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Fetal frontal cortex transplanted to injured motor/sensory cortex of adult rats. I. NADPH-diaphorase neurons.

Fetal frontal cortex from 18-d-old embryonic rat brain was transplanted into cavities of juvenile host motor/sensory cortex. Two to seven months later, sections were reacted for NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) enzyme histochemistry. NADPH-d-positive neurons survived in 11 of 13 grafts. All but one of the transplants had reduced numbers of these neurons, although in 3 transplants the reductions were moderate and not statistically significant. The distribution and morphology of NADPH-d neurons within most grafts was comparable to that of NADPH-d neurons in normal host cortex. At the margin of the 2 transplants with no NADPH-d neuronal perikarya, NADPH-d fibers crossed from host to transplant as far as a millimeter into the transplant, and on rare occasions, the host neurons that gave rise to these fibers were identified. This suggests that host-transplant interactions are possible. One transplant had an abnormally large number of NADPH-d-positive neurons and fibers, possibly due to selective survival of these neurons. The data reported here for NADPH-d in cortical transplants may also apply to neuropeptide Y (NPY), since nearly all neocortical NPY neurons also contain NADPH-d.

Animals

Contribution of striate cortex and the superior colliculus to visual function in area MT, the superior temporal polysensory area and the inferior temporal cortex.

We studied the visual responses of single neurons in three extra-striate visual areas of the macaque following lesions of striate cortex, lesions of the tecto-pulvinar system or both. After striate lesions, there was (a) considerable specific activity remaining in area MT including direction selectivity, (b) only non-specific activity in the superior temporal polysensory area (STP), and (c) no visual responsiveness at all in inferior temporal cortex (IT). In animals with striate lesions, interruption of the tecto-pulvinar pathway eliminated the residual visual activity in MT and STP that survived the striate lesions. Interruption of the tecto-pulvinar pathway alone had little or no effect on visual evoked activity in any of the three areas. These results are related to the relative dependence of visual responsiveness in MT, STP and IT on striate cortex and the superior colliculus, to differences between the dorsal and ventral cortical processing streams, and to neural mechanisms underlying blind sight.

Animals

Loss of hybridizable ribosomal DNA from human post-mitotic tissues during aging: II. Age-dependent loss in human cerebral cortex--hippocampal and somatosensory cortex comparison.

DNA was isolated from the hippocampal and from the somatosensory cortex of 13 humans (at autopsy). In both the cortex and hippocampus, the loss of ribosomal DNA (rDNA), as measured through hybridization in the liquid phase, approximates about 0.9% per year. The r value for somatosensory cortex was about -0.7 and that for the hippocampus was about -0.91. The correlation coefficient between the sets of two samples derived from the same individual (two different areas) in +0.945. These results are consistent with those reported concurrently for human myocardium and with earlier studies conducted with beagle dogs, in which only post-mitotic tissues (brain, heart and skeletal muscle) showed measurable decrements in these key genes. To the degree that the synthesis of new proteins is essential for sustained mental activity, these results are consistent with the observations that Nissl substance is more slowly replenished, following exhaustive work by motor cortical cells, and the fact that many older persons experience mental fatigue during continuous mental work at earlier times than do younger persons. The mechanism of loss is not certain, but may well be related to inadequacies in DNA repair systems, thereby allowing deletion of tandemly duplicated genes through cross-over "episome" formation, followed by degradation of the excised DNA segments. The ratio of loss of rDNA hybridizability in human and dogs in about 1 to 7, which approximates the relative ratios of their lifespans (reciprocals).

Adolescent

Dopaminergic innervation of the primary visual cortex in the rat, and some correlations with human cortex.

Dopaminergic terminals have been identified in the primary visual cortex with three techniques; immunocytochemistry with an anti-dopamine antiserum, retrograde axonal transport techniques using unconjugated wheat germ agglutinin and HPLC determination of catecholamines and metabolites in microdissected sub-regions of occipital cortex in the rat. The results demonstrate a specific dopaminergic innervation, arising from the ventral tegmental area, which is found mainly in laminae VI and V, but with minor innervation also in lamina I. Dopaminergic innervation to adjacent cortical regions is also described. Neurochemical data from post-mortem human material suggests that a similar innervation exists in man. An analysis of the distribution of dopaminergic fibres in relation to the known connections and possible functions of the deep laminae of visual cortex suggests that dopaminergic axons may participate in the corticofugal control of visual afferent pathways.

