bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Visuotopic organization of the prelunate gyrus in rhesus monkey
Authors: Maguire WM , Baizer JS
Published: March 2018

We have examined topographic organization of the prelunate gyrus and adjacent cortex buried in the lunate and superior temporal sulci. We recorded from cortex of awake rhesus monkeys performing a fixation task. Multiunit receptive fields were mapped with small, stationary spots of light to determine borders and points of strongest driving or “activity centers” of the fields. We found evidence for several distinct subdivisions of this cortex. A representation of the vertical meridian runs across the gyrus, and two crude topographic representations of the central 30 degrees of the lower quadrant, the posteromedial and anterolateral areas (area PM and area AL), share this representation of the meridian. Area AL extends from the prelunate gyrus into the posterior bank of the superior temporal sulcus; it is separated from the MT area by a narrow strip of cortex. Area PM occupies part of the prelunate gyrus and extends into the anterior bank of the lunate sulcus. Receptive field size in both AL and PM is an increasing function of eccentricity and is similar for the two areas. Medial to areas PM and AL on the prelunate gyrus is another cortical region with qualitatively different topographic organization.
Postnatal maturation of cerebellar mossy and climbing fibers: transient expression of dual features on single axons
Authors: Mason CA , Gregory E
Published: March 2018

We have studied the form and fine structure of developing afferent axons in postnatal mouse cerebellum, before and during the formation of synaptic connections. In slices of fresh brain, bundles of axons were injected with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and individual axons were examined in the light and electron microscopes. At birth, before formation of cortical layers, axons with growing tips are rare in the peduncular tracts but instead ramify throughout the cerebellar anlage. All axons have similar structures; they branch infrequently and terminate in bud-like tips and/or small growth cones. Growth cones contain small and large vesicles in the flank and small vesicles in filopodia. Typical mossy and climbing fiber branching patterns and bouton shapes are recognizable after postnatal day (P) 5, even though fibers are still intermingled in a plexus beneath the newly formed Purkinje cell layer. Climbing fiber-like axon arbors are highly branched and covered with small foliate growing tips that contact Purkinje cells. Mossy fiber-like branches have large irregular expansions that give rise to long filopodia and resemble growth cones seen in vitro. The flanks of these growth cones contact granule cell dendrites and form glomeruli typical of mossy fibers, whereas the filopodia make primitive contacts or are associated with coated vesicles in adjacent profiles. A novel finding is the occurrence during the second postnatal week of many single axons that simultaneously have the morphology and synaptic connections of both climbing and mossy fibers. These “combination” axons have some branches that extend into the granule cell layer and others that enter the Purkinje cell layer, with the shape and synaptic connections of terminals on each branch type corresponding to the respective layer. Climbing fiber-like branches, including those on combination fibers, extend over several adjacent Purkinje cells. Combination fibers are rare in late postnatal or adult stages. These results suggest that long after arrival in the cerebellum, afferent axons have similar elementary forms and overlap in their projections. Mature axonal forms are not exhibited until cellular layers develop. During a limited period of postnatal maturation, some axons have dual morphologies and synaptic relations with appropriate and inappropriate partners. These aspects of cerebellar axonal development, particularly the transient exuberant branching onto two types of target cells, offer a valuable opportunity to examine, in developing cerebellum, the sorting out of afferents and the formation of specific synaptic connections.
A conditioning lesion of the peripheral axons of dorsal root ganglion cells accelerates regeneration of only their peripheral axons
Authors: Oblinger MM , Lasek RJ
Published: March 2018

Axotomy of the peripheral axon of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells is known to result in chromatolysis and changes in protein synthesis in DRG cells. We investigated whether a stimulus produced by peripheral branch axotomy would affect the regenerative properties of both the central and peripheral axon of the DRG cell equally. To examine this question, a conditioning crush lesion was made distally on the sciatic nerve 2 weeks prior to a testing lesion of either the dorsal root or peripheral branch axon near the DRG. Fast axonal transport of radioactive proteins was used to assess regeneration of DRG axons. In the adult rat, leading peripheral branch axons normally regenerate at a rate of 4.4 mm/day. If a conditioning lesion of the sciatic nerve is made 2 weeks before the test lesion, the rate of peripheral branch axonal regeneration increases by 25% to 5.5 mm/day. This effect is not limited to the fastest growing axons in the nerve since a population of more slowly growing axons also exhibits accelerated outgrowth in response to a prior peripheral axotomy. In contrast to this, the fastest growing central branch axons of DRG cells, which normally regenerate at a rate of 2.5 mm/day, are not significantly affected by a prior peripheral axotomy. A population of more slowly growing axons in the dorsal root also does not exhibit accelerated outgrowth in response to a peripheral conditioning lesion. The results of these experiments indicate that changes in the DRG neuron's metabolism induced by prior axotomy of its peripheral axon do not affect the regenerative properties of both axons equally. This raises the possibility that accelerated axonal outgrowth in only one axonal branch results from a differentially regulated supply of proteins to the two axons by the DRG cell body.
Time and intensity cues are processed independently in the auditory system of the owl
Authors: Takahashi T , Moiseff A , Konishi M
Published: March 2018

