A major finding in the visual plasticity literature is that visual deprivation is effective only during an early 'sensitive' period, which is lengthened by dark rearing. Unresolved is whether the visual cortex is in a normally plastic state prior to…
To determine the feasibility of assessing dopamine uptake using in vitro superfusion, striatal tissue from ovariectomized female rats was infused with dopamine (1 microM), nomifensine (1 mM), or a combination of dopamine and nomifensine. Treatment…
The purpose of the present study was to improve our understanding of the role of NMDA receptors in neocortical synaptic plasticity. In slices of rat visual cortex the field potential elicited in layer III in response to white matter stimulation…
Male C57/B1 mice received bilateral intranasal infusions of saline, MPTP or an intraperitoneal injection of MPTP. Infusions were performed using a peristaltic pump at a setting of 100 microliters/min. The MPTP, diluted in saline at concentrations of…
Previous research has demonstrated that the antinociceptive efficacy of opioids decreases with advancing age. This study utilized radioligand binding techniques to determine if this decline is due to a change in the receptor density (Bmax) and/or…
The gonadal steroid hormone estrogen (E) can function as a neuroprotectant of nigrostriatal dopaminergic (NSDA) neurotoxicity, however, there exists very limited information on the role of testosterone (T) in this capacity. In the present report, the…
In this report we examined the effect of tamoxifen upon the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Ovariectomized mice were subjected to one of the following treatments: two subcutaneous injections administered on successive days of the sesame oil…
The antiestrogen, tamoxifen (TMX), has been shown to function as a neuroprotectant against the nigrostriatal dopaminergic (NSDA) neurotoxin, methamphetamine (MA), within male mice. In the present report, we examined the effects of a combined infusion…
In animal models for fragile X syndrome where the gene for fragile X mental retardation protein is knocked out (Fmr1 KO), neurotransmission in multiple brain regions shifts excitation/inhibition balance, resulting in hyperexcitability in neural…
The effects of spermine, an endogenous polyamine, were examined in area CA1 of the rat hippocampal slice preparation. Spermine, at low millimolar concentrations, rapidly and potently depressed NMDA and K/AMPA-mediated population EPSPs, and…
The nuclear bag1 intrafusal fiber mediates the dynamic (velocity) sensitivity, whereas the nuclear bag2 and nuclear chain fibers mediate the static (length) sensitivity of muscle spindles to stretch. The pattern of branching of primary and secondary…
In the present experiment peri-pubertal female mice were treated with a partially purified puberty accelerating urine extract (PAUE). Mice treated with the PAUE showed an advance in the onset of puberty as indicated by significantly increased uterine…
Vocal communication is an important aspect of guinea pig behaviour and a large contributor to their acoustic environment. We postulated that some cortical areas have distinctive roles in processing conspecific calls. In order to test this hypothesis…
Although Par-4 (prostate apoptosis response-4) is involved in initiation of neurodegenerative cascades associated with certain neurodegenerative disorders, normal physiological roles of Par-4 in neurons have remained elusive. It was recently reported…
Profound reductions in choline acetyl-transferase (ChAT) activity are reliable markers for cholinergic hypoactivity associated with cognitive function deficit in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Par-4 (prostate apoptosis response-4) is a novel mediator of…
Development and progression of neurodegenerative disorders have, amongst other potential causes, been attributed to a disruption of iron regulatory mechanisms and iron accumulation. Excess extracellular iron may enter cells via nontraditional routes…
Neuroprotective properties of bilobalide, a specific constituent of Ginkgo extracts, were tested in a mouse model of stroke. After 24 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), bilobalide reduced infarct areas in the core region (striatum) by…
We compared the connections of two areas within rat cingulate cortex, the Cg1/Cg2 area vs the Cg3 area, by iontophoresing small quantities of wheatgerm agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) into either of these two divisions and identifying…
Recently prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex (ASR) became a popular technique for tinnitus assessment in laboratory animals. This method confers a significant advantage over the previously used time-consuming behavioral approaches…
Treatment with methamphetamine (MA - 20 mg/kgx4 i.p. at 2-h intervals) or its vehicle at 7 days prior to tests of running time to exhaustion were evaluated in 60-day-old CD-1 male mice. Pre-treatment running times were not significantly different…
Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) is a popular model in experimental stroke research and causes prominent ischemic damage in the forebrain. To characterize metabolic changes induced by MCAO, we have induced permanent MCAO in mice that were…
In the present study we employed current source density analysis to study the major excitatory/inhibitory pathways in rat primary visual cortex in vivo and in vitro. A natural photic stimulus was used in vivo and served as a baseline for…
Considerable evidence suggests that left hemispheric lateralization for language comprehension in humans is associated with cortical microstructural asymmetries. However, despite the fact that left hemispheric dominance for the analysis of…
Intrinsic properties of neurons are one major determinant for how neurons respond to their synaptic inputs and shape their outputs in neural circuits. Here, we studied the intrinsic properties of neurons in the chicken posterior portion of the…
The aim of this study was to examine: (1) whether long-term potentiation (LTP) can be induced in slices from adult rat visual cortex under conditions where inhibition is not antagonized, and (2) the role of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in…
Long-term potentiation (LTP), intensively studied in the hippocampus as a possible mnemonic device, has begun to be studied in the neocortex. In this study the effects of varying tetanic stimulus parameters on LTP of field potentials recorded from…
The neurochemical and anatomical heterogeneity of dopamine uptake blockade was studied at a medial and lateral position in each of 3 rostrocaudal areas of the rat caudate-putamen. In vivo voltammetric measures of extracellular dopamine indicated a…
Levels of growth hormone (GH) are reduced in the genetically obese Zucker rat, fa/fa, in comparison to lean littermates. In normal rats, GH release is regulated by stimulatory and inhibitory factors of hypothalamic origin. The present experiment…