Aged

Layer V in rat auditory cortex: projections to the inferior colliculus and contralateral cortex.

This study compares the form and distribution within layer V of cells projecting to the inferior colliculus with that of commissural cells of origin in adult rat auditory cortex after horseradish peroxidase injections in the ipsilateral inferior colliculus or auditory cortex. The goal of this work was to determine whether every part of layer V participates equally in both projections, and if the cortical neurons in each pathway were similar. The types of neurons were defined in Golgi-Cox preparations and matched with the profiles of retrogradely labeled cells from architectonically defined cortical area 41. Inferior colliculus and commissural neurons form two populations that differ in their distribution in layer V, in somatic area, and in the form of their apical dendritic arbors. Corticocollicular neurons include the largest pyramidal cells, whose robustly filled apical dendrites ascend into layer II or farther. Commissural cells are smaller and have a more heterogeneous form. Their apical dendrites do not usually extend above layer IV, and a few of these cells may be non-pyramidal. Small pyramidal cells and inverted pyramidal cells project to the opposite cortex, but not to the inferior colliculus. Medium-sized pyramidal cells project in both systems. In addition, certain callosal cells of origin in layers V and III were morphologically similar. More than one-third of the commissural cells originate in the superficial part of layer V, where only 7% of the inferior colliculus projection neurons arise. Most corticocollicular cells lie deeper in layer V, where there are fewer commissural neurons. These findings suggest that the efferent systems projecting to telencephalic and mesencephalic targets are morphologically distinct and spatially segregated in layer V. However, the commissural projection includes similar cells in different cortical layers. The types of these efferent neurons may be more closely related to their target than to their laminar origin.

Animals

[Morphologic aspects of the maturation of the sensory areas of the cerebral cortex exemplified by the visual cortex of the rabbit].

When the cerebral cortex commences its earliest functional tasks, the cellular layers and the basic organisation pattern of cell processes have already developed. In the rabbit visual cortex it could be shown that the functional differentiation runs parallel to an increase in number and growth of cell processes. Those tissue compartments where the newly formed branches of the dendritic trees of cortical neurons come into contact with the axons arising from other cerebral regions, grow between two and six times larger depending on the cortical layer where their volume fractions are measured. Cell processes grow and increase in number most rapidly between the second and the fourth postnatal weeks. Myelination of fast conducting axons takes longer and attains an adult level about three month after birth. Then the visual cortex of the rabbit may be regarded as mature with regard to both structure and function.

Animals

Cadmium in kidney cortex, liver, and pancreas from Swedish autopsies. Estimation of biological half time in kidney cortex, considering calorie intake and smoking habits.

Cadmium and zinc have been analyzed in tissues from 292 persons autopsied in Stockholm. In kidney cortex, liver, and pancreas the individual cadmium levels are distributed in a lognormal way. In kidney cortex there is a continuous accumulation of cadmium with age up to 50 years, followed by a decrease. Smokers show a higher cadmium accumulation. For nonsmokers, the biological half time of cadmium in kidney cortex is estimated at 30 years, with an average concentration at age 50 of 11 mug/g wet weight. When smokers are included, the average cadmium concentration at age 50 is 22 mug/g wet weight. Based on the more pronounced cadmium accumulation among smokers than nonsmokers, the respiratory absorption rate of cadmium from tobacco smoke is estimated to be approximately 50%.

Adolescent

Acute effects of alcohol on unit activity in the motor cortex of freely moving rabbits: comparison with the limbic cortex.

