467 The neostriatum is critically involved in the control and execution of voluntary behavior. Malfunctions of this system underlie several neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. Understanding information processing in the neostriatum requires elucidation of the processes that control the spatiotemporal pattern of activity of its GABAergi...

The persistence of neurogenesis in the forebrain subventricular zone (SVZ) of adult mammals suggests that the mature brain maintains the potential for neuronal replacement after injury. We examined whether focal ischemic injury in adult rat would increase SVZ neurogenesis and direct migration and neuronal differentiation of endogenous precursors in damaged regions. Focal stroke was induced in a...

To elucidate the detailed organization of corticostriatal projections from rodent somatosensory cortex, the anterograde tracers biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) and fluoro-ruby (FR) were injected into separate parts of the whisker "barrel" representation. In one group of rats, the two tracers were injected into different barrel columns residing in the same row; in the other group of rats, the t...

The effect of a subchronic (4-week) exposure to low concentrations of toluene (40 or 80 parts per million, ppm) on the brain dopaminergic system has been examined in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. A unilateral lesion of the substantia nigra (SN) dopamine (DA) nerve cells was performed by injection of a low dose of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OH DA). The peak activity of contralateral rotational b...

We have previously shown that metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) activation can attenuate N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-induced excitotoxic injury in the neostriatum both in vivo and in vitro. Our earlier studies made use of the non-subtype selective mGluR agonist 1-amino-cyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (tACPD). In the present study, we extended these observations by identifying the subty...

Binding of 3beta-(4-iodophenyl) tropane-2beta-carboxylic acid methyl ester ([125I]RTI-55) to the dopamine transporter (DAT) in neostriatum from C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, and 21 BXD recombinant inbred (RI) mouse strains indicated highly significant strain differences in DAT density (Bmax) but no significant differences in affinity (Kd) for this radioligand. Strain mean Bmax values and the known genomic ...

bstract—The firing patterns of dopaminergic neurons in vivo re strongly modulated by afferent input. The principal GABAeric inputs to the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra riginate from neurons of the neostriatum, globus pallidus and ubstantia nigra pars reticulata. It has previously been shown hat the firing pattern of nigral dopaminergic neurons can be anipulated by pharmacological...

The main purpose of this study was to characterize the initial neurotransmission cascade elicited by methamphetamine, analysing simultaneously with in vivo microdialysis monoamine, amino acid and neuropeptide release in substantia nigra and neostriatum of the rat. The main effect of a single systemic dose of methamphetamine (15 mg/kg, subcutaneously) was an increase in dopamine levels, both in ...

Neurogenesis in the rat neostriatum was examined with [(3)H]thymidine autoradiography. For the animals in the prenatal groups, the initial [(3)H]thymidine exposures were separated by 24 h; they were the offspring of pregnant females given two injections on consecutive embryonic (E) days (E13-E14, E14-E15, … E21-E22). For the animals in the postnatal (P) groups, the initial [(3)H]thymidine expos...

The vast majority of neostriatal neurons and intrinsic intrastriatal synapses are GABAergic, the latter arising from axon collaterals of spiny projection neurons and from GABAergic interneurons. An important feature of the functional organization of the neostriatum has long been assumed to be the existence of a widespread lateral inhibitory network mediated by the axon collaterals of spiny proj...