Noradrenergic neurons of the brainstem extend projections throughout the neuraxis to modulate a wide range of processes including attention, arousal, autonomic control and sensory processing. A spinal projection from the locus coeruleus (LC) is thought to regulate nociceptive processing. To characterize and selectively manipulate the pontospinal noradrenergic neurons in rats, we implemented a r...

Chronic opiate exposure induces numerous neurochemical adaptations in the noradrenergic system, including upregulation of the cAMP-signaling pathway and increased expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine biosynthesis. These adaptations are thought to compensate for opiate-mediated neuronal inhibition but also contribute to physical dependence, including...

Noradrenaline (NA) is a strong modulator and/or activator of spinal locomotor 21 networks. Thus, noradrenergic fibers likely contact neurons involved in generating locomotion. 22 The aim of the present study was to investigate the noradrenergic innervation of functionally23 related, locomotor-activated neurons within the thoraco-lumbar spinal cord. This was 24 accomplished by immunohistochemica...

bulbospinal noradrenergic pathways are shown to have an important role in descending inhibition of pain sensation. locus ceruleus (lc), as a rich noradrenergic nucleus in the brain stem which has projections into the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, was evaluated for antinociceptive activity by using tonic and phasic pain models in the rat. lc-lesioned rats demonstrated moderate increase in both...

The locus coeruleus (LC), the main noradrenergic center in the brain, participates in many neural functions, as diverse as memory and motor output, and is severely affected in several neurodegenerative disorders of the CNS. GDNF, a neurotrophic factor initially identified as dopaminotrophic, was found to be expressed in several targets of central noradrenergic neurons in the adult rat brain. Gr...

Synaptotagmin I and neurexin I mRNAs, coding for proteins involved in neurotransmitter secretion, become detectable in primary sympathetic ganglia shortly after initial induction of the noradrenergic transmitter phenotype. To test whether the induction of these more general neuronal genes is mediated by signals known to initiate noradrenergic differentiation in a neuronal subpopulation, we exam...

In this experiment, we have investigated the spatial memory performance of rats following a central noradrenaline depletion induced by three different doses of the neurotoxin N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine (DSP4) and following administration of three different doses of methylphenidate (MPH). The rats were required to find food pellets hidden on a holeboard. The sole administration...

The generation of noradrenergic sympathetic neurons is controlled by BMPs and the downstream transcription factors Mash1, Phox2b, Phox2a and dHand. We examined the role of these signals in developing cholinergic parasympathetic neurons. The expression of Mash1 (Cash1), Phox2b and Phox2a in the chick ciliary ganglion is followed by the sequential expression of panneuronal, noradrenergic and chol...

The enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was immunohistochemically localized by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method in rat to chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla, large neurons and small darkly staining cells of the superior cervical ganglia and noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurons in brain. As compared with the conjugated peroxidase or immunofluorescence techniques, the peroxidase-antiperox...

The neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) has been shown to modulate cerebellar-dependent learning and memory. Lesions of the nucleus locus coeruleus or systemic blockade of noradrenergic receptors has been shown to delay the acquisition of several cerebellar-dependent learning tasks. To date, no studies have shown a direct involvement of cerebellar noradrenergic activity nor localized the post-...