The intermediate nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (INLL) is a major input to the inferior colliculus (IC), the auditory midbrain center where multiple pathways converge to create neurons selective for specific temporal features of sound. However, little is known about how INLL processes auditory information or how it contributes to integrative processes at the IC. INLL receives excitatory proje...

Intense feeding can be elicited by injections of the GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline into the medial ventral pallidum (VPm), a basal forebrain structure anatomically interposed between two other feeding-related brain regions, the nucleus accumbens shell and the lateral hypothalamus (LH). To determine whether the VPm effects changes in feeding behavior through actions on the LH, we exam...

It is becoming established that the amygdala has a strong influence on arousal state, with most evidence indicating a role in the regulation of rapid eye movement sleep (REM). Electrically activating the central nucleus of the amygdala (CNA) can increase subsequent REM and enhance REM-related phenomena. However, drugs that may be inhibitory to CNA have been typically reported to reduce REM. Thi...

Chronic exposure to opiates leads to maladaptive changes in various functions of the mammalian brain, including properties of neuronal response in the visual pathway. In the present study, we used multibarreled microelectrodes to study the effects of electrophoretic application of GABA or the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline on the properties of individual V1 neurons in cats which were chr...

A previous study from this laboratory demonstrated that forelimb removal at birth results in invasion of the cuneate nucleus (CN) by sciatic nerve axons and the development of CN cells including thalamic projection neurons with receptive fields that include both the forelimb stump and the hindlimb. However, recordings from unit clusters in lamina IV of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) of t...

This study examined how GABAergic inhibition affected binaural properties of neurons in the mustache bat's inferior colliculus. Evaluations were made by documenting changes in acoustically evoked inhibition that occurred when GABAergic inputs were reversibly blocked by iontophoretic application of the GABAA antagonist bicuculline. We studied neurons sensitive to interaural intensity disparities...

Orexin neurons form a restricted group in the dorsal hypothalamus. The group is centered on the perifornical area within the classic hypothalamic defense area, an area which when activated produces marked cardiovascular and respiratory effects. Central administration of orexin can produce cardiorespiratory effects, but the extent to which orexin contributes to such responses evoked from the per...

Findings by our group have shown that the dorsolateral telencephalon of Gymnotus carapo sends efferents to the mesencephalic torus semicircularis dorsalis (TSd) and that presumably this connection is involved in the changes in electric organ discharge (EOD) and in skeletomotor responses observed following microinjections of GABA A antagonist bicuculline into this telencephalic region. Other stu...

The role of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) in learning and memory has been demonstrated in different learning paradigms such as conditioned taste aversion (CTA) and inhibitory avoidance (IA). This participation has been related to the cholinergic system, but recent studies have reported the potential role of other neurotransmitters such as GABA. The effects of acute intracerebral adm...

We investigated the involvement of GABAergic mechanisms of the central amygdaloid nucleus (CeA) in unanesthetized rats subjected to acute isotonic or hypertonic blood volume expansion (BVE). Male Wistar rats bearing cannulas unilaterally implanted in the CeA were treated with vehicle, muscimol (0.2 nmol/0.2 microL) or bicuculline (1.6 nmol/0.2 microL) in the CeA, followed by isotonic or hyperto...