Browsing by Subject "Septum"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    The Edinger-Westphal-lateral septum urocortin pathway and its relationship to alcohol consumption
    (Society for Neuroscience, 2003-03) Bachtell, Ryan K.; Weitemier, Adam Z.; Galvan-Rosas, Agustin; Tsivkovskaia, Natalia O.; Risinger, Fred O.; Phillips, Tamara J.; Grahame, Nicholas J.; Ryabinin, Andrey E.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Identifying and characterizing brain regions regulating alcohol consumption is beneficial for understanding the mechanisms of alcoholism. To this aim, we first identified brain regions changing in expression of the inducible transcription factor c-Fos in the alcohol-preferring C57BL/6J (B6) and alcohol-avoiding DBA/2J (D2) mice after ethanol consumption. Drinking a 5% ethanol/10% sucrose solution in a 30 min limited access procedure led to induction of c-Fos immunoreactivity in urocortin (Ucn)-positive cells of the Edinger-Westphal nucleus (EW), suppression of c-Fos immunoreactivity in the dorsal portion of the lateral septum (LS) of both strains of mice, and strain-specific suppression in the intermediate portion of the LS and the CA3 hippocampal region. Because the EW sends Ucn projections to the LS, and B6 and D2 mice differ dramatically in EW Ucn expression, we further analyzed the Ucn EW–LS pathway using several genetic approaches. We find that D2 mice have higher numbers of Ucn-immunoreactive processes than B6 mice in the LS and that consumption of ethanol/sucrose in the F2 offspring of a B6D2 intercross positively correlates with Ucn immunoreactivity in the EW and negatively correlates with Ucn immunoreactivity in the LS. In agreement with these findings, we find that alcohol-avoiding male B6.D2Alcp1 line 2.2 congenic mice have lower Ucn immunoreactivity in the EW than male B6.B6 mice. Finally, we also find that HAP mice, selectively bred for high alcohol preference, have higher Ucn immunoreactivity in EW, than LAP mice, selectively bred for low alcohol preference. Taken together, these studies provide substantial evidence for involvement of the EW–LS Ucn pathway in alcohol consumption.
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    Neuropeptide Y in the amygdala induces long-term resilience to stress-induced reductions in social responses but not hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis activity or hyperthermia
    (Society for Neuroscience, 2008-01-23) Sajdyk, Tammy J.; Johnson, Philip L.; Leitermann, Randy J.; Fitz, Stephanie D.; Dietrich, Amy; Morin, Michelle; Gehlert, Donald R.; Urban, Janice H.; Shekhar, Anantha; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Resilience to mental and physical stress is a key determinant for the survival and functioning of mammals. Although the importance of stress resilience has been recognized, the underlying neural mediators have not yet been identified. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a peptide known for its anti-anxiety-like effects mediated via the amygdala. The results of our current study demonstrate, for the first time that repeated administration of NPY directly into the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) produces selective stress-resilient behavioral responses to an acute restraint challenge as measured in the social interaction test, but has no effect on hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis activity or stress-induced hyperthermia. More importantly, the resilient behaviors observed in the NPY-treated animals were present for up to 8 weeks. Antagonizing the activity of calcineurin, a protein phosphatase involved in neuronal remodeling and present in NPY receptor containing neurons within the BLA, blocked the development of long-term, but not the acute increases in social interaction responses induced by NPY administration. This suggests that the NPY-induced long-term behavioral resilience to restraint stress may occur via mechanisms involving neuronal plasticity. These studies suggest one putative physiologic mechanism underlying stress resilience and could identify novel targets for development of therapies that can augment the ability to cope with stress.
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    Septal contributions to olfactory bulb interneuron diversity in the embryonic mouse telencephalon: role of the homeobox gene Gsx2
    (BMC, 2017-08-16) Qin, Shenyue; Ware, Stephanie M.; Waclaw, Ronald R.; Campbell, Kenneth; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background Olfactory bulb (OB) interneurons are known to represent diverse neuronal subtypes, which are thought to originate from a number of telencephalic regions including the embryonic dorsal lateral ganglionic eminence (dLGE) and septum. These cells migrate rostrally toward the OB, where they then radially migrate to populate different OB layers including the granule cell layer (GCL) and the outer glomerular layer (GL). Although previous studies have attempted to investigate regional contributions to OB interneuron diversity, few genetic tools have been used to address this question at embryonic time points when the earliest populations are specified. Methods In this study, we utilized Zic3-lacZ and Gsx2e-CIE transgenic mice as genetic fate-mapping tools to study OB interneuron contributions derived from septum and LGE, respectively. Moreover, to address the regional (i.e. septal) requirements of the homeobox gene Gsx2 for OB interneuron diversity, we conditionally inactivated Gsx2 in the septum, leaving it largely intact in the dLGE, by recombining the Gsx2 floxed allele using Olig2 Cre/+ mice. Results Our fate mapping studies demonstrated that the dLGE and septum gave rise to OB interneuron subtypes differently. Notably, the embryonic septum was found to give rise largely to the calretinin+ (CR+) GL subtype, while the dLGE was more diverse, generating all major GL subpopulations as well as many GCL interneurons. Moreover, Gsx2 conditional mutants (cKOs), with septum but not dLGE recombination, showed impaired generation of CR+ interneurons within the OB GL. These Gsx2 cKOs exhibited reduced proliferation within the septal subventricular zone (SVZ), which correlated well with the reduced number of CR+ interneurons observed. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the septum and LGE contribute differently to OB interneuron diversity. While the dLGE provides a wide range of OB interneuron subtypes, the septum is more restricted in its contribution to the CR+ subtype. Gsx2 is required in septal progenitors for the correct expansion of SVZ progenitors specified toward the CR+ subtype. Finally, the septum has been suggested to be the exclusive source of CR+ interneurons in postnatal studies. Our results here demonstrate that dLGE progenitors in the embryo also contribute to this OB neuronal subtype. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13064-017-0090-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.