Unit activity was recorded from the motor cortex of eight freely moving rabbits in order to examine the acute effect of ethanol (1 g kg-1) on organization of unit activity and to compare it with our earlier results from the limbic cortex. The rabbits performed a food-acquisition task in the experimental cage. Unit activity was recorded during behaviour in the control experiment followed by the alcohol experiment on the next day. After ethanol, behavioural mistakes and the duration of the behavioural cycle significantly increased. In the control experiments activation of 58% of the units had no constant relation to the phases of the behavioural cycle (non-involved units), whereas 42% of the units were constantly activated during certain phases (involved units). Two per cent of the latter units were activated in relation to newly learned behavioural acts (e.g. pedal pressing; L units), 28% in relation to food seizure and/or grinding (S units) and 12% in relation to certain movements during different behavioural acts (M units). Ethanol had no effect on the number of active units and the same relation between the number of non-involved and involved units or between the number of different types of involved units was found. However, the number of involved units decreased in the upper and increased in the lower cortical layers. Also the number of units with low background frequency increased, although the frequency within activations did not change. In our earlier study the number of active units in the limbic cortex decreased after ethanol by one third and the relation between the number of L and M units was reversed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

[The characteristics of the synaptic reorganization in the sensorimotor cortex of cats after the destruction of the symmetrical portion of the cortex in the opposite hemisphere].

Intracellular recording technique has been used to study reactions of corticospinal neurons (CSN) to stimulation of the ipsilateral ventrolateral nucleus (VLN) of the thalamus in acute experiments on adult intact cats and on cats after lesion on the contralateral sensorimotor cortex (exposition from 6 months to 1.5 years). Acceleration of the monosynaptic EPSPs rise phase in slow CSN was revealed in operated animals, which presumed the reorganization of the synaptic contacts in the SD membrane of flow CSN. Detailed analysis of features and branching of CSN axon, collaterals passing to VLN of the thalamus and participating in formation of the ipsilateral pyramidal tract was made by the method of collision test. The significance of the plastic synaptic reconstruction in the ipsilateral thalamo-cortex reverberating system during the outflow formation under conditions of the partial cortex interhemisphere deafferentation is discussed.

Animals

A study on the microvasculature of the cerebral cortex. Fundamental architecture and its senile change in the frontal cortex.

The arterial architecture of the cerebral cortex and its changes along with aging were studied by microangiography, vascular staining, and scanning electron microscopy. The arteries distributed in the cerebral cortex and medulla were classified into cortical, subcortical, and medullary arteries. The cortical arteries were further classified into superficial, middle, and deep cortical branches according to the site of their termination. There were many fountain-like rami in the middle and deep cortical branches. These fountain-like rami were composed of several to many fine arteries, ramified from a small artery by repeated bifurcation within a short segment of its course. This structural pattern is probably responsible for the ease with which pronounced ischemic state may develop in their territories nourished by these branches, and they may play a significant role in the development of pseudolaminar necrosis of the cerebral cortex. Intertwining of small branches forming rope-like structures was observed with increasing frequency with age, suggesting that this phenomenon correlates with aging or is associated with brain atrophy. The intertwining was always clockwise when looking from the proximal side of the arteries towards their distal end. While the precise mechanism of the development of the intertwining remains unclear, torsion of the trunk of the blood vessels is thought to be the cause of the intertwining of the peripheral branches.

Adolescent

[The involvement of the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal cortex in the development of periodontosis].

The authors emphasized in parodontosis patients functional alterations of hypothalamic centres with phagocytosis-stimulatory, vasomotor and neurotrophic functions and disturbances of the functional relationship between the hypothalamus (H), the ascendent reticular formation (RF) and the cerebral cortex (CC). Stimulatory therapy of this areas, especially by direct stimulation of the H improves the hypothalamic functions, the relationship between H and the RF and all the clinical status of parodontosis patients. In rabbits with experimental parodontosis have been found functional and histological alterations in cerebral cortex, and especially in hypothalamus, together with lesions in the hypothalamo-posthypophyso-neurosecretoric system, in the anterior pituitary (P) cells (for ACTH, TSH and FSH) as well as in zona fasciculares of the adrenal cortex (AC). This data, together with findings of other authors, prove that parodontosis is a diencephalopathy involving a whole system: CC-H-P-AC.

