The brain endocannabinoid system has been shown to play a role in memory, though the extent to which this role generalizes over different types and processes of memory is not yet determined. Here we show that the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) plays differential roles in acquisition, extinction and reconsolidation of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) memory in the rat insular cortex, which contain...

Strokes involving the insular cortex tend to be more severe. Preliminary evidence suggests that insular involvement is associated with poorer functional outcome after ischemic stroke regardless of infarct size, as well as with higher case fatality rates. However, these associations are controversial. The pathophysiological mechanisms explaining the apparent association of insular involvement wi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Stroke and neurodegeneration cause significant brain damage and cognitive impairment, especially if the insular cortex is compromised. This study explores for the first time whether these 2 causes differentially alter connectivity patterns in the insular cortex. METHODS Resting state-functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from patients with insular st...

The insula plays a key role in brain processing of noxious and innocuous thermal stimuli. The anterior and the posterior portions of the insular cortex are involved in different ways in nociceptive and thermoceptive processing. Therefore, their stimulus-specific functional connectivity may also differ. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the activity and fun...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE High-altitude environmental factors and genetic variants together could have exerted their effects on the human brain. The present study was designed to investigate the cerebral morphology in high-altitude native Tibetans. MATERIALS AND METHODS T1-weighted brain images were obtained from 77 Tibetan adolescents on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (altitude, 2300-5300 m) and 8...

The identity of the claustrum as a part of cerebral cortex, and in particular of the adjacent insular cortex, has been investigated by connectivity features and patterns of gene expression. In the present paper, we mapped the cortical and claustral expression of several cortical genes in rodent and macaque monkey brains (nurr1, latexin, cux2, and netrinG2) to further assess shared features betw...