Using 100-micron thick Vibratome sections and a modification of the peroxidase--antiperoxidase method of immunocytochemical staining we achieve a Golgi-like image of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) cells and fibers in mouse brain. Five LHRH pathways are described: 1) A dense projection of fibers from LHRH cells in the medial preoptic and septal areas to the wall of the third ventri...

The present study tested the hypothesis that photoperiodic control of reproductive function in the postpubertal Djungarian hamster is associated with changes in the number, morphology, or distribution of GnRH-immunoreactive cell bodies in the brain. To initiate or arrest sexual maturation, males were reared in long (LD, 16L:8D) or short (SD, 10L:14D) days from birth. In two other groups that we...

Previous reports indicate that growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) is involved in sleep regulation. The site of action mediating the nonrapid eye movement sleep (NREMS)-promoting effects of GHRH is not known, but it is independent from the pituitary. GHRH (0.001, 0. 01, and 0.1 nmol/kg) or a competitive antagonist of GHRH (0.003, 0.3, and 14 nmol/kg) was microinjected into the preoptic area...

Borna disease virus (BDV)-induced meningoencephalitis is associated with the dysfunction of the cholinergic system. Temporal development of this cholinergic decline during pre-encephalitic and encephalitic stages of BDV infection remains however elusive. Changes in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities were therefore determined in the cerebral cortex, hippo...

Cholinergic inputs to the auditory cortex can modulate sensory processing and regulate stimulus-specific plasticity according to the behavioural state of the subject. In order to understand how acetylcholine achieves this, it is essential to elucidate the circuitry by which cholinergic inputs influence the cortex. In this study, we described the distribution of cholinergic neurons in the basal ...

A recent study suggests that lesions to all major areas of the cholinergic basal forebrain in the rat (medial septum, horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca, and nucleus basalis magnocellularis) impair a spatial working memory task. However, this experiment used a surgical technique that may have damaged cerebellar Purkinje cells. The present study tested rats with highly selective lesio...

Infantile autism is a behaviorally defined disorder associated with characteristic cognitive, language and behavioral features. Several postmortem studies have highlighted areas of anatomic abnormality in the autistic brain. Consistent findings have been observed in the limbic system, cerebellum and related inferior olive. In the limbic system, the hippocampus, amygdala and entorhinal cortex ha...

In the olfactory system, cholinergic modulation has been associated with contrast modulation and changes in receptive fields in the olfactory bulb, as well the learning of odor associations in olfactory cortex. Computational modeling and behavioral studies suggest that cholinergic modulation could improve sensory processing and learning while preventing pro-active interference when task demands...

The significance of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) store calcium in modulating transmitter release is slowly gaining recognition. One transmitter system that might play an important role in store calcium modulation of transmitter release in the CNS is acetylcholine (ACh). The main olfactory bulb (OB) receives rich cholinergic innervation from the horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca and bl...

Recent experimental observations have disclosed the existence of a septal-hippocampal feedback circuit, composed of medial septum diagonal band of Broca (ms-dbB) GABAergic projections to the inhibitory interneurons of the hippocampus, and hippocampal GABAergic projections to the ms-dbB, the major targets of which are the GABAergic septo-hippocampal projection cells. We propose that this feedbac...