Space-specific neurons, found in the barn owl's inferior colliculus, respond selectively to a narrow range of interaural time and intensity differences. We show that injecting a local anesthetic into one cochlear nucleus, nucleus magnocellularis, alters the space-specific cell's selectivity for interaural time difference, leaving its selectivity for interaural intensity difference intact. Anesthetizing the other cochlear nucleus, nucleus angularis, has the converse effects. We show also that the space-specific neuron's selectivity for one interaural cue is the same for all effective values of the other cue. We conclude that time and intensity cues are processed in separate neural channels of the barn owl's auditory system and that the two cues operate independently.
Conditioned taste aversions modify neural responses in the rat nucleus tractus solitarius
Authors: Chang FC , Scott TR
Published: March 2018

Explorations of the neural substrates of conditioned taste aversions (CTAs) have focused principally on diencephalic and telencephalic structures. The nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) is the initial gustatory relay in the rat's hindbrain. It is worthy of investigation for its part in mediating CTAs in that it is sensitive to several physiological conditions which affect feeding while also being a site of anatomical convergence for vagal afferents from the viscera and centrifugal projections from areas (hypothalamus, amygdala) implicated in emotions and hedonics. We compared single neuron responses from NTS to several taste stimuli in three groups of rats: (1) those receiving exposure to 0.0025 M sodium saccharin without physiological consequences; (2) those made ill through intraperitoneal injections of LiCl but having no obvious gustatory referent for their malaise (sensitization-pseudoconditioning controls); (3) those in which exposure to 0.0025 M sodium saccharin (the CS) was paired with LiCl- induced poisoning (the US), creating a pronounced aversion to the saccharin. According to response profiles, NTS neurons in all three groups could be divided into subsets of about 30%, which showed a sweet- sensitive profile, and 70%, which were primarily sensitive to nonsweet qualities. The major effect of the conditioning procedure was to increase responsiveness to the saccharin CS only among the sweet- sensitive subset. Moreover, the peak of activity which largely accounted for the increase occurred with a latency of 900 msec, perhaps implicating a secondary input to NTS from diencephalic or telencephalic sites. The significance of the results is that: (1) CTAs affect sensory activity at a lower order level than had heretofore been demonstrated; (2) NTS shows sensitivity to yet another physiological condition, reinforcing the involvement of the hindbrain in hedonics and sophisticated taste-related processes; (3) there is a subset of taste neurons, rather distinct according to its sensitivity profile, which is also functionally unique in its response to conditioning by a sweet CS.
Effects of parietal injury on covert orienting of attention
Authors: Posner MI , Walker JA , Friedrich FJ , Rafal RD
Published: March 2018

The cognitive act of shifting attention from one place in the visual field to another can be accomplished covertly without muscular changes. The act can be viewed in terms of three internal mental operations: disengagement of attention from its current focus, moving attention to the target, and engagement of the target. Our results show that damage to the parietal lobe produces a deficit in the disengage operation when the target is contralateral to the lesion. Effects may also be found on engagement with the target. The effects of brain injury on disengagement of attention seem to be unique to the parietal lobe and do not appear to occur with our frontal, midbrain, and temporal control series. These results confirm the close connection between parietal lobes and selective attention suggested by single cell recording. They indicate more specifically the role that parietal function has on attention and suggest one mechanism of the effects of parietal lesions reported in clinical neurology.
Synaptic release of excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter mediates anoxic neuronal death
Authors: Rothman S
Published: March 2018

The pathophysiology of hypoxic neuronal death, which is difficult to study in vivo, was further defined in vitro by placing dispersed cultures of rat hippocampal neurons into an anoxic atmosphere. Previous experiments had demonstrated that the addition of high concentrations of magnesium, which blocks transmitter release, protected anoxic neurons. These more recent experiments have shown that gamma-D- glutamylglycine (DGG), a postsynaptic blocker of excitatory amino acids, was highly effective in preventing anoxic neuronal death. DGG also completely protected the cultured neurons from the toxicity of exogenous glutamate (GLU) and aspartate (ASP). In parallel physiology experiments, DGG blocked the depolarization produced by GLU and ASP, and dramatically reduced EPSPs in synaptically coupled pairs of neurons. These results provide convincing evidence that the synaptic release of excitatory transmitter, most likely GLU or ASP, mediates the death of anoxic neurons. This result has far-reaching implications regarding the interpretation of the existing literature on cerebral hypoxia. Furthermore, it suggests new strategies that may be effective in preventing the devastating insults produced by cerebral hypoxia and ischemia in man.
An electron microscopic study of the development of axons and dendrites by hippocampal neurons in culture. I. Cells which develop without intercellular contacts
Authors: Bartlett WP , Banker GA
Published: March 2018

