Blue tits (Cyanistes coeruleus) are songbirds, used as model animals in numerous studies covering a wide field of research. Nevertheless, the distribution of neuropeptides in the brain of this avian species remains largely unknown. Here we present some of the first results on distribution of Vasotocine (AVT) and Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in the brain of males and females of this songb...

Glucocorticoids (GCs) exert feedback regulation on corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) neurons in mammals. The nature of GC actions is cell-type specific, being either inhibitory (e.g. paraventricular nucleus) or stimulatory (e.g. amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis). Nothing is known about differential regulation of CRF gene expression by GCs in nonmammalian vertebrates. We studi...

A collection of 125 PHAL experiments in the rat has been analyzed to characterize the organization of projections from each amygdalar cell group (except the nucleus of the lateral olfactory tract) to the bed nuclei of the stria terminalis, which surround the crossing of the anterior commissure. The results suggest three organizing principles of these connections. First, the central nucleus, and...

Introduction: The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) is a limbic structure which is involved in cardiovascular regulation and baroreflex modulation. The presence of cholinergic synaptic terminalis with high level of muscarinic receptors in the BST has been demonstrated. This study was performed to find the role of the cholinergic muscarinic receptor in cardiovascular response and baro...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is one of the brain areas densely innervated by noradrenergic neurons originating in the brain stem. The present study aims to determine the role of noradrenergic receptors in the BNST in regulating pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion in female rats. Ovariectomized (OVX) or estrogen-primed OVX (OVX+E2) rats received three 1-h-interval inje...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is a heterogeneous and complex limbic forebrain structure, which plays an important role in controlling autonomic, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses. The BNST is thought to serve as a key relay connecting limbic forebrain structures to hypothalamic and brainstem regions associated with autonomic and neuroendocrine functions. Its control of ph...

Fifteen years ago epinephrine cells were shown to be present in the medulla oblongata of the rat. These cell groups (C1 and C2) were thought to supply the epinephrine innervation in the rest of the central nervous system. In this study I demonstrate the presence of epinephrine-producing neurons in the forebrain of the young rat. Neurons that are immunopositive for phenylethanolamine N-methyltra...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is thought to generate anxiety-like states via its projections to autonomic and neuroendocrine regulatory structures of the brain. However, because most BNST cells are GABAergic, they are expected to inhibit target neurons. In contrast with this, infusion of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) into BNST was reported to potentiate anxiety while a...

Axon degeneration precedes cell body death in many age-related neurodegenerative disorders, often determining symptom onset and progression. A sensitive method for revealing axon pathology could indicate whether this is the case also in Huntington's disease (HD), a fatal, devastating neurodegenerative disorder causing progressive deterioration of both physical and mental abilities, and which br...

Several of the best-studied sex differences in the mammalian brain are ascribed to the hormonal control of cell death. This conclusion is based primarily on correlations between pyknotic cell counts in development and counts of mature neurons in adulthood; the molecular mechanisms of hormone-regulated, sexually dimorphic cell death are unknown. We asked whether Bax, a member of the Bcl-2 family...