The following experiments were done to determine whether changes in baroreflex sensitivity evoked by cervical vagus nerve stimulation are due to sympathoexcitation mediated by the parabrachial nucleus. The relative contribution of cardiopulmonary and general gastric afferents within the cervical vag...

Estrogen and its metabolites are believed to play important roles in breast cancer. The influence of genetic polymorphisms in the enzymes responsible for formation and disposition of estrogen on breast cancer risk may shed light on the importance of estrogen metabolites in this disease. However, for...

The present study was done to determine if estrogen interacts with excitatory and/or inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters to alter neuronal excitability within the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) and modulate autonomic tone. First, the role of estrogen in modulating autonomic tone was investigated in ...

The following experiments were conducted to determine if peripherally administered estrogen has an effect on central autonomic tone and whether this change in tone results in an alteration in cardiovascular reflex control. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized with thiobutabarbitol sodium (50 m...

The current investigation examined the role of estrogen in the insular cortex (IC) under both normal and ischemic conditions. Experiments were done in anaesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats. The effect of systemic 17beta-estradiol (estrogen) administration on levels of amino acids and of endogenous ...

The current investigation examines the significance of estrogen in central cardiovascular regulatory nuclei in modulating autonomic tone and baroreceptor reflex function. Experiments were done in anaesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats. Changes in autonomic tone were assessed by monitoring vagal and ...

Female mammals have an enhanced baroreflex sensitivity compared with their male counterparts, leading researchers to speculate that estrogen modulates autonomic tone. Therefore, this study tests the hypothesis that exogenous estrogen can enhance the baroreflex sensitivity of male rats. Male Sprague-...

The posterior insular cortex of the rat contains an area of cardiac chronotropic representation within which tachycardia sites occur rostrally to those producing bradycardia. In the current study using ketamine-anesthetized rats, the insular cortex was stimulated for 1 h using a phasic technique syn...

Previous investigations have provided evidence demonstrating that the extracellular release of glutamate into the parabrachial nucleus was significantly enhanced following visceral afferent activation. This period of enhanced glutamate release into the parabrachial nucleus corresponded to a time dur...

The following experiments examine the role of estrogen as a central modulator of autonomic tone and baroreflex sensitivity in the female rat. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were ovariectomized and then supplemented daily for 7 days with a fixed dose of estrogen (5 microg/kg; sc) to produce a stable leve...

In the present investigation, in vivo microdialysis was used to measure the concentration of estrogen in the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) and plasma of male and ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats supplemented with either estrogen (OVX-E(2)) or saline (OVX-S) following visceral afferent activati...

The functional significance of neuropeptides and neurohormones throughout the neuroaxis has been the focus of considerable research over the past 25 years. These "gut peptides" or "reproductive hormones" have been localized within nuclei responsible for the relay of visceral affe...

The role of neuropeptides in ascending visceral pathways was investigated by recording the changes in the response of thalamic neuronal activity evoked by vagal stimulation before and after peptide injection in the parabrachial nucleus (PB). Male Wistar rats (n = 25) were anesthetized with chloral h...

SUMMARY 1. In recent years, the role of oestrogen in women's health has been a subject of considerable scientific and popular debate. There is unquestionable evidence that oestrogen has both potent and long-lasting effects on several vital organ systems, including the cardiovascular system, the...

Stroke-induced lesions of the insular cortex in the brain have been linked to autonomic dysfunction (sympathoexcitation) leading to arrhythmogenesis and sudden cardiac death. In experimental models, systemic estrogen administration in male rats has been shown to reduce stroke-induced cell death in t...

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the role of oxidative stress and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the development of equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). The results support the hypothesis that PPID is a dopaminergic neurodegenerative disease. Horses with PPID had 5 ti...

The current investigation examined the effect of estrogen in the insular cortex (IC) on autonomic tone and cardiac baroreceptor reflex function and sought to determine if modulation of neurotransmission was responsible for mediating this effect. Experiments were performed in Inactin-anaesthetized, m...

Background. Lipoic acid (LA), which has significant antioxidant properties, may also function as a potent neuroprotectant. The synthetic compounds INV-155, INV-157, INV-159, and INV-161 are physiochemical combinations of lipoic acid and captopril. We sought to determine if these compounds have neuro...

Apocynin is a well-known NADPH-oxidase inhibitor currently being investigated for its potential therapeutic use in patients with cardiovascular disease, such as occlusive stroke. However, the use of apocynin as a potential neuroprotective agent has come under criticism due to a narrow experimental t...

Substance P (SP) and cocaine employ similar mechanisms to modify excitatory synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region implicated in substance abuse. Here we explored, using NAc slices, whether SP effects on these synaptic responses were altered in rats that have been sensitized ...

We tested the hypothesis that Substance P (SP) produces the same effects as cocaine by examining their actions on excitatory synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). SP produced an irreversible depression of non-NMDA receptor mediated EPSC: EC50:0.12 uM; maximal suppression: −33.4 ± ...