Localization of trigeminal sensory innervation to the tongue and pharynx of the cat using horseradish peroxidase as tracer

BACKGROUND: Augmentation cystoplasty is the treatment of choice for patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction in cases that are unresponsive to other medical treatment. Although intestinal segments as bladder substitutes are preferred over the other alternatives at present, they are not ideal bladder replacements due to several potential hazards. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not augmentation duracystoplasty can be an alternative to augmentation enterocystoplasties. METHODS: Ten patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction unresponsive to conservative measures, underwent augmentation duracystoplasty by using the modified Bramble-Clam technique. The follow-up period was T-28 months. RESULTS: At present, seven of 10 patients are completely continent for with clean intermittent catheterization. The remaining three patients required oral oxybutinin therapy, postoperatively, to achieve continence although lower dosages than those required in the preoperative period. We did not observe any serious pre- or postoperative complications. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these preliminary findings we think that duracystoplasty can be considered as a treatment alternative for hyperreflexic and/or low compliant neurogenic bladders.     

Nitrergic innervation of the cat liver

The aim of this work was to study the nitrergic innervation in the liver of the cat using immunocytochemical procedures. At the hepatic hilus, a rich plexus of neuronal nitric oxide synthase immunoreactive (nNOS-IR) nerve fibers and ganglia was detected around the interlobular branch of the bile duct. nNOS-IR nerve fibers were observed running with the components of the intralobular portal triads located close to the hepatic hilus, as well as with a few vessels and ducts of the deeper parenchyma. These latter fibers, beside others located in Glisson's capsule, occasionally showed short ramifications entering the parenchyma itself. The present results suggest that, in the cat liver, nNOS is involved in the autonomic control of hepatic blood flow, with a limited role in the regulation of hepatobiliary excretory activity and hepatocellular metabolic function.     

Efferent sympathetic and vagal innervation of the canine right ventricle

BACKGROUND: The functional pathways of efferent sympathetic and vagal innervation to the right ventricle (RV) might be important in a variety of disease states that involve the RV wall. The purpose of this study was to investigate those pathways. METHODS AND RESULTS: We determined the effects of phenol and endocardial radiofrequency ablation applied to the RV anterolateral wall and outflow tract on effective refractory period (EPR) shortening during bilateral ansae subclaviae stimulation and ERP lengthening during bilateral vagal stimulation. We found that efferent sympathetic axons to the RV are located in the superficial subepicardium and that lateral sites receive sympathetic innervation predominantly from the lateral margin of the RV near the AV groove. Medial sites close to the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) receive sympathetic innervation from both the right lateral atrioventricular (AV) groove and regions near the LAD. At the RV outflow tract, some sympathetic fibers are located intramurally. Efferent vagal fibers are located at the RV surface within 10 mm of the right lateral AV groove; they penetrate intramurally and reach to the medial sites of the RV anterior wall. Other vagal fibers originate near the LAD and are intramural. Vagal fibers to the RV outflow tract are located intramurally either from the lateral side (close to the right coronary artery) or medial side (close to the LAD). CONCLUSIONS: Efferent vagal and sympathetic innervation of the right ventricle resembles that of the left ventricle. A major difference is that efferent sympathetic fibers to the right ventricular outflow tract are located not only in the subepicardium but in the subendocardium as well.     

Conditioning-specific modification of the rabbit's unconditioned nictitating membrane response.

Robust classical conditioning modifies responding to the unconditioned stimulus (US) in the absence of the conditioned stimulus (CS), a phenomenon the researchers called conditioning-specific reflex modification. Unconditioned responses (URs) to periorbital stimulation varying in intensity and duration were assessed before and after 1, 3, or 6 days of paired, explicitly unpaired, or no presentations of tone and electrical stimulation. After 3 days of pairings, conditioned responding (CRs) reached 94%, and there was an increase in latency to the peak of URs. The peak latency increase was replicated in a 2nd experiment where rabbits reached asymptotic conditioning during 6 days of pairings. There was also a conditioning-specific increase in the amplitude of URs. There were no UR changes as a function of low level of CRs following 1 day of pairings. Data suggest that there are learning-specific changes in pathways mediating the US/UR, as well as in those mediating the CS/CR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rapid reacquisition in conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response.

