To elucidate the organization and evolution of the tectorotundotelencephalic pathways in birds and reptiles, we reinvestigated at both light and electron microscopic levels the efferent projections of nucleus rotundus in a lizard, using the sensitive tracer biotinylated dextran amine. Our results indicate that nucleus rotundus projects to targets in the basal ganglia (lateral parts of striatum ...

Type 10A phosphodiesterase (PDE10A) is highly expressed in the striatum, in striatonigral and striatopallidal medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs), which express D1 and D2 dopamine receptors, respectively. PDE10A inhibitors have pharmacological and behavioral effects suggesting an antipsychotic profile, but the cellular bases of these effects are unclear. We analyzed the effects of PDE10A inhibiti...

The cytoarchitecture of the telencephalon of the Comoran coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, was analyzed in the context of recent advances in our understanding of telencephalic organization in lungfishes and amphibians, which constitute the sister group to coelacanths. In coelacanths, the telencephalon is divided into pedunculated olfactory bulbs, paired hemispheres, and an unevaginated telenceph...

Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex is critical for the temporal control of behavior. Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex might alter neuronal activity in areas such as motor cortex to inhibit temporally inappropriate responses. We tested this hypothesis by recording from neuronal ensembles in rodent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during a delayed-response task. One-third of dorsomedial prefrontal neurons w...

the study aimed to investigate the protective effects of crocin (cro) against streptozotocin (stz)-induced oxidative damage in rat striatum. animals were randomly divided into four groups (five each). group 1 (sham) were treated with normal saline (2 ml/kg, p.o.). group 2 (stz-lesioned or lesion) were injected with icv-stz (3 mg/kg bilaterally, on day 1 and 3) and treated with normal saline (2 ...

The rat dorsolateral striatum (DLS) has been implicated in habit formation. Previous studies in our laboratory found that as animals acquired a motor habit or remained goal-directed, tested by reward devaluation, the vast majority of DLS neurons decreased firing rates during the same responses over training days. However, mixed results have been reported in the literature regarding whether DLS ...

The STriatal-Enriched protein tyrosine Phosphatase (STEP) is a brain-specific phosphatase whose dysregulation in expression and/or activity is associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders. We recently showed that long-term excessive consumption of ethanol induces a sustained inhibition of STEP activity in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) of mice. We further showed that down-regulation of ST...

Chronic drug administration induces neuroplastic changes within brain circuits regulating cognitive control and/or emotions. Following repeated pairings between drug intake and environmental cues, increased sensitivity to or salience of these contextual cues provoke conscious or unconscious craving and enhance susceptibility to relapse. To explore brain circuits participating in such experience...

Noninvasive stimulation is an emerging modality for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, including addiction. A crucial element in effective cortical target selection is its distal influence. We approached this question by examining resting-state functional connectivity patterns in known and potential stimulation targets in 145 healthy adults. We compared connectivity patterns with distant r...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Stroke induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) causes long-term formation of new striatal neurons from stem/progenitor cells in the subventricular zone (SVZ). We explored whether MCAO leads to hypoxia, changes in vessel density, and angiogenesis in the ipsilateral SVZ and adjacent striatum, and determined the relation between the migrating neuroblasts and the v...