BACKGROUND Stopping a manual response requires suppression of the primary motor cortex (M1) and has been linked to activation of the striatum. Here, we test three hypotheses regarding the role of the striatum in stopping: striatum activation during successful stopping may reflect suppression of M1, anticipation of a stop-signal occurring, or a slower response build-up. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL F...

We previously found that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-haplodeficient mice exhibit greater ethanol-induced place preference and psychomotor sensitization, and greater ethanol consumption after deprivation, than control mice. We further observed that, in mice, voluntary ethanol intake increases BDNF expression in the dorsal striatum (DS). Here, we determined whether BDNF within the DS...

Heightened sensitivity to emotional faces may contribute to less risk taking and susceptibility to peer influence in adolescents. A longitudinal study from Pfeifer et al. reveals a developmental increase in ventral striatum activity in early adolescence in response to emotional faces, which correlates with improved measures of resistance to peer influence and risky behavior.

background: central renin angiotensin system has an important role on the cerebral microcirculation and metabolism. our previous work showed that inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme (ace) activity prior to induction of ischemia protected the brain from severe ischemia/reperfusion (i/r) injuries. this study evaluated the impacts of post-ischemic inhibition of ace, enalapril, on brain inf...

Introduction and Aim: It has been proposed that µ-calpain is responsible for neuronal survival, while m-calpain – the degeneration. can be assumed "susceptibility" to damage factor neurons in different CNS regions depends on content/activity of calpain isoforms. We analyzed mRNA levels activity µ-and structures rats. Materials Methods: After decapitation intact male Wistar rats prefrontal corte...

Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemic injury. Here, we investigated effects aging on NO production during ischemia-reperfusion (IR). Male Wister rats (WRs) were assigned to 12-month-old (older; n = 5) and 3-month-old (younger; 7) groups. Similarly, male spontaneous hypertensive (SHRs) allocated 6) 8) After anesthesia, their was monitored using vivo microdialysis...

Introduction: Astrocyte dysfunction is the common pathology resulting in failure of astrocyte-neuron interaction in neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s Disease (PD). To date, only few experimental models of selective ablation of astrocytes are known. The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of striatal injections of selective glial toxin L-aminoadipic acid (L-AA) on the loco...

Regenerative responses after hypoxia-ischemia (HI) were investigated in the immature (P9) and juvenile (P21) mouse striatum and cortex by postischemic 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine labeling and phenotyping of labeled cells 4 weeks later. HI stimulated the formation of new cells in striatum and cortex in immature, growing brains (P9), but when brain growth was finished (P21) proliferation could be stim...