We have studied the processes which are elaborated by hippocampal neurons in dissociated cell culture. Nerve cells, which were obtained from fetal rats at 18 to 20 days of gestation, were plated at very low density onto polylysine-treated coverslips and were maintained in serum- free medium. Under such conditions, some cells develop without contacting any neighboring neurons or glial cells. Examples of such isolated cells which had developed for 1 week in culture were studied first by light microscopy, then they were sectioned parallel to the substratum so that all portions of the cell and its processes could be examined by electron microscopy. Dendrites and axons could be clearly distinguished by both light and electron microscopy. Dendrites were rather thick at the base but tapered rapidly to a minimum diameter of about 0.5 micron and contained polyribosomes throughout their length. Axons, which were several times longer than the dendrites, were thinner at the origin, tapered much less, and were essentially ribosome-free. These ultrastructural differences were particularly obvious at branch points, where cytoplasmic organelles tend to accumulate. Clusters of polyribosomes were invariably present at dendritic branch points, but they were never observed at axonal branch points. The axons most commonly arose from the proximal portion of a dendrite rather than directly from the cell body as they typically do in situ. These observations show that the fundamental differences in form and in the distribution of ribosomes between axons and dendrites can be established in cell culture. Contact with afferent fibers or with target cells during the period of process outgrowth is unnecessary for the expression of these features of axonal and dendritic differentiation.
Evidence for FMRF-amide as a neurotransmitter in the gill of Aplysia californica
Authors: Weiss S , Goldberg JI , Chohan KS , Stell WK , Drummond GI , Lukowiak K
Published: March 2018

In Aplysia californica, multiple regulatory mechanisms are involved in the actions of neurotransmitters on the gill. Neurotransmitter receptors and adenylate cyclase were examined in a particulate fraction of gill homogenates. The neuropeptide FMRF-amide stimulated enzyme activity 7- to 8-fold (EC50, 1 microM) via receptors that were pharmacologically distinct from those for dopamine and serotonin. FMRF- amide augmented cyclic AMP levels in slices of gill tissue with a time course similar to that for adenylate cyclase activation. Increases in cyclic AMP levels produced by the neuropeptide were potentiated by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor theophylline. Physiological responses to neuropeptides and cyclic AMP analogues were examined in a perfused, isolated gill preparation. Phasic contractions evoked by FMRF-amide (EC50, 0.1 microM) were mimicked by membrane-permeable analogues of cyclic AMP. Comparison of FMRF-amide effects on adenylate cyclase and gill behavior suggests an association between cyclic AMP and phasic contractions. In addition, FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity, detected by antisera raised against the neuropeptide, was found in nerve fibers innervating the gill. These findings indicate that in Aplysia, FMRF- amide or a closely related peptide neurotransmitter may be involved in the physiological regulation of gill behavior.
The neural signal for the intensity of a tactile stimulus
Authors: Poulos DA , Mei J , Horch KW , Tuckett RP , Wei JY , Cornwall MC , Burgess PR
Published: March 2018

The effect of indenting the skin at different rates on the perceived intensity of the stimulus was studied by indenting the skin of the fingertip with two triangular waveforms, given as a pair. The subjects were asked to judge which member of the pair was more intense. Perceived intensity was found to increase both with the depth and the speed of the indentation. In contrast, changes in the rate of skin indentation had little influence on perceived skin indentation depth. This suggests that intensity and depth are different attributes of tactile sensibility. Since the skin is viscous, a rapid indentation is more forceful than a slow indentation of the same depth, raising the possibility that perceived intensity is related to stimulus force. Even though intensity judgments were more closely correlated with the force of a stimulus than with the indentation it produced, a rapidly increasing force was felt as more intense than one that increased more slowly but attained the same final magnitude. When mechanoreceptors in the palmar aspect of the monkey's hand were excited with triangular stimuli like those used in the psychophysical studies, their discharge frequency increased with the rate of skin indentation. However, the receptors were distinctly more rate sensitive than the human judgments of stimulus intensity, suggesting that impulse summation in the central nervous system summates (integrates in the mathematical sense) the receptor input so as to enhance, relatively, the perceived intensity of the slower stimuli.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Development of the lateral motor column in the limbless mutant chick embryo
Authors: Lanser ME , Fallon JF
Published: March 2018

This is a report on the development of the lateral motor column (LMC) in the limbless mutant chick embryo. The limbless mutant was used to study the effects of the absence of a periphery on the developing nervous system. The limbless mutant provides a unique opportunity to compare the effects on the LMC of deletion of a limb caused by the genotype with those seen following surgical removal of the limb primordium. Cell counts of the total number of motoneurons in the LMC at both the brachial and lumbar levels were done in a large series of limbless embryos and on their normal siblings. In normal embryos, a substantial loss of LMC motoneurons was observed during the course of normal development. At the brachial level, 54% of the initial LMC cell population was lost between day 6 and day 18. At the lumbar level, 40% of the initial population was lost between the 6th and 12th days of development with no further loss through day 18. An even more massive cell loss was observed in the limbless mutant LMC at both brachial and lumbar spinal cord levels between day 5 and day 12. This resulted in the elimination of at least 85% of the motoneurons that were initially present in the limbless LMC. Our data demonstrate that the effects of peripheral deprivation on LMC development in the limbless mutant are similar to those seen following surgical removal of the periphery. The initial production of motoneurons and assembly of the LMC did not appear to be significantly affected by the mutation, while the subsequent degeneration of LMC motoneurons is greatly accelerated and increased in comparison to the normal.
Kappa opioid receptors modulate cardiorespiratory function in hindbrain nuclei of rat
Authors: Hassen AH , Feuerstein G , Faden AI
Published: March 2018

