Introdução: A degeneração progressiva dos neurónios do Locus Coeruleus associada à diminuição de recetores adrenérgicos, alvos da Noradrenalina, conduz a uma função cerebral, provocando baixa resposta hemodinâmica e atividade neuronal. disfunção noradrenérgica pode, ainda, interromper capacidade monitorizar estímulos externos alterar o processo cognitivo atenção, como acontece na Doença Alzheim...

The distribution of the somatostatin was studied by immunohistochemistry on serial sections of the 56 brain stems from subjects aged from 30 gestational weeks to 12 postnatal months, dying of both known and unknown causes. The unexplained deaths included 13 sudden intrauterine deaths, 4 sudden neonatal deaths and 24 sudden infant deaths. We observed intense somatostatin positivity in the cell b...

Fetal rat brain cell suspensions prepared from either the locus coeruleus region or hippocampus were implanted bilaterally into the subcortically denervated seizure-prone hippocampus of adult rats. Animals with locus coeruleus grafts were protected against picrotoxin-induced behavioral seizures and had significantly fewer interictal spikes. In contrast, in rats with fetal hippocampal grafts the...

Motivation and attention can have a profound influence on perception, learning and memory. Neuromodulatory systems, especially the noradrenergic (NE) system, co-vary with psychological states to modulate cortical arousal, influence sensory processing and promote synaptic plasticity. There is even some suggestion that the NE system might facilitate functional recovery after brain damage. Post-sy...

Motivation and attention can have a profound influence on perception, learning and memory. Neuromodulatory systems, especially the noradrenergic (NE) system, co-vary with psychological states to modulate cortical arousal, influence sensory processing and promote synaptic plasticity. There is even some suggestion that the NE system might facilitate functional recovery after brain damage. Post-sy...

In order to better understand the descending voluntary vocal control pathway, the efferent subcortical projections of the laryngeal motorcortex were studied in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). For this purpose, the left motorcortex was exposed in three animals under narcosis. By electrical brain stimulation, sites were identified yielding vocal fold adduction. Effective sites were injected w...

Oscine birds are among the few animal groups that have vocal learning, and their brains contain a specialized system for song learning and production. We describe here the immunocytochemical distribution of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH), a noradrenergic marker, in the brain of an oscine, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). DBH-positive cells were seen in the locus coeruleus, the nucleus su...