Monoamine neurotransmitters include catecholamines and indoleamines. The most common catecholamines are do-pamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA) and adrenaline, which are produced from phenylalanine and tyrosine; whereas the most common indoleamine is serotonin (5-hydroxytrypta mine, 5-HT), which is produced from 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). In the central nervous system, monoamine neu-rotransmitters...

The monkey (Macacus rhesus) usually tolerates readily the repeated intraspinal injection of large doses of 0.3 per cent. tricresol antimeningitis serum. The spontaneous respiration is generally not disturbed. Doses of 0.3 per cent. tricresol serum as large as 8 c.c. per kilo were injected intraspinally with subsequent recovery, even when the monkey had a partial pneumothorax. Dangerous alterati...

A major portion of spinal cord injury (SCI) cases affect midcervical levels, the location of the phrenic motor neuron (PhMN) pool that innervates the diaphragm. While initial trauma is uncontrollable, a valuable opportunity exists in the hours to days following SCI for preventing PhMN loss and consequent respiratory dysfunction that occurs during secondary degeneration. One of the primary cause...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective clinical study. OBJECTIVE To show retrospective analysis of 21 consecutive patients who underwent simultaneous surgical treatment for progressive spinal deformity and coexisting intraspinal pathologies (tethered cord and/or diastematomyelia). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA The classic advocated approach in patients with congenital spine deformity associated with intra...

Pr imary intraspinal pr imit ive neuroecto dermal tumors (PNETs) are rare. We report a case of sacral PNET with review the literature. A 15 -yearold boy presented w ith progres sive lumbar area pain, lower leg numbness and neurogenic bladder. Preoperat ive magnet ic resonance imag ing revealed a sacral tumor with epidural, presacral, and sacral bone extensions. An urgent operation was performed...

Dermoid cysts of the brain are not uncommon, and as many as 200 dermoid and epidermoid cysts found throughout the central nervous system have been reported by Rand and Reeves (1943). However, epidermoid and dermoid tumours of the spinal canal together with teratoid tumours, with or without communicating dermal sinuses, are of extreme rarity. Boldrey and Elvidge (1939) published a total of 43 ep...

Single motor units were isolated in intact cats, by microstimulation through chronically implanted microwires in the L5 ventral roots. Motor unit axonal and mechanical properties were obtained by stimulus-triggered averaging the signals from an implanted femoral nerve recording cuff and patellar tendon force transducer. All unit types were sampled with this technique, and it was also possible t...

Intraspinal metallomas are rare. The authors present a case after implantation of two titanium threaded interbody cages at the L4L5 level, without posterior instrumentation. To their knowledge this is the first case due to intervertebral cages. The lack of additional instrumentation had probably allowed the cages to make contact. Subsequently, friction generated wear debris, which led to the fo...

As a preliminary step to using intraspinal microstimulation (ISMS) for rehabilitation purposes, the distribution of various types of hindlimb responses evoked by ISMS in spinal cats (T(13)) is described. The responses to ISMS applied through a single electrode was assessed, before and after an intravenous injection of clonidine (noradrenergic agonist), using kinematics and electromyographic rec...

Neuronal firing in the substantia nigra (SN) immediately following reward is thought to play a crucial role in human reinforcement learning however direct evidence for this relation is lacking. We applied microstimulation in the SN of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease as they engaged in reinforcement learning. Microstimulation during the 5...