The respiratory and cardiovascular effects of selective kappa opioid agonists were compared following microinjection (0.1 microliter) into the nucleus ambiguus (NA) and the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) regions of spontaneously breathing and artificially respired pentobarbital-anesthetized rats. In spontaneously breathing animals, the benzomorphan derivative MRZ 2549 (MRZ, 3 X 10(-11) to 16 X 10(-9) mol) elicited dose-related decreases of mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and tidal volume (TV) following NA injection; bremazocine (BREM) decreased MAP, HR, and respiratory rate (RR). Following NTS injection, MRZ (3 X 10(-10) to 16 X 10(-9) mol) lowered MAP and TV, the highest dose also lowering HR and RR; BREM (3 X 10(-9) to 16 X 10(-9) mol) decreased MAP and HR. Naloxone (200 micrograms/kg, i.v.) reversed the respiratory effects of MRZ without consistently altering cardiovascular activity. In ventilated animals, NA injections of MRZ or BREM (3 X 10(-9) to 16 X 10(-9) mol) elicited a dose-related decrease of MAP without altering HR. These responses were not reversed by naloxone. The stereoisomer of BREM (+ BREM) was without effect at similar doses (3 X 10(-9) to 16 X 10(-9) mol). MRZ (16 X 10(-9) mol) elicited a naloxone-reversible tachycardia following NTS injection in ventilated animals; no other cardiovascular responses were observed following NTS administration of BREM (16 X 10(-9) mol) or lower doses of MRZ. Dynorphin (1–13) (6 X 10(-9) to 60 X 10(-9) mol) significantly lowered MAP without altering HR following NA microinjections in ventilated animals; the lower dose decreased MAP following NTS injections.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Pheromonally induced release of luteinizing hormone in male mice: involvement of the vomeronasal system
Authors: Coquelin A , Clancy AN , Macrides F , Noble EP , Gorski RA
Published: March 2018

Evidence has accumulated demonstrating that the vomeronasal (accessory olfactory) system mediates intraspecific chemosensory communication in several mammals. For example, the neuroendocrine effects of priming pheromones in females and the behavioral responses to signaling pheromones in males are disrupted in mice with damage to the vomeronasal system. The experiment reported here examined the potential involvement of the vomeronasal system in the neuroendocrine reflexes observed in male mice following exposure to female and chemosensory stimuli. Excision of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) or sham VNO ablation was performed on sexually experienced males. Next, consecutive blood samples were withdrawn through chronic, intracardiac cannulas while the males were exposed to female mouse urine and then to an ovariectomized female. Plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured in the sequential samples by radioimmunoassay. Removal of the VNO did not affect the spontaneous pattern of episodic LH release that is characteristic of male mice. Reflexive release of LH following the urine stimulus was blocked in males lacking the VNO, but the female stimulus did cause LH responses in these mice. Our results therefore demonstrate that the VNO mediates pheromonally induced release of LH in male mice and that additional cues which emanate from behaving females also effectively stimulate a hormonal response in sexually experienced males.
Localization of L-glutamate receptors in rat brain by quantitative autoradiography
Authors: Halpain S , Wieczorek CM , Rainbow TC
Published: March 2018

In vitro autoradiography was used to characterize and quantitatively map the sodium-independent binding of [3H]glutamate in rat brain. Measured in the presence of chloride, glutamate binding to frozen brain sections was specific, saturable, and reversible, with a Kd in the low micromolar range. At least two distinct binding sites were detected which had different affinities for quisqualic acid (0.7 microM and 1.2 mM). Autoradiograms revealed very high levels of binding in rostral forebrain areas, especially olfactory structures and frontal cortex. High levels of binding were found in sensory cortex, certain hippocampal subfields, caudate, lateral septum, and other limbic structures. Lowest levels were seen in globus pallidus, preoptic area, brainstem reticular formation, and spinal trigeminal nucleus. All other regions, including midbrain, thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebellar cortex exhibited moderate levels of [3H]glutamate binding. Within the hippocampus glutamate binding was greatest in the inner two-thirds of the dentate molecular layer, subiculum, and CA1 stratum radiatum. CA3 was much less densely labeled; CA2 and CA4 were intermediate. Unlike cell layers in the cerebellum, hippocampal pyramidal and granule cell layers appeared mostly devoid of binding. The relationship of these binding sites to putative glutamate receptor subclasses and glutamatergic pathways is discussed.
Synaptic excitatory and inhibitory interactions at distal dendritic sites on mitral cells in the isolated turtle olfactory bulb
Authors: Mori K , Nowycky MC , Shepherd GM
Published: March 2018