Aggressive Periodontitis

[Modulating influence of the 2d somatosensory cortex of the cerebral cortex on the effects of electroacupuncture on the trigeminal nuclei].

The effect of reversible functional inactivation of the second somatosensory cortex of the cerebral hemispheres on changes in the transmission of the afferent signals in the trigeminal nuclei after electroacupuncture was studied in acute experiments on adult cats anesthetized with hexenal (59 mg/kg i. p.). After functional inactivation of the second somatosensory cortex electroacupuncture failed to facilitate the evoked potentials in the oral trigeminal nucleus by stimulation of the tooth pulp and the lip of the mouth. In the caudal nucleus, the inhibitory effect of electroacupuncture on noxious stimulation decreased. The involvement of this brain cortex in the mechanisms of action of electroacupuncture on functionally different nuclei is discussed.

Acupuncture Therapy

The medial frontal cortex and gastric motility: microstimulation results and their possible significance for the overall pattern of organization of rat frontal and parietal cortex.

Bilateral intracortical microstimulation (60-90 strains of 0.5 ms pulses at 10 Hz, currents below 50 microA) of medial frontal infralimbic and prelimbic cortical areas in ketamine-anesthetized rats produces clear and consistent decreases in ongoing gastric motility. The majority of responses consists of reductions in gastric tone, reductions in the amplitude of gastric contractions, or combined reductions in tone and amplitude. Bilateral section of the vagus nerves eliminates most of the responses, suggesting that the responses are mediated by this nerve. The effective cortical stimulation zone (the 'visceral motor' cortex) largely overlaps the source of the recently described direct projection from medial frontal cortex to the nucleus of the solitary tract; this pathway may be involved in producing the effect. Connections of this cortex with the limbic system suggest it may be involved in producing physiological responses to stress. The topographical, medial to lateral sequence of cortical functional areas revealed by these and other experiments (visceral motor, frontal eye fields, somatic motor, somatic sensory, visceral sensory) is discussed, as well as the possible implications of this pattern to the question of cortical evolutionary development.

Animals

Adult and embryonic frontal cortex transplants after frontal cortex ablation enhance recovery on a reinforced alternation task.

Damage to the medial frontal cortex in rats results in a learning deficit on a reinforced alternation task. The rate of recovery from this deficit was accelerated by transplantation of either adult or embryonic frontal cortex, provided that a delay was introduced between injury and transplantation. The rates of recovery for both delayed embryonic and adult transplants did not differ from the undamaged group. In contrast, transplants of embryonic frontal cortex immediately after ablation did not accelerate the rate of recovery. The accelerated rate of behavioral recovery on the reinforced alternation task appeared to correlate with transplant survival.

Acetylcholinesterase

Specialization of motor cortex neurons in rabbits under normal conditions and after ablation of the visual cortex.

The activity of motor cortex neurons in instrumental food-acquisition behavior is compared in two control rabbits and in three rabbits after bilateral ablation of the visual cortex. Although the same types of neuron specialization were found in the experimental and control animals, their numerical ratio differed markedly in two out of the three experimental rabbits in comparison with the controls: the number of neurons activated in the act of seizing food was halved, while the number of neurons activated in connection with acts of instrumental behavior doubled. The similarity of the processes underlying behavior learning and recovery is discussed.

Animals

Deviations in brain development of F2 generation on caloric undernutrition and scope of their prevention by rehabilitation: alterations in dendritic spine production and pruning of pyramidal neurons of lower laminae of motor cortex and visual cortex.

