Alcoholism is linked to disruption of the biological clock Alcohol and drug addiction are complex disorders with environmental, drug-induced and genetic components. It is likely that multiple genes contribute to the development of an addictive disease. There is a growing body of evidence implicating circadian clock genes in mechanisms of drug-abuse related behaviours. The clock genes, including...

PERL, EDWARD R. (State U. New York Coll. Med., Syracuse, N. Y.) Crossed rejexes of cutaneous origin. Am. J. Physiol. 188(3) : 609-615. 1957.Changes in excitability of spinal motorneurons produced by a volley of impulses in cutaneous nerves of the contralateral hindleg were studied in cats acutely made spinal or decerebrate. Motorneuron excitability was determined by measuring changes in electri...

In the motornervous system of the large parasitic nematode, Ascaris suum, the dorsal and ventral nerve cords are connected by a repeating pattern of single identified motorneuron processes, called commissures (Stretton et al., 1978). By making microelectrode penetrations of the commissures, we here report the first successful intracellular recordings of nematode neurons. These cells, like muscl...

F ORMATION of synaptic connections involves the localized differentiation of preand postsynaptic cells as the result of a bidirectional exchange of information molecules during development. At a well-studied synapse, the neuromuscular junction (NMJ)', agrin is thought to play an important role in the synaptic differentiation of the muscle induced by the motorneuron. Agrin is an extracellular ma...

To gain insights into the physiological role of cotransmission, we measured peptide release from cell B15, a motorneuron that utilizes ACh as its primary transmitter but also contains putative peptide cotransmitters, the small cardioactive peptides (SCPs) and the buccalins (BUCs). All stimulation parameters used were in the range in which B15 fires in freely moving animals. We stimulated neuron...

introduction: anethole is the main constituent of pimpinella anisum l. (anise), a herbaceous annual plant which has several therapeutic effects. in the folk medicine, anise is employed as an antiepileptic drug. specifically, this study was focused on the cellular effect of anethole, an aromatic compound in essential oils from anise and camphor. anethole has various physiological effects on the ...

Stimulation at specific acupoints can activate cortical regions in human subjects. Previous studies have mainly focused on a single brain region. However, the brain is a network and many brain regions participate in the same task. The study of a single brain region alone cannot clearly explain any brain-related issues. Therefore, for the present study, magnetic stimulation was used to stimulate...

introduction: the functional effects of orexin-b on the calcium spikes and excitability of the neuronal soma membrane of garden snail, helix aspersa were studied. methods: conventional intracellular recording, under the current clamp conditions was performed to examine the effects of orexin-b on the configuration and electrophysiological properties of calcium spikes. results: application of ore...

The dentate gyrus is the main entrance of highly processed information to the hippocampus which derives from associative cortices and it is one of the few privileged areas in the brain where adult neurogenesis occurs. This creates the unique situation that neurons of diverse maturation stages are part of one neuronal network at any given point in life. While recently adult-born cells have a low...