The olfactory nerves terminate exclusively on the distal dendritic tufts of mitral cells in the olfactory bulb, which makes this a favorable model for analysis of synaptic responses in distal dendrites. Intracellular recordings of responses to olfactory nerve volleys have been obtained in the isolated turtle olfactory bulb. Single mitral cells usually responded with excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) to volleys in two different bundles, indicating convergence from separate receptor neuron populations. Paired volleys revealed long- lasting inhibition of a test EPSP by a conditioning volley. This could be shown to be independent of the inhibition of mitral cells by granule cell interneurons in the deeper layers. The results suggest that excitatory and inhibitory synaptic interactions in the glomerular layer are important in the processing of olfactory inputs. The results also provide an exception to the classical doctrine that synaptic inhibition is preferentially sited near the cell body and axon hillock in order to control impulse generation there. Our findings of inhibitory actions on distal dendrites of mitral cells may provide a model for similar actions on distal dendrites of other central neurons.
Neonatal denervation inhibits the normal postnatal decrease in endplate channel open time
Authors: Schuetze SM , Vicini S
Published: March 2018

The apparent mean channel open time (tau) of acetylcholine receptors (AChR) at skeletal muscle endplates decreases greater than 3-fold during development. In rat soleus muscles, the change occurs between postnatal days 8 and 18 as channels with long apparent open times (tau = 4.5 msec) disappear while channels with short apparent open times (tau = 1.5 msec) increase in number. We studied the role of innervation in this process by denervating neonatal soleus muscles prior to channel conversion. Tau at the denervated endplates was assayed at various times between days 8 and 18 by using fluctuation analysis. We found that early denervation blocked, or at least delayed, channel conversion. Unexpectedly, there was enhanced extrajunctional ACh sensitivity in the innervated muscles contralateral to the denervated ones. This observation allowed us to compare the apparent open times of junctional AChRs with those of extrajunctional AChRs 200 micron distant in the same innervated fibers. In developing muscles, tau at the extrajunctional sites decreased in parallel with tau at the endplates. Thus, neural regulation of AChR channel gating extends well beyond the endplate boundaries.
Severe tactual as well as visual memory deficits follow combined removal of the amygdala and hippocampus in monkeys
Authors: Murray EA , Mishkin M
Published: March 2018

To determine whether medial temporal limbic structures are essential for memory in more than one modality, we trained monkeys preoperatively on both visual and tactual versions of a sensory memory task and then retested them after they had been given bilateral ablations of either the amygdaloid complex, the hippocampal formation, or both. Monkeys with the combined ablations were severely impaired in both modalities. By contrast, the amygdalectomized monkeys were only moderately impaired in the two modalities, while the hippocampectomized monkeys were impaired in neither. Further examination revealed that the source of the impairment in the monkeys with amygdalectomy alone, unlike that in the animals with combined lesions, was the small size of the pool from which the test objects were drawn. The latter result suggests that, whereas the sensory memory impairment following the combined lesions is basically a recognition loss, the more selective impairment following amygdalectomy alone reflects special difficulty in determining whether a recognized object was presented recently. By demonstrating that the profound sensory memory impairment that follows combined ablation of the amygdala and hippocampus extends beyond a single modality, the present results strengthen the proposals that these two structures are important for sensory memory in all modalities and the multimodal or global amnesia observed in patients with medial temporal lobe damage is likewise due to combined amygdaloid and hippocampal lesions.
The effect of selective, chronic stimulation on motor unit size in developing rat muscle
Authors: Ridge RM , Betz WJ
Published: March 2018

One of the two peripheral nerves which innervate rat lumbrical muscle was stimulated chronically in vivo during the postnatal period of synapse elimination to determine whether the differential stimulation would affect the outcome of the elimination process. Rats were anesthetized for about 4 hr a day for 5 to 6 consecutive days, during which time the sural nerve (or, in other animals, the lateral plantar nerve) was electrically stimulated. Each animal received about 10(6) stimuli. After the last stimulation period, the sizes of motor units in both nerves were estimated from motor unit tension recorded in vitro. We found that, on average, sural motor units were larger than others in animals which had received sural nerve stimulation and smaller than others in animals which had received lateral planter nerve stimulation. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that more active nerve terminals possess a relative advantage in competing for occupancy of the endplate.
Glial repair in an insect central nervous system: effects of selective glial disruption
Authors: Smith PJ , Leech CA , Treherne JE
Published: March 2018

