PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P D Shepard

Publications and source records attributed to P D Shepard.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Electrophysiological and pharmacological evidence for the existence of distinct subpopulations of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuron in the rat.

The electrophysiological and pharmacological properties of dopaminergic neurons were systematically examined throughout the anterior-posterior extent of the substantia nigra zona compacta in the rat. Cells were characterized in terms of their (1) firing pattern, (2) firing rate, (3) antidromic response properties, and (4) inhibition in firing rate following dopaminergic agonist administration. These properties were then related to the cell's position within one of four anterior-posterior segments of the nucleus. There were three types of neuronal discharge pattern encountered; irregular, burst and regular. Cells which exhibited different firing patterns exhibited different firing rates and anatomical locations within the substantia nigra zona compacta. All neurons were antidromically activated from the striatum, however, the burst- and regular-firing cells exhibited significantly faster estimated conduction velocities than irregular-firing cells. The irregular-firing cells were most sensitive to dopaminergic autoreceptor agonists whereas the burst-firing cells were most sensitive to an indirect-acting dopaminergic agonist. These experiments provide both electrophysiological and pharmacological evidence to indicate that nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons are composed of distinct subpopulations which are characterized by their firing pattern.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1988

Anatomical and electrophysiological characterization of presumed dopamine-containing neurons within the supramammillary region of the rat.

A combination of immunocytochemical, electrophysiological and pharmacological techniques were employed to study the properties of neurons within the supramammillary (SUM) complex of the rat. The SUM region contains a small, but dense, population of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive neurons. Following injection of the orthograde neuroanatomical tracer, Phaseolus Vulgaris leucoagglutinin, into the SUM region, heavy terminal labeling was observed in the lateral septal nucleus, diagonal band of Broca and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The electrophysiological and pharmacological properties of antidromically-activated SUM neurons revealed evidence of two neuronal populations. Both groups of neurons exhibited long duration action potentials (greater than 2 msec) and slow conduction velocities (less than 0.5 m/sec). However, cells in one group were characterized by slow and erratic firing rates and insensitivity to dopamine (DA) autoreceptor agonists. Cells in the other group typically exhibited no spontaneous activity but could be induced to discharge by iontophoretic application of glutamate. These latter cells were sensitive to DA autoreceptor stimulation. Of the two populations of mammilloseptal SUM neurons, the silent population exhibited several properties similar to those of midbrain DA neurons.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1988

The effects of pertussis toxin on autoreceptor-mediated inhibition of dopamine synthesis in the rat striatum.

Activation of synthesis-modulating dopamine autoreceptors by dopamine or its agonists has been shown to inhibit dopamine synthesis in the rat striatum. However, systemic administration of the direct-acting dopamine agonist apomorphine failed to inhibit dopamine synthesis in striata from rats that had received local unilateral administration of pertussis toxin. Apomorphine did reduce dopamine synthesis by greater than 50% in sham injected control rats as well as in the striata opposite to the side of pertussis toxin injection. Examination of G proteins in striatal tissue revealed that 61% of the G proteins were ADP-ribosylated in vivo by direct pertussis toxin injection. These data suggest that guanine nucleotide regulatory proteins mediate the effects of activation of striatal synthesis-modulating dopamine autoreceptors.

4-Butyrolactone↗
PubMed1984

Effects of zoxazolamine and related centrally acting muscle relaxants on nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons.

The effects of zoxazolamine (ZOX) and related centrally acting muscle relaxants on striatal dopamine (DA) metabolism and turnover, and substantia nigra zona compacta DA neuronal impulse flow were studied in rats. ZOX, chlorzoxazone and mephenesin, but not meprobamate, chloral hydrate, diazepam, pentobarbital, ethanol or dantrolene, decreased striatal DA metabolism without affecting striatal DA concentrations. More specifically, ZOX, as a representative muscle relaxant, was shown to decrease striatal DA turnover without directly affecting DA synthesis, catabolism, reuptake, or release. ZOX decreased nigral DA neuronal firing rates and dramatically decreased firing rate variability (normally many of the cells fire with bursting firing patterns but after ZOX the cells often fired with a very regular pacemaker-like firing pattern). ZOX and related centrally acting muscle relaxants appear to decrease striatal DA turnover by decreasing both neuronal firing rate and firing rate variability. The possible relationships between DA neuronal activity and muscle tone are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Fatigue in cat facial mechanoreceptors.

Mechanoreceptor fatigue, the reduction in number of impulses with repeated presentations of the same mechanical stimulus, was studied in facial hairy skin of the cat. We found that the variables that influence the magnitude of fatigue are, in order to importance: stimulus duration, interstimulus interval and stimulus amplitude. We also found that in about 40% of all mechanoreceptors studied, phentolamine, an alpha-noradrenergic antagonist, produced periodic reversal of fatigue and in some cases produced an increase in spontaneous firing.

Animals↗