introduction: epilepsy is a neural disorder in which abnormal plastic changes during short and long term periods lead to increased excitability of brain tissue. kindling is an animal model of epileptogenesis which results in changes of synaptic plasticity due to repetitive electrical or chemical sub-convulsive stimulations of the brain. lateral hypothalamus, as the main niche of orexin neurons ...

Limbic encephalitis is an adaptive autoimmune disease, induced by different autoantibodies, which target extracellular neuronal epitopes, such as NMDA or GABAB receptors1,2. Recently our group found another human antibody, which binds to the α1 subunit of the GABAA receptor. Since the GABAA receptor is responsible for the majority of fast inhibitory neurotransmission, we investigated chan...

Cortical excitability may be subject to changes through training and learning. Motor training can increase cortical excitability in motor cortex, and facilitation of motor cortical excitability has been shown to be positively correlated with improvements in performance in simple motor tasks. Thus cortical excitability may tentatively be considered as a marker of learning and use-dependent plast...

1. Centrifugal control of many sensory systems is well established, notably in the gamma motorneuron of skeletal muscle stretch receptors. 2. Efferent (olivocochlear) innervation of the mammalian cochlea was first established through anatomical studies. Histological studies confirmed synaptic terminals in contact with hair cells and afferent dendrites. 3. Electrophysiology has elucidated the ce...

Local neuronal networks that are responsible for walking are poorly characterized in mammals. Using an innovative approach to identify interneuron inputs onto motorneuron populations in a neonatal rodent spinal cord preparation, we have investigated the network responsible for left-right coordination of the hindlimbs. We demonstrate how commissural interneurons (CINs), whose axons traverse the ...

Peripheral electrical stimulation (PES) is a common clinical technique known to induce changes in corticomotor excitability; PES applied to induce a tetanic motor contraction increases, and PES at sub-motor threshold (sensory) intensities decreases, corticomotor excitability. Understanding of the mechanisms underlying these opposite changes in corticomotor excitability remains elusive. Modulati...

BackgroundTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has emerged as a non-invasive brain technique. Most studies show that anodal tDCS increases cortical excitability. However, this effect been found to be highly variable.ObjectiveTo test the of on excitability and interaction two participant-specific factors may explain individual differences in sensitivity tDCS: Brain Derived Neurotrophic...

Predicting Test Anxiety Based on the Use of Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies among Female High School Students G. Ahghar, Ph.D. The use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies can reduce test anxiety. To determine the extent to which this is done, a random sample of 610 female high school students was given two questionnaires on anxiety and learning/studying strategies. Da...