We examined the effect of zinc on rat neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed in Xenopus oocytes as simple heteromers of alpha2, alpha3, or alpha4 and beta2 or beta4. Coapplication of zinc with low concentrations of acetylcholine (</=EC(10)) resulted in differential effects depending on receptor subunit composition. The alpha2beta2, alpha2beta4, alpha3beta4, alpha4beta2, a...

Acetylcholine (ACh) induces nasal congestion at low doses but decongestion at high doses. The current study investigated the vascular mechanisms underlying this biphasic nasal airway response in dogs. Collecting and outflow veins from anterior and posterior nasal venous systems and the septal mucosa (containing sinusoidal venous plexuses) were isolated. The in vitro isometric tension of the vas...

The probable roles of Acetylcholine (Ach) and Dopamine (DA) in the modulation of instinctual behaviors of feeding and hoarding (HS), as also the body weight and vaginal cyclicity (EI), were studied by instillation of Atropine (Ach antagonist), Haloperidol (DA antagonist) and Apomorphine (DA agonist) in the dorsal hippocampus of nonpregnant female rats. It was observed that the HS was significan...

At the neuromuscular junction of certain molluscan smooth muscles acetylcholine (ACh) is thought to be released by motoneuron activity eli­ citing muscle contraction 1. The discovery, however, that isolated gastropod smooth muscle preparations are not very sensitive to exogenously applied ACh2> 3 and that constant maximum contraction amplitudes were only obtained after 4 or 5 succes­ sive admin...

The stress induced in animals due to handling prior to sacrifice has been shown to produce changes in total acetylcholine (Ach) content of the brain and heart of adult rats. Two methods of killing the animals were compared viz. cervical dislocation and decapitation by a guillotine technique; the former method producing more handling stress than the latter. Ach levels were significantly lower bo...

Objective: The antidepressant agomelatine agent is a melatonin receptor (MT1 and MT2) agonist serotonin (5-HT2C) antagonist. Increasing evidence shows that has neuroprotective neuromodulatory effects. In this study, the potential effects of in rats with scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment were investigated.Materials Methods: Adult male administered scopolamine (1 mg/kg) (40 for 21 days. Af...

Changes in acetylcholine (ACh) content and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAc) activity in the hippocampus were compared after various septal lesions. With the use of a multiple regression model it was shown that the time course of the ACh and enzymic level changes is concordant after total destruction of the septum, but not always after partial damage. Septal lesio...

Responses to acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) were compared in large (LPA) and small pulmonary artery (SPA) rings from normoxic and chronically hypoxic (CH) rats. In addition, the effects of a selective phosphodiesterase (PDE) 5 inhibitor, E-4021, on ACh-induced relaxation were evaluated. Chronic hypoxia markedly decreased both ACh- and SNP-induced relaxations in LPA but not i...

The presence of "comet-like" radial transport of acetylcholine receptors by actin microfilaments without the participation of myosin motors in the depression of acetylcholine-induced inward chloric current (ACh-current) in command neurons of defensive behavior of the land snail, Helix lucorum, in a cellular analog of habituation was investigated. For that purpose the effects of CK548, CK-636 (i...

OBJECTIVE The aims of this study are to investigate the changes in spontaneous electrical activities (SEAs) and in acetylcholine (ACh), acetylcholine receptor (AChR), and acetylcholine esterase (AChE) levels after dry needling at myofascial trigger spots in model rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups. Thirty-six rats were assigned to th...