The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is implicated in emotional and social behaviors. We recently showed that in horizontal brain slices, activation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) is a requirement for persistent synaptic alterations in the LA, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). In the LA, NR2A- and NR2B-type NMDRs coexist in synapses of LA projection neurons. W...

Spiral waves are a basic feature of excitable systems. Although such waves have been observed in a variety of biological systems, they have not been observed in the mammalian cortex during neuronal activity. Here, we report stable rotating spiral waves in rat neocortical slices visualized by voltage-sensitive dye imaging. Tissue from the occipital cortex (visual) was sectioned parallel to corti...

There is increasing evidence that kainate receptors contribute to both postsynaptic and presynaptic signaling not only in the hippocampus but also in the amygdala. The present study demonstrates that low concentrations of the specific kainate GLU(K5) receptor agonist, ATPA, depressed baseline activity in the lateral nucleus of the rat amygdala (LA), induced by stimulation of external capsule fi...

-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a therapeutic drug, a drug of abuse, and an endogenous substance that binds to lowand high-affinity sites in the mammalian brain. To target the specific GHB binding sites, we have developed a I-labeled GHB analog and characterized its binding in rat brain homogenate and slices. Our data show that [I]4-hydroxy-4-[4-(2-iodobenzyloxy)phenyl]butanoate ([I]BnOPh-GHB) bi...

A large majority of neurons in the superficial layer of the dorsal horn projects to the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPB). LPB neurons then project to the capsular part of the central amygdala (CeA; CeC), a key structure underlying the nociception-emotion link. LPB-CeC synaptic transmission is enhanced in various pain models by using electrical stimulation of putative fibers of LPB origin in b...

We examined the rostro-caudal dendritic spread of striatally projecting dopaminergic neurons of the Substantia Nigra pars compacta (SNc) and investigated the presence of dye-coupling after labeling these cells with a mixture of lucifer yellow (LY) and neurobiotin (NB) or with LY alone. Whole cell recordings were made from horizontal brain slices (400 microm) obtained from P5-P20 rats. SNc neuro...

This paper presents and evaluates a fast graphics hardwarebased voxelization method to spatial analysis, which generates object-coded volume data utilizing the Performer scene-graph. Two color-coding algorithms are introduced. The first one resolves one object per voxel for a large number of objects. The second algorithm extends the first to identify multiple objects in one voxel, by using blen...

The eye is not a camera, and the retina is not a piece of film. Indeed, the retina might be better likened to a computer running Photoshop, given the extent of image processing that it performs before passing visual information along to the brain. A central aspect of that processing is called center-surround inhibition, in which illumination stimulates the firing of a small number of retinal ce...

In this study, we propose a model which may assist in diagnosis of (AD) using T1 weighted MRI brain images. The proposed model involves construction of statistical features from multiple trans-axial slices from hippocampus and amygdala regions, which play a significant role in AD diagnosis. Features from multiple slices are then averaged, which resulted into a smaller set of relevant features. ...

objective: fetal development of the central nervous system is an important and sensitive stage which is affected by many external and internal stimuli. this study aimed to investigate effect of musical stimuli on fetal rat brain. materials and methods: in this experimental study, twelve female wistar rats were selected and evenly assigned to control and musical groups. the females were mated wi...