In vivo application of ethidium bromide to cockroach central nervous connectives caused extensive disruption of the neuroglia within 24 hr. Axonal conduction persisted following treatment with the glial toxin. A consistent feature of glial damage and repair was the prominent involvement of granule-containing cells. These cells (which were never seen in control cords) shared a number of cytological features with hemocytes that were seen adhering to and penetrating the neural lamella, in the early stages of glial damage. The granule-containing cells appear to serve dual functions: phagocytosis and structural repair. After 48 hr, granule-containing cells, or their processes, formed layers at the periphery of the connectives. By 4 to 6 days after treatment, the peripheral cells had assumed the morphological characteristics of normal perineurial cells and by 28 days were indistinguishable, ultrastructurally, from those of the perineurium of normal, untreated animals. These structural changes paralleled the re- establishment of the normal permeability properties of the blood-brain interface revealed by the exclusion of an extracellular tracer, ionic lanthanum, and electrophysiological observations.
Automatic gain control in the bat's sonar receiver and the neuroethology of echolocation
Authors: Kick SA , Simmons JA
Published: March 2018

The sensitivity of the echolocating bat, Eptesicus fuscus, to sonar echoes at different time delays after sonar emissions was measured in a two-choice echo detection experiment. Since echo delay is perceptually equivalent to target range, the experiment effectively measured sensitivity to targets at different ranges. The bat's threshold for detecting sonar echoes at a short delay of only 1.0 msec after emissions (corresponding to a range of 17 cm) was 36 dB SPL (peak to peak), but the threshold decreased to 8 dB SPL at a longer delay of 6.4 msec (a range of 1.1 m). Prior research has shown that, at even longer delays (corresponding to ranges of 3 to 5 m), the bat's threshold is in the region of 0 dB SPL. Contractions of the bat's middle ear muscles synchronized with the production of echolocation sounds cause a transient loss in hearing sensitivity which appears to account for the observed echo detection threshold shifts. The bat's echo detection thresholds increase by approximately 11 dB for each reduction in target range by a factor of 2 over the span from 17 cm to 1.1 m. As range shortens, the amplitude of echoes from small targets also increases, by 12 dB for each 2-fold reduction in range. Thus, when approaching a target, the bat compensates for changes in echo strength as target range shortens by changing its hearing threshold. Since this compensation appears to occur in the middle ear, the bat regulates echoes reaching the cochlea to a stable amplitude during its approach to a target such as a flying insect. In addition to this automatic gain control linked to target range, the bat aims its head to track a target's position during approach, thus stabilizing echo amplitude even if the target's direction changes. We hypothesize that the bat's directional emissions, directional hearing, middle ear muscle contractions, and head aim response collectively create a three- dimensional spatial tracking filter which the bat locks onto targets to stabilize echo amplitudes during interception of prey. We further hypothesize that this regulation, which cancels echo amplitude changes caused by the target's changing spatial position, leaves the bat free to observe echo amplitude changes caused by the target's own actions, such as insect wing beats. Elimination of spatially dependent echo amplitude changes removes the cause of potentially troublesome changes in neural response latency and keeps stimulation from echoes in the “tip” region of auditory nerve fiber tuning curves.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Transient membrane shedding in Limulus photoreceptors: control mechanisms under natural lighting
Authors: Chamberlain SC , Barlow RB
Published: March 2018

Photoreceptors of the Limulus lateral eye shed their light-sensitive membranes (rhabdoms) in a burst early each morning when the animal is maintained in natural lighting. This shedding burst produces a cloud of multivesicular bodies which coalesce and migrate away from the rhabdom. Within 24 hr, these gradually collapse to combination bodies and ultimately to lamellar bodies. Light initiates the burst of shedding. If animals are maintained in darkness beyond their normal dawn, the shedding burst is delayed until the first onset of light. We have not been able to produce a second burst of membrane shedding within one 24- hr period. Efferent optic nerve activity generated by a circadian clock in the brain primes the shedding burst. At least 3 hr of efferent activity in darkness must precede light onset to prime membrane shedding; however, the efferent fibers need not be active when the light-initiated burst occurs. Chronically blocking the efferent input to the retina abolishes the shedding burst. The burst of membrane shedding is robust and short-lived. Within 15 min of light onset the area of photosensitive membrane decreases by about 70%, and within an hour the rhabdom returns to essentially its preburst size. At other times in the diurnal light cycle, the size of the rhabdom undergoes significant variations which are not abolished by blocking the efferent input. Apparently the daily burst of shedding overlays a second cycle of membrane metabolism that is not controlled by efferent optic nerve activity.
Specificity of intrinsic connections in primate primary visual cortex
Authors: Livingstone MS , Hubel DH
Published: March 2018

