However, recent studies in rats and mice have shown that vasopressin neurons in the supraoptic nucleus also display intrinsic

osmosensory and thermosensory properties. Isolated vasopressin neurons exposed to increases in perfusate temperature or osmolality generate increases in non-selective cation channel activity that cause membrane depolarization and increase neuronal excitability. These channels are calcium-permeable and can be blocked by ruthenium red. Moreover, intrinsic responses to osmotic and thermal stimuli are absent in magnocellular neurosecretory cells isolated from mice lacking the transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (trpv1) gene, which mTOR inhibitor encodes the capsaicin receptor. Immunostaining of vasopressin-releasing neurons with anti-TRPV1 antibodies reveals the presence of amino acids present in the carboxy terminus of the

protein, but not those lying in the amino terminal domain. Thus, magnocellular neurosecretory www.selleckchem.com/products/AG-014699.html neurons appear to express an N-terminal variant of trpv1 which lacks sensitivity to capsaicin, but which enables osmosensing and thermosensing. “
“The ventral pallidum (VP) is a major target of projections from the nucleus accumbens, and has been implicated in the reinstatement of psychostimulant seeking as part of a cortical–striatal–pallidal ‘final common pathway’ for relapse. Here, we studied the role of the VP in context-induced and primed reinstatement of alcoholic beer seeking, using a combination of microinjections and tract tracing studies. In experiment 1, rats were trained to respond to alcoholic beer in one context (A), and then extinguished in a second context (B), prior to testing for reinstatement (ABA renewal) and extinction (ABB). VP microinjection of the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) antagonist CTAP prevented reinstatement. In experiment 2, VP microinjection of CTAP also prevented the primed reinstatement of alcoholic beer seeking after rats were trained, extinguished, and tested in the same context. In experiment 3, we employed

retrograde neural tract tracing together with c-Fos immunohistochemistry to identify the VP afferents recruited during context-induced reinstatement of alcoholic beer seeking. There was evidence for the recruitment of accumbens coreVP, basolateral amygdalaVP however and paraventricular thalamusVP pathways during context-induced reinstatement. These results indicate that the VP MORs are critical for context-induced reinstatement, and that the VP receives inputs from a number of regions known to be important in reinstatement of drug seeking. “
“Mental imagery is a complex cognitive process that resembles the experience of perceiving an object when this object is not physically present to the senses. It has been shown that, depending on the sensory nature of the object, mental imagery also involves correspondent sensory neural mechanisms.