Prolactin and oxytocin are important reproductive hormones implicated in several common adaptive functions during pregnancy, pseudopregnancy and lactation. Recently, extracellular recordings of supraoptic neurones have shown that prolactin may modulate the electrical activity of oxytocinergic neurones. However, no study has been conducted aiming to establish whether prolactin directly influence...

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) which express a member from the OR37 subfamily of odorant receptor (OR) genes are wired to the main olfactory bulb (MOB) in a unique monoglomerular fashion; from these glomeruli an untypical connectivity into higher brain centers exists. In the present study we have investigated by DiI and transsynaptic tracing approaches how the connection pattern from these gl...

Angiotensinogen, the precursor molecule of the peptides angiotensin I, II, and III, is synthesized in the brain and the liver. Evidence is reviewed that angiotensin II, and possibly angiotensin III, that are generated within the brain act within neural circuits of the central nervous system to regulate body fluid balance. Immunohistochemical studies in the rat brain have provided evidence of an...

EXPRESSION IN THE ARCUATE NUCLEUS AND PARAVENTRICULAR NUCLEUS OF THE HYPOTHALAMUS by KARI ELIZABETH BOLT (Under the direction of Silvia Giraudo) ABSTRACT This study investigated the levels of mRNA of POMC, AgRP and MC4R in the arcuate nucleus and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in thirty Sprague Dawley rats fed a low fat diet or a high fat diet over the course of 12 weeks. The HF gr...

Abstract Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) neurons that synthesize corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) drive binge alcohol drinking and anxiety. Here, we found female C57BL/6J mice drink more than males have greater basal BNST CRF neuron excitability synaptic excitation. We identified a dense VGLUT2 + input from paraventricular thalamus (PVT) releases glutamate directly onto but also ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the action of the heptapeptide angiotensin-(l-7) on the spontaneous activity of paraventricular neurons using microiontophoresis. Recent immunocytochemical investigations have shown that this product of angiotensin I is predominantly located in cells and fibers of the forebrain and brain stem. Our results show that most neurons in the paraventricular nuc...

Cui, Lu-Ning, Elaine Coderre, and Leo P. Renaud. GABAB presynaptically modulates suprachiasmatic input to hypothalamic paraventricular magnocellular neurons. Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 278: R1210– R1216, 2000.—This study used whole cell patch clamp recordings in rat hypothalamic slice preparations to evaluate the effects of GABAB receptor activation on GABAA-mediated inhib...

The stomach-derived "hunger hormone" ghrelin increases in the circulation in direct response to time since the last meal, increasing preprandially and falling immediately following food consumption. We found previously that peripheral injection of ghrelin potently stimulates food foraging (FF), food hoarding (FH), and food intake (FI) in Siberian hamsters. It remains, however, largely unknown i...

We recently demonstrated that three arcuate nucleus-derived peptides, neuropeptide Y (NPY), agouti-related protein (AGRP), and alphaMSH, are contained in axon terminals that heavily innervate hypophysiotropic TRH neurons in the rat brain and may contribute to the altered set-point of the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid axis during fasting. To determine whether a similar regulatory system exists i...

Increasing evidence indicates that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the amygdala mediate expression and extinction of conditioned fear, but few studies have examined the inputs to these structures. The dorsal part of the midline thalamus (dMT) contains structures such as the mediodorsal nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, and paratenial nucleus that project prominently to mPFC, as well as ...