Several recent studies have suggested a patchy system of intrinsic lateral connections in area 17 of the macaque monkey. To see whether this pattern bore any relationship to the cytochrome oxidase blobs we made multiple tiny injections of horseradish peroxidase into layers 2 and 3 of area 17, small enough so that some of the injections (or their cores) were entirely inside a single blob, or entirely outside. When the injection centers were entirely in blobs, the label in layers 2 and 3 was transported preferentially to nearby blobs, avoiding nonblob areas. When the injections were in nonblob areas, the label was found predominantly in surrounding nonblob areas, avoiding the blobs. Besides this lateral transport, label was also present in the layers below 2 and 3: the label in layers 4 and 6 was very restricted, occupying roughly the diameter of the injection core and presumably representing axons of cell bodies at the injection site; in layer 5 diffusely labeled patches observed the same blob/nonblob segregation seen above layer 4.
Activity and the formation of ocular dominance patches in dually innervated tectum of goldfish
Authors: Boss VC , Schmidt JT
Published: March 2018

This study tested (1) whether blocking impulse activity in both eyes of fish with one tectum prevents the formation of ocular dominance patches, (2) whether areas receiving a high density of innervation from one eye receive a low density from the other, and (3) whether there is an electrophysiological correlate to the anatomical patches. One tectum was removed in goldfish so that the optic nerve fibers from both eyes would compete for synaptic space in the remaining tectum. The terminal arbors from the two projections initially overlapped but by 50 to 60 days segregated into ocular dominance patches, demonstrated by labeling both projections, the normal one with horseradish peroxidase and the regenerating one with tritiated proline radioautography. Alternate sections were processed for radioautography and histochemistry. All projections were drawn by “blind” observers using a camera lucida and were fully reconstructed. Both the level of patchiness within each projection and the correspondence of patches and holes between the two projections were quantified from these reconstructions. Binocular tetrodotoxin (TTX) injections from 18 to 75 days after surgery significantly reduced patchiness, as compared to controls injected with citrate-Ringers solution. When the binocular block was continued until 95 days, segregation was still significantly reduced relative to controls. These results support a hypothesis for an activity-dependent mechanism of segregation of ocular dominance patches. In controls but not TTX-blocked fish, there was a significant tendency for high density areas in one projection to receive a lower density projection from the other eye, and vice versa. However, the two projections were not entirely complementary. Survival of control fish for an additional 5 months resulted in more sharply defined patches but no increase in complementarity. Recordings of field potentials evoked by shocking either optic nerve demonstrated an electrophysiological correlate to the anatomical patches in single tectal fish. Large field potentials from one eye were generally associated with small potentials from the other eye, and vice versa. When the recording sites were marked with electrolytic lesions, there was a direct and significant correlation between the magnitude of the field potentials and the density of the anatomical ocular dominance patches.
Regulation of opioid peptide synthesis and processing in adrenal chromaffin cells by catecholamines and cyclic adenosine 3':5'- monophosphate
Authors: Wilson SP , Unsworth CD , Viveros OH
Published: March 2018

Primary cultures of bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin cells were used to study the regulation of opioid peptide (OP) synthesis. Chromaffin cells continuously exposed to tetrabenazine, a drug that depletes cellular catecholamine stores, increase their OP contents between 32 hr and 6 days of treatment. At no time following tetrabenazine addition were increases in opiate receptor-inactive enkephalin-containing peptides (IECPs) observed. Because IECPs may serve as precursors to OPs, these results suggest increased processing of OP precursors following treatment with catecholamine-depleting drugs in addition to an increased rate of OP precursor synthesis. The increases in cellular OP levels induced by tetrabenazine were approximately proportional to the depletion in cellular catecholamines produced by this drug. Also, the effects of tetrabenazine on chromaffin cell OP and IECP contents were mimicked by inhibitors of catecholamine biosynthesis and other agents that decreased catecholamine stores, but not by supplementing the culture medium with catecholamines or catecholamine receptor agonists. Addition of 8-bromo-cAMP or forskolin, an activator of adenylate cyclase, to chromaffin cell cultures increased both OP and IECP stores. Inhibitors of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase also increase chromaffin cell OP and IECP contents, although it is unclear whether these increases result from increased cyclic nucleotide levels. Hence, both alterations in some intracellular catecholamine pool and elevations of cAMP levels may trigger increases in the synthesis and processing of OPs and IECPs in the adrenal medullary chromaffin cell.
Dopamine reduces slow outward current and calcium influx in burst- firing neuron R15 of Aplysia
Authors: Lewis DV , Evans GB , Wilson WA
Published: March 2018

Dopamine's effect on calcium influx into the bursting neuron, R15, of Aplysia californica was tested by tail current measurements and by measurement of absorbance of intracellular Arsenazo III, a calcium- sensitive indicator. Slow outward tail currents were elicited by subthreshold depolarization in voltage clamp and were demonstrated to be dependent upon transient increases in intracellular calcium activity, (Ca)i), using calcium-free seawater, calcium blockers (Mn2+ and La3+), and intracellular injection of EGTA. Dopamine reduces these tail currents as it reduces the slow inward current. Next, the transient elevations of (Ca)i accompanying subthreshold depolarization were measured directly in Arsenazo III-loaded neurons. Dopamine did not reduce the rise in (Ca)i measured in the soma during depolarization. However, when absorbance of the axodendritic region was monitored, dopamine did reduce calcium influx. Voltage monitoring in the axon indicated that the reduced calcium influx could not simply be ascribed to altered space clamp. In keeping with the apparent axodendritic location of dopamine action, isolation of the soma by ligation of the axon markedly reduced the dopamine response. Dopamine seems to reduce calcium influx into R15, but this effect is topographically limited to nonsomatic membrane, an area of the neuron not usually monitored in optical studies of (Ca)i.
Nerve growth factor-mediated induction of choline acetyltransferase in PC12 cells: evaluation of the site of action of nerve growth factor and the involvement of lysosomal degradation products of nerve growth factor
Authors: Heumann R , Schwab M , Merkl R , Thoenen H
Published: March 2018

