Search results for "HYPOTHALAMUS"
showing 10 items of 164 documents
Exploration of neuronal and glial plasticity in the melanocortin system at the meal in a mouse model.
2017
In 2015, Nature published the largest pangenomic association study to date linking genetic variants to body mass index. This study highlighted the role of the central nervous system in vulnerability to obesity and supports an original concept that cerebral plasticity plays an important role in the control of energy balance. Thus, reduced cerebral plasticity capacities could lead to inadequate dietary behaviors, which would increase the risk of weight gain under caloric pressure. The anorectic neurons POMC and the orexigenic neurons AgRP of the melanocortin system, which control the energy balance, actually show synaptic plasticity properties in the adult brain. These phenomena are shown in …
Cloning, tissue distribution, pharmacology and three-dimensional modelling of melanocortin receptors 4 and 5 in rainbow trout suggest close evolution…
2004
The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is one of the most widely used fish species in aquaculture and physiological research. In the present paper, we report the first cloning, 3D (three-dimensional) modelling, pharmacological characterization and tissue distribution of two melanocortin (MC) receptors in rainbow trout. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that these receptors are orthologues of the human MC4 and MC5 receptors. We created 3D molecular models of these rainbow trout receptors and their human counterparts. These models suggest greater divergence between the two human receptors than between their rainbow trout counterparts. The pharmacological analyses demonstrated that ACTH (adreno…
Studies of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenocortical System: An Example of Progress in Psychoneuroendocrinology
1986
Psychobiological study of affective disorders has passed through several phases during the last three decades. With the discovery of thymoleptic drugs and our partial understanding of their pharmacological properties, a dominant theme in psychiatric research came to be the pathophysiology underlying depressive illness. Since enhancement of monoamine neurotransmission was found to be a common characteristic of most antidepressants, several attempts were made to test the hypothesis of a defective cerebral monoamine transmission as the prime cause of depression. In this context, neuroendocrinology became an area that was of particular interest to investigators, for several reasons. Basic resea…
Dietary l-tryptophan leaves a lasting impression on the brain and the stress response
2017
AbstractComparative models suggest that effects of dietary tryptophan (Trp) on brain serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) neurochemistry and stress responsiveness are present throughout the vertebrate lineage. Moreover, hypothalamic 5-HT seems to play a central role in control of the neuroendocrine stress axis in all vertebrates. Still, recent fish studies suggest long-term effects of dietary Trp on stress responsiveness, which are independent of hypothalamic 5-HT. Here, we investigated if dietary Trp treatment may result in long-lasting effects on stress responsiveness, including changes in plasma cortisol levels and 5-HT neurochemistry in the telencephalon and hypothalamus of Atlantic sa…
The effect of rewarding hypothalamic stimulation on behavioral and neural hippocampal responses during trace eyeblink conditioning in rabbit (Oryctol…
2005
Rabbits were trace-conditioned with a tone as a conditioned stimulus and an airpuff as an unconditioned stimulus. Electrical stimulation to the medial forebrain bundle in the lateral hypothalamus was delivered either before or after the tone-airpuff pair. The purpose of the present study was to test whether the effect of post-trial hypothalamic stimulation differed from the effect of pre-trial hypothalamic stimulation on trace conditioning in the same subjects. Additionally, hippocampal responses were measured during sessions to see if hypothalamic stimulation activated dopaminergic fibres and affected hippocampal cell functioning and thus learning. The results showed that behavioral nictit…
Neural substrates for processing chemosensory information in snakes.
2002
Snakes interact with their chemical environment through their olfactory and vomeronasal systems. The present report summarizes advances on neural substrates for processing chemosensory information. First, the efferent and centrifugal afferent connections of the main and accessory olfactory bulbs were reinvestigated. Second, the afferent and efferent connections of the nucleus sphericus, the main target of the accessory olfactory bulb, were characterized. The nucleus sphericus gives rise to a very small projection to the hypothalamus, but it does project to other telencephalic structures where olfactory and vomeronasal information could converge. Third, the intra-amygdaloid circuitry and the…
Organization of the ophidian amygdala: chemosensory pathways to the hypothalamus.
1999
Although recent studies in squamate reptiles have importantly clarified how chemical information is processed in the reptilian brain, how the amygdala relays chemosensory inputs to the hypothalamus to influence chemically guided behaviors is still poorly documented. To identify these chemosensory pathways, the amygdalo-hypothalamic projections, intra-amygdaloid circuitry and afferents from the lateral cortex (LC) to the amygdala were investigated by injecting conjugated dextran-amines into the hypothalamus, amygdala, and LC of garter snakes. The amygdala was divided into olfactory recipient (ventral anterior and external amygdalae), vomeronasal recipient (nucleus sphericus, NS, and medial a…
Hypothalamus-olfactory system crosstalk: orexin a immunostaining in mice
2012
It is well known that olfaction influences food intake, and conversely, that an individual’s nutritional status modulates olfactory sensitivity. However, what is still poorly understood is the neuronal correlate of this relationship, as well as the connections between the olfactory bulb and the hypothalamus. The goal of this report is to analyze the relationship between the olfactory bulb and hypothalamus, focusing on orexin A immunostaining, a hypothalamic neuropeptide that is thought to play a role in states of sleep/wakefulness. Interestingly, orexin A has also been described as a food intake stimulator. Such an effect may be due in part to the stimulation of the olfactory bulbar pathway…
Effects of rewarding electrical stimulation of lateral hypothalamus on classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane response.
1997
1. Adult New Zealand albino rabbits were prepared with chronic hypothalamic stimulating electrodes and hippocampal recording electrodes. 2. Rabbits were restrained and classically conditioned by a tone CS and an airpuff US either followed or preceded by a hypothalamic stimulation (HS). Control rabbits were conditioned without the HS. 3. It was found that HS following the CS facilitated both behavioral and hippocampal responses, while HS preceding the CS inhibited them. 4. Enhanced hippocampal learning-related unit firing to the CS may represent an early indication of conditioning before the behavioral activity produces any observable change.
Synthesis of nitric oxide in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus mediates the inhibition of gastric acid secretion by central bombesin
1999
1. Central administration of bombesin inhibits gastric acid production independently of the centrally or peripherally-acting stimuli employed. This study evaluates the role and location of the cerebral nitric oxide (NO) implicated in the inhibitory effect of central bombesin on in vivo rat gastric acid secretion, as induced by distension with 15 cm H2O, insulin (0.75 u.i. kg-1 i.p.) TRH (1.2 microg kg-1, i.c.) or pentagastrin (100 microg kg-1, i.p.). 2. The acid-inhibitory effect of i.c. bombesin (40 ng kg-1) was prevented by prior administration of L-NAME (80 microg kg-1) in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMN). This dose of L-NAME when administered into the nucleus of the tractus s…