BACKGROUND European honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) foragers have a highly developed visual system that is used for navigation. To clarify the neural basis underlying the highly sophisticated visual ability of foragers, we investigated the neural activity pattern of the optic lobes (OLs) in pollen-foragers and re-orienting bees, using the immediate early gene kakusei as a neural activity marker. ...

Background: Pentobarbital decreases the gain of the baroreceptor reflex on the order of 50%, and this blunting is caused nearly entirely by decreasing cardioinhibitory parasympathetic activity. The most likely site of action of pentobarbital is the -aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor. The authors tested whether pentobarbital augments the inhibitory GABAergic neurotransmission to cardiac ...

The median preoptic nucleus (MnPN) and the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO) are two hypothalamic regions that have been implicated in sleep regulation, and both nuclei contain sleep-active GABAergic neurons. Adenosine is an endogenous sleep regulatory substance, which promotes sleep via A1 and A2A receptors (A2AR). Infusion of A2AR agonist into the lateral ventricle or into the subarachnoid s...

In vitro electrophysiological data suggest that interleukin-1 may promote non-rapid eye movement sleep by inhibiting spontaneous firing of wake-active serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). Interleukin-1 enhances GABA inhibitory effects. DRN neurons are under an inhibitory GABAergic control. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that interleukin-1 inhibits DRN serotonergic ne...

The locus coeruleus (LC)-norepinephrine (NE) system in the brainstem plays a critical role in a variety of behaviors is an important target of pharmacological intervention to several neurological disorders. Although GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter of LC neurons, the modulation of LC neuronal firing activity by local GABAergic interneurons remains poorly understood with respect to ...

Extracellular stimuli regulate neuronal differentiation and subtype specification during brain development, although the intracellular signaling pathways that mediate these processes remain largely unclear. We now show that the PDK1-Akt pathway regulates differentiation of telencephalic neural precursor cells (NPCs). Active Akt promotes differentiation of NPC into gamma-aminobutyric acid-contai...

The cerebellar and vestibular nuclei consist of a heterogeneous group of inhibitory and excitatory neurons. A major proportion of the inhibitory neurons provides a GABAergic feedback to the inferior olive, while the excitatory neurons exert more direct effects on motor control via non-olivary structures. At present is is not clear whether Purkinje cells innervate all types of neurons in the cer...