Cutaneous sensory neurons that detect noxious stimuli project to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, while those innervating muscle stretch receptors project to the ventral horn. DRG11, a paired homeodomain transcription factor, is expressed in both the developing dorsal horn and in sensory neurons, but not in the ventral spinal cord. Mouse embryos deficient in DRG11 display abnormalities in th...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the different role of neuronal constitutive nitric oxide synthase (nc-NOS) in dynorphin (Dyn) A(1-17) spinal neurotoxicity and analgesia. METHODS The cNOS activity in ventral and dorsal spinal cord in rats was measured with H-L-arginine conversion, and ncNOS immunoreactivity(IR) was observed with strepavidin-peroxidase immunohisto-chemistry. RESULTS Intrathecal admi...

Neuronal activity in the spinal cord results in extracellular potassium accumulation that is significantly higher in the dorsal horn than in the ventral horn. This is suggestive of differences in K(+) clearance, widely thought to involve diffusional K(+) uptake by astrocytes. We previously identified the inward rectifying K(+) channel Kir4.1 as the major K(+) conductance in spinal cord astrocyt...

AIM The localization of CB1 receptors in the spinal cord, spinal roots, dorsal root ganglion (DRG), and peripheral nerve of the rat was determined. METHODS We studied the distribution of CB1 cannabinoid receptors by immunohistochemistry using an antibody raised against the N-terminal of the receptor. RESULTS The spinal cord showed numerous transverse fibers labelled for CB1 receptors throug...

objective: spinal cord injury (sci) causes inflammation, deformity and cell loss. it has been shown that melissa officinalis (mo), as herbal medicine, and dexamethasone (dex) are useful in the prevention of various neurological diseases. the present study evaluated combinational effects of dex and mo on spinal cord injury. materials and methods: thirty six adult male wistar rats were used in th...

Spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) and the effect of end-tidal CO2 concentration (ETCO2) on SCBF (CO2 reactivity) were studied in the lumbar spinal cord of cats by means of the hydrogen-clearance technique Hydrogen gas was administered by inhalation, and its level in spinal cord tissue was estimated amperometrically with small (75 micrometers) platinum electrodes. The average SCBF's at normocapnia (...

Interneurons in the ventral horn of the spinal cord play a central role in motor control. In adult vertebrates, their intrinsic properties are poorly described because of the lack of in vitro preparations from the spinal cord of mature mammals. Taking advantage of the high resistance to anoxia in the adult turtle, we used a slice preparation from the spinal cord. We used the whole cell blind pa...

The study of spontaneous fluctuations in the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal has recently been extended from the brain to the spinal cord. Two ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in humans have provided evidence for reproducible resting-state connectivity between the dorsal horns as well as between the ventral horns, and a study in non-human primates...

The ventromedial medulla (VM), subdivided in a rostral (RVM) and a caudal (CVM) part, has a powerful influence on the spinal cord. In this study, we have identified the distribution of glycine and GABA containing neurons in the VM with projections to the cervical spinal cord, the lumbar dorsal horn, and the lumbar ventral horn. For this purpose, we have combined retrograde tracing using fluores...