The effect of mild chronic renal failure (CRF) induced by 4/6-nephrectomy (4/6NX) on central neuronal activations was investigated by c-Fos immunohistochemistry staining and compared to sham-operated rats. In the 4/6 NX rats also the effect of the angiotensin receptor blocker, losartan, and the central sympatholyticum moxonidine was studied for two months. In serial brain sections Fos-immunorea...

Rats with an inherited movement disorder (dystonic, dt), their phenotypically normal littermates, and normal unrelated controls were studied using a metabolic mapping technique, 2-deoxyglucose autoradiography. This approach was used to identify potential sites of abnormality underlying the movement disorder, as no morphological abnormalities using light and electron microscopic techniques have ...

Individuals can improve their levels of psychological well-being (PWB) through utilization of psychological interventions, including the practice of mindfulness meditation, which is defined as the non-judgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment. We recently reported that an 8-week-mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course lead to increases in gray matter concentration in se...

Previous immunohistochemical analysis revealed a wide distribution of L1cam-positive neural and nonneural structures in adult mouse brain. Although there were numerous punctate immunoreactive nerve terminals, only a few immunoreactive neuronal cell somata were present (Munakata et al. [2003] BMC Neurosci. 4:7). To explore the distribution of L1cam mRNA-containing cells, which are interpreted to...

Afferent pathways to the optic tectum in the longnose gar were determined by unilateral tectal injections of HRP. Retrogradely labeled cells were observed in the ipsilateral caudal portion of the rostral entopeduncular nucleus and bilaterally in the rostral half of the lateral zone of area dorsalis of the telencephalon. The following diencephalic cell groups were also labeled following tectal i...

Diabetic neuropathy is the loss of sensory function beginning distally in lower extremities, which also characterized by pain and substantial morbidity. Furthermore, locus coeruleus (LC) nucleus has been proposed to play an important role descending control through activation α2-noradrenergic (NA) receptors spinal dorsal horn. We studied, on diabetic mice, effect electrical stimulation LC tacti...

This review considers a number of recent theories on the neural basis of consciousness, with particular attention to the theories of Bogen, Crick, Llinás, Newman, and Changeux. These theories allot different roles to various key brain areas, in particular the reticular and intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus and the cortex. Crick's hypothesis is that awareness is a function of reverberating cor...

The 125I-labeled agonist analog [1-sarcosine]-angiotensin II ( [Sar1]AII) bound with high specificity and affinity (Ka = 2 X 10(9) M-1) to a single class of receptor sites in rat brain. This ligand was used to analyze the distribution of AII receptors in rat brain by in vitro autoradiography followed by computerized densitometry and color coding. A very high density of AII receptors was found i...

Orphanin FQ (OFQ) is the endogenous agonist of the opioid receptor-like receptor (ORL-1). It and its precursor, prepro-OFQ, exhibit structural features suggestive of the opioid peptides. A cDNA encoding the OFQ precursor sequence in the rat recently has been cloned, and the authors recently generated a polyclonal antibody directed against the OFQ peptide. In the present study, the authors used ...