Reacquisition after extinction often appears faster than original acquisition. However, data from conditioned suppression studies indicate that this effect may arise from spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of unextinguished contextual stimuli related to the unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS). In the present experiments using the rabbit nictitating membrane preparation, spontaneous recovery was eradicated before reacquisition training. UCS contextual stimuli were controlled by retaining the UCS during extinction through explicit unpairings of the conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS) and UCS. Attempts were also made to drive the associative strength of the CS into the inhibitory region by differential conditioning and conditioned inhibition procedures. In all cases, reacquisition was very rapid in comparison with a rest control. The results are discussed with respect to their implications for CS and UCS processing models of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The tonic sympathetic input to the cochlear vasculature in guinea pig

Vascular tones is an essential component in maintaining steady regional blood flow and dynamic responsiveness of a vascular bed. Sympathetic innervation can contribute to vascular tone. Although certain studies have reported evoked changes in cochlear blood flow (CBF) with activation of the sympathetic fibers to the cochlear vasculature, other studies have failed to show evidence of sympathetic contribution to CBF regulation when the cervical sympathetic fibers were unilaterally sectioned. We hypothesized that the bilateral 'sympathectomy of the stellate ganglia' would remove sufficient sympathetic input to the cochlea to yield a change in CBF resting level. To test this hypothesis a new technique was used to expose the stellate ganglia (SG) bilaterally and induce a chemical sympathectomy. We observed that unilateral SG blockade with 2 microliters of 4 mM lidocaine hydrochloride on either side produced a 5-10% increase in CBF, which recovered to baseline during the following 2 min. A subsequent blockade of the contralateral SG produced a rapid 25-35% increase, which then recovered partially during the following 3-4 min, remaining 5-15% above the baseline over a 20 min measurement period. Superior cervical ganglion transection did not affect CBF. Our results provide evidence for the existence of a tonic sympathetic component in the control of vascular tone in guinea pig cochlea. This neural effect is derived bilaterally from SG. This result is consistent with previous anatomical studies showing the bilateral innervation of the cochlea by the SG sympathetic fibers and with previous physiological studies on the bilaterality of evoked changes in CBF due to electric stimulation of SG.     

Hippocampus and trace conditioning of the rabbit's classically conditioned nictitating membrane response.

In 2 experiments, 36 New Zealand albino rabbits received classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane response in a trace conditioning paradigm. In this paradigm, a 250-msec tone conditioned stimulus (CS) occurred, after which there was a 500-msec period of time in which no stimuli occurred (the trace interval), followed by a 100-msec air-puff unconditioned stimulus (UCS). In Exp I, lesions of the hippocampus or cingulate/retrosplenial cortex (CRC) disrupted acquisition of the long-latency or adaptive conditioned response (CR) relative to unoperated controls and Ss that received neocortical lesions that spared the CRC. When Ss with hippocampal or CRC lesions were switched to a standard delay paradigm in which the CS and UCS were contiguous in time, they acquired in about the same number of trials as naive Ss. In Exp II, multiple-unit activity in area CA1 of the hippocampus was examined during acquisition of the trace CR. Ss had a 500-msec trace interval (Group T-500), received explicitly unpaired presentations of the CS and UCS, or underwent conditioning with a 2-sec trace interval. Group T-500 acquired the CR in about 500 trials. Early in training, there was a substantial increase in neuronal activity in the hippocampus that began during the CS and persisted through the trace interval. Later in conditioning as CRs emerged, the activity shifted to later in the trace interval and formed a model of the amplitude–time course of the behavioral CR. (65 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of the innervation of the head and neck

The association of HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 genes with IDDM in Koreans was assessed using 115 IDDM patients and 140 nondiabetic controls. DQB1*0201 is the only DQB1 allele positively associated with IDDM while DQB*0602, *0601 and *0301 are negatively associated. Three DRB1 alleles (DRB1*0301, DRB1*0407 and DRB1*0901) are positively associated while four DR allele groups (DRB1*15, DRB1*12, DRB1*10 and DRB1*14) are negatively associated. However, Haplotype analyses indicated that DQB1*0302, DRB1*0405 and DRB1*0401 may confer susceptibility because the DRB1*0405-DQB*0302 and DRB1*0401-DQB1*0302 haplotypes are positively associated with the disease. The lack of association in Koreans with the DQB1*0302 allele, which appears predisposing in studies of non-Orientals, is due to its strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) with the protective DRB1*0403 and *0406 alleles, while the lack of association with DRB1*0405 is because of its strong LD with the protective DQB1*0401 allele. Nine DR/DQ genotypes confer significantly increased risk to IDDM. Seven of the nine genotypes (DR3/4s, DR1/4s, DR4s/13, DR4s/8, DR4s/7, DR9/13 and DR3/9) were also found to be at high risk to IDDM in other populations, while the two others (DR1/9 and DR9/9) are only found in Koreans. Surprisingly, DR4/4 homozygotes are not associated with high risk to IDDM in Koreans. This observation can be explained by the high frequency of protective DR4 subtypes and the protective DQ alleles (0301 and 0401) associated with the susceptible DR4 alleles. Our analyses indicate that the counterbalancing act between susceptible DRB1 and protective DQB1, and vice versa, that has already been observed in Chinese and Japanese, is the major factor responsible for the low incidence of diabetes in Koreans.     