This is a report of comparison of developmental changes of spine densities on the different categories of dendrites of neocortical pyramidal neurons (V and VI layers of motor and visual areas) of Wistar rat, during 11-150 days of age, under conditions of normal nutrition and under chronic caloric but not protein deprivation. The studied animals were of F2 generation born to parents undernourished to a degree that their weights were only 40-50% of normal control. At such a level they would be active, reproduce, and not morbid. Similar level of undernutrition also continued in the F2 group studied. A group of undernourished animals was also, for rehabilitation, put on normal diet from 21 days of age. Visual and motor cortical area pieces were impregnated by Stensaas' rapid Golgi method. Spines were counted on successive 20-micron segments (I-IV) of both apical and basal dendritic main shafts as well as primary and secondary branches. The spine count per segment (density) in the normal population reached exuberant values by 26-50 days of age and later underwent a progressive decline or pruning by 30-50% or more by 150 days of age. The degrees of exuberance and pruning varied in different categories of dendrites, generally being more conspicuous in motor than visual cortex, and more in basal than apical dendrites. Under the conditions of chronic caloric restriction, the phenomenon of exuberance was retarded and pruning was not observed. On the contrary, there was a progressive increase in the spine densities on both basal and apical dendrites, in motor and visual cortex. By 150 days of age, the spine densities were not only greater than the final counts for respective segments in the normal animal, but even greater than the exuberant counts. Postweaning caloric rehabilitation had only a modest impact against this deviation. Preliminary data (intersections) of dendritic branching also indicated a similar pattern of changes (lag followed by increase), but of a lesser degree. These alterations in neuronal development are interpreted as biological adaptations evoked in shaping the homeostasis of the organism's brain and behaviour by factors of nurture.

Aging

Fetal frontal cortex transplanted to injured motor/sensory cortex of adult rats: reciprocal connections with host thalamus demonstrated with WGA-HRP.

Fetal frontal cortex was transplanted into lesion cavities formed in host motor/sensory cortex of adult rats. Eight to twenty-eight weeks later wheat germ agglutinin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) was injected into host thalamus and the brain was sectioned and reacted using a sensitive TMB procedure. A large amount of fine granular WGA-HRP was detected in most transplants. This could represent anterograde transport demonstrating that injured adult host thalamic neurons sprouted axons into fetal cortical transplants. Conversely, none or very few retrogradely labeled pyramidal neurons were present in the transplants. This indicates that pyramidal neurons in transplants either did not sprout into adult host brain or sprouted such short distances that they did not pick up the WGA-HRP. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that high trophic/growth factor levels in newborn or fetal brain and low levels in adults determine the more extensive connections seen in newborn hosts compared with those in adult transplanted hosts. The data are also consistent with the proposal that adult host brains impair axonal growth. Functionally, the data suggest that although corticofugal effects of fetal cortical transplants in adult host brains are likely to be limited, transplants could exert beneficial trophic effects on adult host thalamic neurons.

Animals

Adrenal cortex adenylate cyclase. Specific binding sites for 5'-guanylyl-imidodiphosphate in partially purified plasma membranes from bovine adrenal cortex.

Specific binding sites for 5'-guanylyl-imidodiphosphate [Gpp(NG)p] have been identified in a partially purified plasma membrane fraction from bovine adrenal cortex. The apparent affinity of Gpp(nh)p at 30 degrees C was 12muM-1 and the concentration of binding sites was 100 pmoles per mg of protein. Binding of Gpp(NH)p is inhibited by Mn2+ greater than Mg2+ greater than Ca2+ and enhanced by low concentrations of the chelators ethylenediamino-tetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ethylene glycolbis-(beta-aminoethylether))-N,N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA). High concentrations of EDTA are inhibitory and at 2.5 mM EDTA binding of Gpp(NH)p is only 10% of that observed in the absence of the chelator. The bound labeled GTP analogue exchanged only slowly with the unlabeled nucleotide after a steady state has been reached. EDTA also releases the bound labeled Gpp(NH)p from its binding sites. The slow dissociation of Gpp(NH)p can explain the persistent activation of adenylate cyclase observed after pretreatment of bovine adrenal cortex plasma membranes with Gpp(NH)p and subsequent washing. It is suggested that at least parts of these binding sites are identical to the sites identified earlier as regulatory sites for angiotensin high-affinity receptors (Glossmann et. al., 1974a) and for ACTH-stimulated cyclase Glossmann and Gips, 1974).

Adenylyl Cyclases