This study sought to analyze the postural responses induced by separately or simultaneously vibrating with different frequencies the forefoot and rear foot zones of both soles in standing subjects. Stimulating each zone separately resulted in spatially oriented body tilts; their amplitude and velocity varied linearly according to the frequency, and their direction was always opposite to the pla...

The selective neurotoxic action of the abused drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on the serotonergic axons ascending from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is well known. The present study examined the long-term effects of subchronic MDMA treatment on rat brain tissue contents of catecholaminergic neurotransmitters. Two and four weeks after cessation of repeated MDMA treatment (ten cons...

This investigation was undertaken to study the effect of nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, aminoguanidine on iminodipropionitrile (IDPN)-induced neurobehavioral and vestibular toxicity in rats. The dyskinetic syndrome was produced in male Wistar rats by i.p. injections of IDPN (100 mg/kg) for 6 days. Aminoguanidine was administered orally in the doses of 50, 150 and 300 mg/kg, 60 min before IDPN...

Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) is one of the most potent stimulators for survival of auditory sensory neurons. Viral transfer of neurotrophins into auditory neurons may offer a route to provide a permanent supply of the growth factor and guarantee their long-term survival. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)-based vectors have demonstrated their effectiveness to transfer genes into peripheral sensory ne...

This work was designed to elucidate the possible involvement of endogenous endomorphin-l (EM1) in analgesia induced by electroacupuncture of low or high frequencies. Taking radiant heat tail ̄ick latency (TFL) as an indication of nociception, rats were subjected to intrathecal (i.t.) injection of 10 ml antiserum against EM1 (EM1-AS) or normal rabbit serum (NRS, as control) and then followed by ...

We have investigated the effects of inhaling odors of preference on physiological responses to physical exercise in college students. Rhythmic handgrip, maintaining a mercurial pressure by repetitive compression, increased blood pressure. In the participants exercised with inhaling odors of their choice, such as rose, jasmine and lavender, the increase in diastolic blood pressure during exercis...

We studied the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on slow cortical potentials (SCPs) of the brain elicited during performance of a feedback and reward task. Ten healthy participants were trained to self-regulate their SCP amplitude using visual feedback and reward for increased or decreased amplitudes. Subjects participated in 27 runs (each comprising 70 trials) under three diff...

Using a four-arm plus-shaped maze, rats with neurotoxic lesions in the dorsal hippocampus were trained in a spatial reference memory task in which both the extramaze constellation of stimuli and an intramaze landmark (a piece of sandpaper covering the ̄oor of the goal) indicated the location of the goal arm. After reaching criterion, animals were given two transfer tests in order to investigate...

Previous studies found structural brain differences between musicians and non-musicians. In order to determine possible differences in white matter architecture, diffusion tensor imaging was performed on five adult subjects with musical training since early childhood, and seven adult controls. The musicians displayed significantly greater fractional anisotropy (FA) in the genu of the corpus cal...

Physiological studies have demonstrated a subcortical origin for orientation selectivity and the orientation columns of the primary visual cortex. However, there are no anatomical data showing how subcortical cells contribute to this important property. Optical imaging, combined with 1,1 0-dioctadecyl-3,3,3,3 0-tetramethylin-docarbocyanine perchlolate (DiI) and biocytin retrograde tracing, reve...