The NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 reduces capsaicin-induced c-fos expression within rat trigeminal nucleus caudalis

The effect of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist (5R, 10S)-(+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclo-hepten-5,10-i mine hydrogen maleate (MK-801) was examined on c-fos-like immunoreactivity (c-fos-LI) in urethane-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats using a polyclonal antibody. C-fos, an indicator of neuronal activation, was assessed within the trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC), area postrema. lateral reticular and solitary tract nuclei 2 h after intracisternal injection of capsaicin. C-fos-positive cells were counted at three representative levels corresponding to obex, -2.05 mm and -6.45 mm in 18 tissue sections (50 microm). A weighted average was obtained reflecting total brainstem expression within lamina I, II of TNC using a recently validated method. Capsaicin (0.1, 1, 5, 10 and 15 nmol) caused a dose-dependent labeling of cells in lamina I, II at obex similar to that previously reported after intracisternal blood or carrageenin administration in rats and guinea pigs. MK-801 (0.3, 1 and 3 mg/kg) administered i.p. 30 min before capsaicin (5 nmol in 100 microl artificial CSF) reduced significantly and dose-dependently (12%, 36% and 47%, respectively) the c-fos-LI cells in TNC at each level from rostral to caudal but not in solitary tract, area postrema and lateral reticular nuclei, and for unexplained reasons, increased c-fos-LI within the inferior olive. These results suggest that NMDA receptors provide a potential therapeutic target for cephalic pain (e.g. migraine) due to trigeminovascular activation from meningeal afferents.     

Theory of resonant modulation at millimeter wave frequencies ofinhomogeneously biased monolithic quantum-well lasers

We show theoretically that resonant modulation at millimeter wave frequencies of inhomogeneously biased monolithic quantum-well laser diodes provides an enhancement in the modulation efficiency of >14 dB over that of the homogeneously biased laser, accompanied by a corresponding 7 dB increase in the noise and a comparable decrease in the signal-to-intermodulation distortion. We derive simple expressions for the enhancement in the modulation efficiency, the noise and intermodulation distortion, and discuss the limits of this approach and the trade off between these quantities. The theoretical results presented here are in good agreement with recently published experimental work     

Building the FO infrastructure for wireless communications

The next generation of communication systems will provide consumers with a host of new and improved voice, video, and data services. Rapidly developing wireless radio systems are already contributing to the progress, giving consumers the luxury of tetherless access to telephone conversation, on-line computing, and cable-television. Indeed, wireless access to high quality information and entertainment is quickly becoming a key component of the information superhighway. In that context, optical fiber links, which have the bandwidth for providing users with the service of their choice, are an excellent connecting infrastructure for providing uniform radio coverage in wireless networks. Indeed, fast improving analog FO links will serve such networks well. In this article, we will analyze the requirements for such a system