Focal dystonia has been attributed to lesions involving the basal ganglia and/or thalamus. Hand dystonia was studied in a patient with a unilateral thalamic infarction documented by MRI. A 18-year-old girl presented with severe isolated dystonia of the right hand as a sequel of perinatal infarction. MRI scan revealed infarction affecting part of the dorsomedian, lateral posterior, ventral later...

The nuclei of preimplantation mouse embryos were identified after labelling with either DAPI or Hoechst 33258. During the 4- and 8-cell stages the peripherally located nuclei become clustered nearer the centre of the embryo. This nuclear migration towards the base of each cell was also observed during the development of couplets of 2/4 and 2/8 cells. Most blastomeres isolated from compact 8-cel...

The ability to control the speed of movement is compromised in neurological disorders involving the basal ganglia, a set of subcortical cerebral nuclei that receive prominent dopaminergic projections from the midbrain. For example, bradykinesia, slowness of movement, is a major symptom of Parkinson's disease, whereas rapid tics are observed in patients with Tourette syndrome. Recent experimenta...

Experiments were performed on brains of 15 cats with the use of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) retrograde transport method. After injections of HRP to the insular cortex, relatively great numbers of labeled neurons were found in all main nuclei of the amygdaloid body. After injections to the anterior part of the granular insular cortex numerous labeled neurons were located in the lateral, central...

In this paper we evaluate the hypothesis of a possible link between the degree of axonal collateralization of neurons located within the different components of basal ganglia and the vulnerability of these neurons to neurodegenerative or neurotoxic events. Our results stemmed from single-cell labeling experiments in rodents and primates, immunohistochemical study of the dopaminergic nigrostriat...

In our previous papers (Fonberg 1965, 1967) the assumption was made, that the baso-lateral part of amygdala consists of an inhibitory ali-mentary center, similar to the "satiety center" in the ventroinedial hy-pothalamus. This assumption was mostly based on the results of our earlier experiments on cats (Fonberg and Delgado 1960, 1961) which showed that stimullation of the baso-lateral partion ...

In order to elucidate the role of cortical input on sensory information processing in different thalamic somatosensory nuclei we recorded potentials evoked (EPs) by whisker deflections of short duration from ventral posteromedial (VPm) and medial posterior (POm) nuclei while manipulating cortico-thalamic activity by means of local cooling, lidocaine application or electrical stimulation. It app...

INTRODUCTION Fahr's disease is characterized by bilateral calcium deposition within the basal ganglia, cerebellar dentate nucleus and subcortical brain white matter. The main clinical manifestations are rigid or hyperkinetic syndrome, mood disorders and cognitive impairment. The correlation between neurological impairment and symmetrical basal ganglia calcification is not so frequent. Aim of th...

The basal ganglia play a critical role in the regulation of voluntary action in vertebrates. Our understanding of the function of the basal ganglia relies heavily upon anatomical information, but continued progress will require an understanding of the specific functional roles played by diverse cell types and their connectivity. An increasing number of mouse lines allow extensive identification...

Layer 6 is the main source of neocortical connections back to specific thalamic nuclei. Corticothalamic (CT) systems play an important role in shaping sensory input, but little is known about the functional circuitry that generates CT activity. We recorded from the two main types of neurons in layer 6, regular-spiking (RS; pyramidal neurons) and fast-spiking (FS; inhibitory interneurons) cells ...