In previous experiments it has been demonstrated that nerve growth factor (NGF), subsequent to its binding to specific membrane receptors, is internalized. Ultrastructurally, this internalized NGF is localized in membrane-confined compartments which ultimately fuse with lysosomes. The present experiments were designed, first, to evaluate whether a very small but functionally important portion of the internalized NGF might reach the free cytoplasm (and subsequently the nuclear chromatin) and might be responsible for the induction of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in PC12 cells. Second, we investigated whether a lysosomal proteolytic degradation product of NGF might act as a second messenger in the NGF-mediated ChAT induction. In one series of experiments, guinea pig erythrocyte ghosts, loaded with NGF (or NGF antibodies), fluorescein isothiocyanate-coupled bovine serum albumin, and/or horseradish peroxidase (HRP) were fused with PC12 pheochromocytoma cells. Electron microscopy showed that [125I]NGF and HRP reaction product were located throughout the cytoplasm and the nucleus but did not penetrate membrane compartments such as the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi complex, the perinuclear space, or mitochondria. Biochemically, NGF injected into the cytoplasm did not produce an induction of ChAT, whereas NGF acting via cell surface receptors resulted in a 2-fold increase in ChAT. Conversely, injection of NGF antibodies did not prevent the receptor-mediated ChAT induction. In a second series of experiments, the half-life of internalized NGF was increased from 40 min to 24 hr by the administration of leupeptin, a protease inhibitor which is accumulated in lysosomes. However, the NGF- mediated ChAT induction was not affected by this treatment. It is concluded that NGF itself does not act directly on cytoplasmic or nuclear target sites, nor is a proteolytic degradation product of NGF responsible for the NGF-mediated ChAT induction. Thus, NGF must act via a second messenger mechanism, the nature of which remains to be established.
Reciprocal inhibition in the motor nervous system of the nematode Ascaris: direct control of ventral inhibitory motoneurons by dorsal excitatory motoneurons
Authors: Walrond JP , Stretton AO
Published: March 2018

In previous physiological experiments (Stretton, A. O. W., R. M. Fishpool, E. Southgate, J. E. Donmoyer, J. P. Walrond, J. E. R. Moses, and I. S. Kass (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 75: 3493–3497), we have shown that the dorsal cord of the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides includes the processes of three types of dorsal excitatory (DE) motoneurons and one type of ventral inhibitory (VI) motoneuron. Ultrastructural studies have revealed that the axons of the DE motoneurons make monosynaptic contacts with the dorsal processes of VI motoneurons. In this paper, we describe a physiological preparation with which to investigate the properties of these synapses. We show that activation of a DE neuron can excite a VI neuron producing inhibition in ventral muscle cells shortly after dorsal muscle cells are excited, thus mediating reciprocity between dorsal and ventral muscles. Each VI dendrite receives input from four or five DE neurons; activation of any one of these DE neurons is sufficient to activate the VI neuron.
Neural mechanisms of motor program switching in the mollusc Pleurobranchaea. III. Role fo the paracerebral neurons and other identified brain neurons
Authors: Croll RP , Kovac MP , Davis WJ , Matera EM
Published: March 2018

Identified neurons in the cerebropleural ganglion (brain) of the mollusc Pleurobranchaea were stimulated and recorded from intracellularly while recording the identified motor program from buccal muscles (reduced preparation) or nerves (isolated central nervous system). Neurons studied included the metacerebral giant neurons (MCGs), phasic paracerebral neurons (PCp's), polysynaptic excitors of the PCp's (PSEs), type II electrotonic neurons (ETII's), type I electrotonic neurons (ETI's) and several other identified neurons or neuronal classes. Intracellular stimulation of the above identified neurons generally elicited the ingestion motor program or its characteristic components, but never the egestion motor program and seldom its characteristic components. Intracellular recordings from these neurons in the isolated central nervous system preparation while eliciting the ingestion and egestion motor program generally showed cyclic membrane potential oscillations in phase with both motor programs, indicating that these neurons receive synaptic feedback from the ingestion and egestion central pattern generator(s). This study is therefore consistent with the view that an interrelated cluster of brain neurons is specialized to command the ingestion motor program. A neural model of motor program switching in the buccal motor system is formulated, comprising separate command pathways for ingestion and egestion that converge on a common central pattern generator(s).