Brain histamine promotes wakefulness and orchestrates disparate behaviors and homeostatic functions. Recent evidence suggests that aberrant histamine signaling in the brain may also be a key factor in addictive behaviors and degenerative disease such as Parkinson’s diseases and multiple sclerosis. The intent of this research Topic is to provide an overview of the recent advances in the understa...

The classic neurophysiologic definition of consciousness distinguishes between 2 components, namely vigilance (or arousal) and awareness. Vigilance corresponds to the level of wakefulness, whereas awareness refers to the mental content, which in turn is composed of 2 components being conscious perception of the environment or external world (external awareness) and of our inner world and self-a...

Histamine levels in thiamine deficient rats were significantly lower in the hippocampus, amygdala, olfactory bulb, thalamus and pons-medulla oblongata than those of normal and pair-fed groups. In the case of the hypothalamus, thiamine deficiency produced a significant increase in histamine levels. These changes observed in the thiamine deficient group were reversed to the normal levels by suppl...

Background Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) is produced by astrocytes, in addition to neurons, and monoamine neurotransmitters play a role in controlling NT-3 synthesis [1]. The impact of histamine on the regulation of NT-3 synthesis in cultured astrocytes has not been studied in detail. Therefore, we focused our present study on the active involvement of multiple histaminergic receptor and intracellular ...

Perinatal asphyxia (PA) is associated with long-term neuronal damage and cognitive deficits in adulthood, such as learning and memory disabilities. After PA, specific brain regions are compromised, including neocortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and ascending neuromodulatory pathways, such as dopamine system, explaining some of the cognitive disabilities. We hypothesize that other neuromodulat...

Histaminergic receptors and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) are co-expressed at high levels in the hippocampal neurons and alter anxiety-like behaviors in rodents. Since the dorsal hippocampus may be involved in modulation of anxiety-like behaviors, the aim of the present study was to assess whether the nitric oxide (NO) system in the dorsal hippocampus affects anxiety-like behaviors indu...

The rat middle colon spontaneously generates regularly occurring giant contractions (GCs) in vitro. We investigated the neurohumoral and intracellular regulation of these contractions in a standard muscle bath. cGMP content was measured in strips and single smooth muscle cells. The circular muscle strips generated spontaneous GCs. Their amplitude and frequency were significantly increased by te...