Insomnia is often comorbid with depression, but the underlying neuronal circuit mechanism remains elusive. Recently, we reported that GABAergic ventral pallidum (VP) neurons control wakefulness associated motivation. However, whether and how other subtypes of VP regulate arousal emotion are largely unknown. Here, report glutamatergic (VPVglut2) depressive-like behaviors. Physiologically, calciu...

The motor cortex (M1) is classically considered an agranular area, lacking a distinct layer 4 (L4). Here, we tested the idea that M1, despite lacking a cytoarchitecturally visible L4, nevertheless possesses its equivalent in the form of excitatory neurons with input-output circuits like those of the L4 neurons in sensory areas. Consistent with this idea, we found that neurons located in a thin ...

Pharmacological manipulation of fatty acid metabolism in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC) alters energy balance and glucose homeostasis. Thus, we tested the hypotheses that distinctive populations of ARC neurons are oleic acid (OA) sensors that exhibit a glucose dependency, independent of whether some of these OA sensors are also glucose-sensing neurons. We used patch-clamp recordings to ...

A new recombinant virus which labeled the infected neurons in a Golgi stain-like fashion was developed. The virus was based on a replication-defective Sindbis virus and was designed to express green fluorescent protein with a palmitoylation signal (palGFP). When the virus was injected into the ventrobasal thalamic nuclei, many neurons were visualized with the fluorescence of palGFP in the injec...

The studies were carried out on the brains of adult pigs. The preparations were made by means of the Golgi technique as well as the Nissl and Klüver-Barrera methods. Four types of neurons were described in the medial geniculate body (MGB) of the pig: 1. Multipolar neurons (perikarya 30-45 microm) with rounded, oval or quadrangular perikarya from which arise 4-7 dendritic trunks. The dendrites d...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is known to be crucial for the development of peripheral vestibular neurons. However, the maturation profile of the BDNF signal transducing receptor, tyrosine kinase B (TrkB) in functionally activated otolith-related vestibular nuclear neurons of postnatal rats remains unexplored. In the present study, conscious Sprague-Dawley rats (P4 to adult) were sub...

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons in the preoptic area may undergo morphological changes during the pubertal period when their activities are upregulated. To clarify the regulatory mechanism of puberty onset, this study aimed to investigate the morphological changes of GnRH neurons in the preoptic area of GnRH-enhanced green fluorescent protein transgenic rats. Under confocal laser ...

objective(s):emap-like protein 5 (eml5) is a new echinoderm microtubule-associated protein that is expressed in the central nervous system. the aim of this study was to investigate the expression profile of eml5 in the anterior temporal neocortex of patients presenting with intractable epilepsy (ie). materials and methods:western blot assays were performed to determine eml5 expression in 36 sur...

glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (gdnf) plays important roles not only for the differentiation of neurons during normal development but also for the survival and recovery of many populations of mature neurons. the effect of traumatic brain injury (tbi) on the expression of gdnf is currently unknown. to determine if there is alteration in gdnf after tbi we examined the effect of contr...

The healthy human brain contains tens of billions of neurons, specialized cells that process and transmit information via electrical and chemical signals. Most neurons have three basic components: a cell body, multiple dendrites, and an axon. The cell body contains the nucleus, which houses the genetic blueprint that directs and regulates the cell’s activities. Dendrites are branch-like structu...