Deep-brain stimulation at high frequency is now considered the most effective neurosurgical therapy for movement disorders. An electrode is chronically implanted in a particular area of the brain and, when continuously stimulated, it significantly alleviates motor symptoms. In Parkinson's disease, common target nuclei of high-frequency stimulation (HFS) are ventral thalamic nuclei and basal gan...

The locus coeruleus (LC) is the major noradrenergic nucleus of the brain, giving rise to fibres innervating extensive areas throughout the neuraxis. Recent advances in neuroscience have resulted in the unravelling of the neuronal circuits controlling a number of physiological functions in which the LC plays a central role. Two such functions are the regulation of arousal and autonomic activity,...

We have mapped the macaque amygdala for the distribution of synaptic zinc (Zn), a co-factor of glutamate implicated in plasticity, as well as in several excitotoxic and other pathophysiological conditions. In brief, we found that the amygdala is Zn enriched in all nuclear groups (i.e., basolateral and cortical groups, as well as central and medial nuclei) but with marked differences in density....

The cerebellum is considered a brain structure in which memories for learned motor responses (e.g., conditioned eyeblink responses) are stored. Within the cerebellum, however, the relative importance of the cortex and the deep nuclei in motor learning/memory is not entirely clear. In this study, we show that the cerebellar cortex exerts both basal and stimulus-activated inhibition to the deep n...

Case presentation: A 11-month-old female patient with Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) who developed infantile spasms at 6-months-old. She was diagnosed West Syndrome and first treated Vigabatrin (VGB). positive response observed, control of the spams regression hypsarrhythmia electroencephalogram register. well controlled until 10-months-old, when returned developmental regression. treatment synthet...

It has long been observed that many neuronal types position their nuclei within restricted cytoplasmic boundaries. A striking example is the apical localization of cone photoreceptors nuclei at the outer edge of the outer nuclear layer of mammalian retinas. Yet, little is known about how such nuclear spatial confinement is achieved and further maintained. Linkers of the Nucleoskeleton to the Cy...

The medial prefrontal cortex has been associated with diverse functions including attentional processes, visceromotor activity, decision-making, goal-directed behavior, and working memory. The present report compares and contrasts projections from the infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PL) cortices in the rat by using the anterograde anatomical tracer, Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin. With the ...

We report a case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura evaluated by MR. Multiple hyperintense foci on the T2-weighted images, observed principally in the brain stem and in the region of the basal nuclei, and neurologic signs disappeared after 15 days of therapy.

diabetes mellitus (dm) is one of the most important metabolic disease causes in many side effects. the decrease of mental abilities and even some form of dementia followed prolonged diabetes has been reported. there are evidences that show hippocampus might be the site of neural involvement in patients with dementia followed diabetes. as hippocampus received main serotonergic efferents from bra...

Cell counts have been performed on cholinergic subcortical nuclei, dorsal raphe nucleus, and locus caeruleus from up to 18 cases of Alzheimer's disease and 10 age-matched control subjects. In general, the extent of cell loss in these structures was similar. In the basal nucleus the anteromedial subdivision was the least, and the posterior subdivision the most affected. A subgroup of demented su...