–402, 2005. First published September 8, 2004; doi:10.1152/jn.00564.2004. Neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) that project to the brain stem and spinal cord are important for autonomic regulation. The excit...

TAARs (trace amine-associated receptors) are G-protein-coupled receptors that respond to low abundance, endogenous amines such as tyramine and tryptamine, and represent potential targets for neuropsychiatric diseases. However, some members of this receptor subfamily either have no ligand identified or remain difficult to express and characterize using recombinant systems. In the present paper w...

The analgesia produced by inhibitory G protein-coupled receptor agonists involves coordinated postsynaptic inhibition via G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels (GIRKs) and presynaptic inhibition of neurotransmitter release through regulation of voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels. Here, we used mice lacking the GIRK2 channel subunit to assess the relative contribution of these two ...

Interactions between neuronal responses mediated by opiate receptors and by alpha 2-adrenoceptors were characterized in the amygdala. Extracellular single-unit recordings and microiontophoresis were performed using five-barrel microelectrodes in chloral hydrate-anesthetized rats. A subpopulation of amygdaloid cells displayed inhibitory responses to morphine or D-Ala,D-Leu-enkephalin; antagonist...

Sympathetic activation during acute myocardial infarction (MI) is an important arrhythmogenic mechanism, but the role of central autonomic inputs and their modulating factors remain unclear. Using the in vivo rat-model, we examined the effects of clonidine, a centrally acting sympatholytic agent, in the presence or absence of myocardial endothelin-B (ETB) receptors. We studied wild-type (n = 20...

Aloe vera is a herbal medicine for skin therapeutical objects. Many products like pomade, cream, gel, and shampoo for skin injuries have been made from this plant. Sometimes, the powder of this plant has also been used by mothers to keep out their infants from breast-feeding. In some of the books, this plant has been introduced as an opioid–receptors antagonist. In this study, 30 male mice (45-...