Phasic firing of dopamine neurons is key to brain's prediction of rewards

... at Seattle to study the firing patterns of midbrain dopamine neurons in mice during reward-based ... functional link between the bursting activity of midbrain dopamine neurons and behavior. The research has ... a member of UTSA's Neurosciences Institute. midbrain dopamine neurons fire in two characteristic ...

Early exposure to common weed killer impairs amphibian development

... showed significant increases in caspase-3 levels in the kidney and midbrain at 12 hours and beyond when compared with controls. The findings ... or abnormal, apoptosis. "The increased levels of apoptosis in the midbrain and pronephric kidney we observe suggest that atrazine may cause tissue ...

Mayo Clinic: Brain disorder suggests common mechanism may underlie many neurodegenerative diseases

... study published in August 2008, the consortium reported that eight patients who died from the disease had substantial loss of neurons in the midbrain area known as the substantia nigra. They also found a molecular signature of Perry syndrome "inclusions," or clumps, of a protein known as TDP-43 ...

Study first to pinpoint why analgesic drugs may be less potent in females than in males

... likely due to sex differences in mu-opioid receptor expression in a region of the brain called the periaqueductal gray area (PAG). Located in the midbrain area, the PAG plays a major role in the modulation of pain by housing a large population of mu-opioid receptor expressing neurons. Morphine and ...

Caltech scientists engineer supersensitive receptor, gain better understanding of dopamine system

... ADHD, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. "By uncovering the biological role of these receptors, especially with regard to their role in the midbrain dopamine system, we show that they are excellent drug targets," says Drenan. ...

Obesity predisposition traced to the brain's reward system

... The researchers measured electrically-evoked dopamine release from nerve terminals. "We also measured regulators of dopamine synthesis and release in midbrain dopamine pathways," explains Brenda Geiger, first author and graduate student in the pharmacology and experimental therapeutics department at TUSM. ...

Brain Scans Reveal How Gene May Boost Schizophrenia Risk

... risk for schizophrenia and a signature pattern of midbrain dopamine activity.** To see how the two gene ... midbrain. Frontal cortex activity increased as midbrain dopamine activity increased in subjects with val, ... is marked by too little prefrontal and too much midbrain dopamine, the dial is turned "way up," the NIMH ...

Morphine makes lasting -- and surprising -- change in the brain

... Kauer said. "This is your brain on drugs." Kauer recorded the phenomenon in the ventral tegmental area, or VTA, a small section of the midbrain that is involved in the reward system that reinforces survival-boosting behaviors such as eating and sex ?a reward system linked to addiction. The ...

Frog’s ear canal may provide insights for understanding human hearing loss

... showed that males were capable of hearing and responding to ultrasounds. The scientists then measured the electrical activities in A. tormotus' midbrain that is involved in sound processing and found marked electrical responses to sounds extending into the ultrasonic range -- both in the averaged ...

Scientists discover the body's marijuana-like compounds are crucial for stress-induced pain relief

... causing it to be active longer, Hohmann said. Apparently, several parts of the brain are involved in the effect, most notably a structure in the midbrain known as the periaqueductal gray. In this region, stress causes the release of the naturally occurring marijuana-like compounds in the brain. A ...

Love's all in the brain: fMRI study shows strong, lateralized reward, not sex, drive

... understand or experience any sort of emotional attachment or romantic love. I would speculate that autism involves an atypical development of the midbrain and basal ganglia reward systems. This makes sense, too, because other symptoms of autism include repetitive thoughts and movements, characteristics ...

Key Trigger Of Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms Found

... B. Gerke, Christopher W. Vaughan, Stephen P. Hack, and MacDonald J. Christie: "GABA Transporter Currents Activated by Protein Kinase A Excite midbrain Neurons during Opioid Withdrawal" Publishing in Neuron, Volume 45, Number 3, February 3, 2005, pages 433?45. http://www.neuron.org ...