Peripheral sympathetic innervation of the deep pineal gland of the golden hamster

Both the superficial and deep pineal components of the intact hamster contain a rich network of green to yellow-green fluorescent nerve fibres. After either superior cervical ganglionectomy or after transection of the nervi conarii the majority of the fluorescing fibres disappeared from both the superficial and deep pineal masses. Although the deep pineal remained intact after surgical removal of the superficial pineal, it was devoid of any green or yellow-green fluorescent fibres.     

Reflex facilitation of the nictitating membrane response remains after cerebellar lesions.

Reflex facilitation and associated properties were investigated during classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane (NM) response in rabbit. In the first experiment, the role of the cerebellum was examined by comparing the unconditioned responses of animals with bilateral lesions of the deep cerebellar nuclei with those of operated controls during counterbalanced tone/light (T/L) discrimination training. Both T and L facilitated unconditioned NM responses when used as the CS+ (conditioned stimulus), but neither facilitated when used as the CS–. There were no significant differences in the amount of reflex facilitation exhibited by animals with lesions compared with control animals. Animals with lesions, however, failed to acquire conditioned responses after 10 days of training, whereas all control animals met acquisition criterion within 4 days. In the second experiment, reflex facilitation was shown to decrement in a stimulus-specific manner when nonreinforced presentations of an auditory stimulus were given. The discussion of results focuses on the relation between reflex facilitation and classical conditioning in terms of behavioral properties and underlying neural systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Water deprivation optimizes hippocampal activity and facilitates nictitating membrane conditioning.

The effects of water deprivation on hippocampal responsiveness and behavior during nictitating membrane (NM) conditioning were assessed in 12 New Zealand White rabbits. Results showed that water deprivation produced a significant shift in electroencephalographic (EEG) frequencies such that deprived rabbits had a higher proportion of 2–8 Hz activity than did ad-lib controls. In subsequent NM training, the rabbits took significantly fewer trials to reach criterion (M?=?66 vs. M?=?117). A correlation coefficient quantitatively describing the relation between pretraining EEG patterns and subsequent learning rate was highly significant (r?=?.84). Multiple-unit analyses indicated that deprivation enhanced hippocampal responsiveness to the conditioning stimuli, especially early in training. It was concluded that the hippocampus is responsive to motivational level and that one role of the hippocampus is in the nonassociative, modulatory processes that affect the rate of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The septohippocampal cholinergic system and classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response.

28 New Zealand albino rabbits received bilateral microinjections of scopolamine (1 μl) or saline into either the dorsal hippocampus (Exp I) or the medial septal nucleus (Exp II). Ss then underwent classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane response in which a light served as a CS and eye shock served as the UCS. Results indicate that whereas hippocampal injections of scopolamine had no effect on conditioning, scopolamine injected into the medial septum retarded acquisition of the response. A 3rd experiment indicated that this retardation of conditioning was not due to changes in sensitivity to either the CS or UCS. Results are discussed in terms of accumulating evidence that manipulations that produce certain patterns of activity in the hippocampus are detrimental to acquisition of the nictitating CR. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overshadowing and summation in compound stimulus conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response.

Examined acquisition of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response to a light?+?tone simultaneous compound stimulus and its components as a function of the intensity of the tone. In Exp I, the tone intensity was varied across the values of 85, 89, and 93 db, and the CS–UCS interval was 400 msec. In Exp II, the tone intensities were 73, 85, and 93 db, and the CS–UCS interval was 800 msec. Exps III and IV further examined the effects of the 73-db CS–UCS tone at CS–UCS intervals of 400 and 800 msec. All experiments included control groups, which were trained with either a light or a tone CS. Overall results show repeated instances of overshadowing: the impairment of CR acquisition to one or both of the components of a compound. Two types of summation were obtained: within-Ss summation, in which Ss trained with a compound showed a higher level of responding to the compound than to either of its component CSs; and between-groups summation, in which a group trained with a compound showed faster CR acquisition than either of its corresponding control groups trained with a single CS. Results are discussed in terms of perceptual and distributive processing models of compound stimulus conditioning. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ictal syncopes. Cardiac sympathetic innervation disorder as the etiology?

