Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-containing fibers have been observed in the rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG) and, to a lesser extent, in the stellate ganglion (STG). The aim of present study is to clarify the source of these fibers. No cell body showed mRNAs for glutamic acid decarboxylases (GADs) or immunoreactivity for GAD of 67 kDa (GAD67) in the cervical sympathetic chain. Thus, GABA-con...

The sea lamprey is a basal, jawless vertebrate that possesses many neural crest derivatives, but lacks jaws and sympathetic ganglia. This raises the possibility that the factors involved in sympathetic neuron differentiation were either a gnathostome innovation or already present in lamprey, but serving different purposes. To distinguish between these possibilities, we isolated lamprey homologu...

Estrogen, via estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), exerts several beneficial effects on metabolism and energy homeostasis by controlling size, enzymatic activity and hormonal content of adipose tissue. The actions of estrogen on sympathetic ganglia, which are key players in the browning process, are less well known. In the present study we show that ERβ influences browning of subcutaneous adipose tis...

The distribution of P2X1, P2X2, P2X3, P2X4, P2X5 and P2X6 receptors, a family of ATP-gated cation channels, in rat trigeminal, dorsal root, nodose, superior cervical, and coeliac ganglia was studied immunohistochemically. It was found that polyclonal antibodies for the six P2X receptor subtypes could label over 90% of neurones in these ganglia to different intensities. There was also considerab...

Sympathetic nerve terminals on blood vessels within the dorsal root ganglia sprout after sciatic nerve lesions in the rat. The mechanism underlying this phenomenon is not clear, but might be predicted to involve nerve growth factor or its homologs because these factors are known to trigger collateral sprouting of undamaged sympathetic noradrenergic terminals. We have found that sciatic nerve le...

It is well known that catecholamines significantly modify the sympathetic ganglionic transmission (1-10). Since Eccles and Libet (7) proposed a model of ganglionic transmis sion characterized by adrenergically mediated hyperpolarizing potentials, many reports have appeared concerning the action and the physiologic role of catecholamines in sympa thetic ganglia. De Groat and Volle (9) have inves...

BACKGROUND Lewy body-related α-synucleinopathy (LBAS, the abnormal accumulation of pathologic α-synuclein) is found in the central and peripheral nervous systems, including the spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, and sympathetic ganglia, of Parkinson's disease patients. However, few studies have focused on the distribution of LBAS in the spinal cord, primary sensory neurons, and preganglionic sym...

Synaptic transmission and membrane properties of sympathetic neurons in superior cervical ganglia of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), and Sprague-Dawley rats (SD) were investigated in vitro by extracellular and intracellular recording. The sympathetic neurons of SHR showed an atypical loss of spike accommodation. The spike discharge was insensitive to...

Lujan HL, Palani G, Zhang L, DiCarlo SE. Targeted ablation of cardiac sympathetic neurons reduces the susceptibility to ischemiainduced sustained ventricular tachycardia in conscious rats. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 298: H1330–H1339, 2010. First published February 19, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00955.2009.—The Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial demonstrated that antiarrhythmic drugs not ...