introduction: the role of midbrain reticular formation, which includes the nucleus cuneiformis (ncf), as a crucial antinociceptive region in descending pain modulation has long been investigated. in this study, we tried to highlight the role of ncf in morphine-induced antinociception in formalin-induced pain model in rats. methods: a total of 201 male wistar rats weighing 260-310 g were used in...

INTRODUCTION Tremulous jaw movement (TJMs) in rats can be induced pharmacologically by striatal dopaminergic manipulation or electrolytic lesion of ventrolateral striatum (VLS). This tremor has neurochemical, anatomical and electromyographic (EMG) characteristics similar to those of tremor in Parkinson patients. However, the EMG characteristics of tremors generated by electrolytic lesion to the...

Previous studies have shown that electrolytic lesions of the dorsal hippocampus render the instrumental performance of rats insensitive to selective degradation of the action-outcome contingency (Corbit and Balleine, 2000). In the present experiments, we sought to replicate this finding and to examine the effects of excitotoxic lesions. In the first three experiments, rats with either electroly...

Introduction: Spinal cord injuries are accompanied with significant demyelination of axons and subsequent locomotor dysfunction. To identify the extent of damage following electrolytic lesion of ventrolateral white matter, essential area for initiation of locomotor activity, we assessed demyelination as well as alteration in motor performance. Moreover, the protective effect of estradiol as a c...

introduction: the antinociceptive effect of morphine is, in part, mediated through the activation of a descending pathway. one of the major components of this pathway is the nucleus raphe magnus (nrm). our previous study demonstrated the involvement of nrm in the analgesic effect of morphine microinjected into the nucleus cuneiformis (ncf) in a descending manner. the aim of the current study wa...

a b s t r a c tintroduction: the nucleus cuneiformis (ncf) and ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlpag), two adjacent areas, mediate the central pain modulation and project to the nucleus raphe magnus (nrm). methods: this study examined whether the antinociceptive effect of morphine microinjected into the ncf is influenced by inactivation of vlpag and nrm in rats. animals were bilaterally micr...

introduction: spinal cord injuries are accompanied with significant demyelination of axons and subsequent locomotor dysfunction. to identify the extent of damage following electrolytic lesion of ventrolateral white matter, essential area for initiation of locomotor activity, we assessed demyelination as well as alteration in motor performance. moreover, the protective effect of estradiol as a c...

Cell loss in most adult vertebrate brain regions is thought to be irreversible. Here, we explore the effects of electrolytic lesions on the induction of cell proliferation and newborn neurons in the ventromedial nuclei (VMN) of the hypothalamus in young and adult ring doves. The hypothalamus does not normally recruit new neurons. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and tritiated thymidine ([3H]Thy) were u...

The glucose metabolism in the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) is increased in rats in the activity-based anorexia (ABA) model. In patients, electrical stimulation in hyperactive brain regions reduced symptoms in e.g. major depressive disorder and cluster headache. In two blinded randomised controlled experiments, we therefore examined the effects of high-frequency electrical stimulation and an electr...

Clinical and recent imaging reports demonstrate the involvement of various cerebral prefrontal areas in the processing of pain. This has received further confirmation from animal experimentation showing an alteration of the threshold of acute nociceptive reflexes by various manipulations in the orbito-frontal cortical areas. The present study investigates the possible involvement of this area i...