We report 3 cases of an ictal sinus arrest. All patients suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Seizures were monitored with simultaneous video-eeg during preoperative epilepsy diagnosis. One patient with cortical dysplasia, who frequently suffered from long lasting syncopes, had a nearly completely missing cardiac sympathetic innervation in MIBG-SPECT (=Meta-Iodide-Benzyle-Guanidine-single-photon-emission tomography). Cardiac investigation including long-term ECG and echocardiography had shown normal findings. After epilepsy surgery the syncopal events in all patients disappeared. A dominant parasympathetic ictal stimulus following excitation of the reticular formation might cause the ictal bradycardia and sinus arrest. A missing sympathetic innervation, possibly occurring as fehlbildung together with cortical dysplasia, which makes autoregulation impossible, might then be the explanation for sudden cardiac ictal death.     

Neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during Pavlovian eyeblink and nictitating membrane conditioning

The present study assessed Pavlovian eyeblink (EB) conditioning, using tones and periorbital shock as the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli (CS and US), and nictitating membrane (NM) conditioning, using tones and airpuffs as the CS and US. During each experiment, CS-evoked changes in multiple-unit activity (MUA) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were recorded. Concomitant heart rate (HR) conditioned responses (CRs) were also recorded. A nonassociative control group received explicitly unpaired presentations of the CS and US in each experiment. Increases in both NM and EB CRs occurred over sessions in the paired, but not the unpaired, groups. Decelerative HR CRs also occurred in the eyeshock, but not the airpuff, group. Although tone-evoked increases in neuronal activity were obtained during 10 initial tone-alone presentations in all groups, this activity habituated over trials. CS-evoked increases in neuronal activity also occurred, but this activity was considerably greater in the group that received periorbital shock as the US. During subsequent extinction trials, decreases in tone-evoked neuronal activity occurred in this group, compared with the previous CS/US paired trials. CS-evoked MUA increases were minimal during all except the pretraining phase of the study in the CS/US unpaired control groups and in the paired airpuff group. These findings show that neuronal activity during associative learning occurs in the mPFC during Pavlovian EB, as well as HR conditioning, but this activity apparently reflects an affective component to learning that is only indirectly related to skeletal conditioning.     

Role of the hippocampus in blocking and conditioned inhibition of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response.

In Exp I, bilateral aspiration of the dorsal hippocampus produced a disruption of blocking of 30 New Zealand rabbits' nictitating membrane response in L. J. Kamin's (1968, 1969) 2-stage paradigm, but had no effect on the formation of a Pavlovian conditioned inhibitor in Exp II (27 Ss). Results of Exp I indicate that normal Ss and those with cortical lesions given conditioning to a light-plus-tone CS gave CRs to both light and tone during nonreinforced presentations of each (test phase). If, however, compound conditioning was preceded by tone acquisition, only the tone elicited a CR during testing; that is, blocking was observed. In Ss with hippocampal lesions, however, CRs were given to both light and tone during testing whether or not compound conditioning was preceded by tone acquisition. Data from Exp II show that Ss with hippocampal lesions could discriminate as well as normal Ss and those with cortical lesions between a light (CS+) and light plus tone (CS-). In addition, when the inhibitory tone was subsequently paired with the UCS in retardation testing, Ss in all 3 lesion conditions acquired the CR at the same rate. Thus, it appears that hippocampal lesions do not disrupt conditioned inhibition. Results are taken as support for the view that the hippocampus is responsible for "tuning out" stimuli that have no adaptive value to the organism. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response to serial compound stimuli.

Conducted 3 experiments with 213 male and female albino rabbits (Orytolagus cuniculus) to determine the time course and contents of conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS) representations through an examination of differential conditioning of the S"s nictitating membrane response to 2 serial compounds. One compound (A-X+) was always paired with the unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS), and the other (B-X–) was always presented alone. All 3 experiments entailed manipulation of the interstimulus interval between the initial distinctive element of each compound (A and B) and the 2nd shared element (X). The joint results reveal that (1) conditioned response (CR) acquisition to the initial elements depended on the presence of X in the A-X+ compound; (2) differentiation between A and B appeared across interstimulus intervals up to 4,600 msec; and (c) conditional control over responding following A and B appeared at interstimulus intervals of at least 4,600 msec and perhaps up to 12,600 msec. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hippocampectomy disrupts the topography of conditioned nictitating membrane responses during reversal learning.

The effects of bilateral hippocampectomy on the topography of conditioned nictitating membrane (NM) responses in 24 male New Zealand white rabbits were examined during 4 learning tasks: 1-tone delay conditioning, unpaired extinction, 2-tone discrimination, and reversal of 2-tone discrimination. Results show that hippocampal ablation altered conditioned NM response topography only during reversal learning and not during the other training paradigms. The shapes of learning curves for hippocampectomized Ss were different from those of controls only during reversal conditioning. Implications for unit-recording studies of hippocampal cellular activity during classical conditioning of the NM response are discussed. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)