Search results for "Autonomic system"

Plasticity of mouse enteric synapses mediated through endocannabinoid and purinergic signaling

2012

The myenteric and submucosal plexuses of the enteric nervous system (ENS) exist as interconnected integrative nerve networks within the wall of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Activity of the ENS is responsible for the control of the digestive and protective functions of the gut.1 Synaptic transmission between enteric neurons propagates information from intrinsic afferent neurons to interneurons, and then from interneurons to motor neurons that control final effectors such as smooth muscle and the secretory epithelium. Acetylcholine (ACh) is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the myenteric plexus, acting on nicotinic receptors at synapses between neurons and on muscarinic receptors a…

2020

Objective: The suggested link between major depression disorder (MDD) and blood–brain barrier (BBB) alterations supports an impact on the neurovascular unit in this disease condition. Here we inves...

Spectral decomposition of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular interactions in patients prone to postural syncope and healthy controls.

2022

We present a framework for the linear parametric analysis of pairwise interactions in bivariate time series in the time and frequency domains, which allows the evaluation of total, causal and instantaneous interactions and connects time- and frequency-domain measures. The framework is applied to physiological time series to investigate the cerebrovascular regulation from the variability of mean cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and mean arterial pressure (MAP), and the cardiovascular regulation from the variability of heart period (HP) and systolic arterial pressure (SAP). We analyze time series acquired at rest and during the early and late phase of head-up tilt in subjects developing or…

Evidence that 3 alpha-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnan-20-one is a physiologically relevant modulator of GABA-ergic neurotransmission.

1991

Abstract 3α-Hydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one (HPO) is a progesterone metabolite which exhibits narcotic properties at high concentrations by interactions with the receptor for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The present investigation characterized low-dose effects of HPO on GABA A receptor binding, by determining the allosteric properties of HPO on the in vitro binding of 3 H-muscimol to membrane fractions from the cerebella of ovariectomized rats. A newly developed method for tissue preparation was used to wash out endogenous ligands interfering with the assay. HPO reduced the affinity of 3 H-muscimol to GABA A receptor sites by 52% and enhanced the number of accessible binding sites from 5.5±0.5…

Metabolic Profile in a Cohort of Young Sicilian Patients with Klinefelter’s Syndrome: The Role of Irisin

2022

Klinefelter’s syndrome (KS) is the main cause of hypogonadism and infertility in men and is often related to obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. The purpose of our real-life observational study was to investigate the metabolic and anthropometric parameters in a population of patients with Klinefelter syndrome compared to a group of healthy age-matched subjects. Methods. In our study, 25 consecutive Caucasian adult outpatients (age range 21–52 years, mean age 32.9 ± 12.2) with KS in testosterone replacement therapy and 30 healthy men (age range 25–45 years, mean age 32.4 ± 7.62) were studied. In both groups of subjects, anthropometric indices, lipid profile, glucose metabolic paramete…

Some Necessary Revisions of the Neuronal Model Concept of the Orienting Response

1978

Sokolov's neural trace model as well as his entropy model of the orienting response are examined. Both seem inadequate for empirical and theoretical reasons. The role of the relevance aspect of a stimulus is stressed. It is proposed to consider the information transmitted by a stimulus as in some way being weighted by the relevance of the context to which it belongs. It is furthermore proposed to restrict the neural trace concept to the physical properties of the stimulus. Major theoretical gain is achieved by viewing information content of a stimulus and its physical properties independently and by breaking the motivation determining the strength of an orienting response into a situation-s…

The impact of neuroendocrine stress response on cognitive emotion regulation

2016

Abstract # 3128 Metabolic-inflammatory status as predictor of clinical outcome at 1-year follow-up in patients with first episode psychosis

2019

Metabolic abnormalities and peripheral inflammation have been increasingly reported in patients at their first episode of psychosis (FEP) and associated with increased mortality. However, the impact of an abnormal metabolic-inflammatory status on the psychiatric outcome of FEP is understudied. This study aimed 1) to combine metabolic and inflammatory variables in factors accounting for an overall metabolic-inflammatory status in FEP patients; 2) to explore the association between these factors and clinical outcome at 1 year. We recruited 43 FEP patients and 50 healthy controls (HC). At baseline (T1) we measured high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as inflammatory biomarker, and body …

Age-related differences of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic transmission in human colonic smooth muscle.

2021

Background: Enteric neurons undergo to functional changes during aging. We investigated the possible age-associated differences in enteric γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic transmission evaluating function and distribution of GABAergic receptors in human colon. Methods: Mechanical responses to GABA and GABA receptor agonists on slow phasic contractions were examined in vitro as changes in isometric tension in colonic muscle strips from young (<65 years old) and aged patients (>65 years old). GABAergic receptor expression was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR. Key Results: In both preparations GABA induced an excitatory effect, consisting in an increase in the basal tone, antagonized by th…

A preliminary study to assess the impact of maternal age on stress-related variables in healthy nulliparous women

2017

Purpose: Childbearing age has progressively increased in industrialized countries. The impact of this delay on motherhood, however, requires further research. Methods: The study sample included a prospective cohort of healthy nulliparous pregnant women aged between 18 and 40 years (n = 148) assessed at 38 weeks gestation (Time#1, T1), 48 h after birth (Time#2, T2), and 3 months after birth (Time#3, T3). The effect of age on psychological, biological, and social variables was evaluated. Maternal psychological symptoms in terms of depression and anxiety were assessed at T1-T3; and parenting stress at T3. Stress biomarkers (cortisol, alpha-amylase) were determined in mothers at T1-T3. Question…