Published in The European journal of neuroscience
Understanding the neural principles governing taste perception in species that bear economic importance or serve as research models for other sensory modalities constitutes a strategic goal. Such is the case of the honey bee (Apis mellifera), which is environmentally and socioeconomically important, given its crucial role as pollinator agent in agr...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
The monoamine oxidase metabolite of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde (DOPAL), is hypothesized to induce neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, DOPAL's effect on astrocyte function is less well known. Furthermore, the conflicting protective and pathological roles of resting and reactive astrocytes in Parkinson's disease hav...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
Attention-dependent reduction in the tendency for neurons to fire bursts (burstiness) is widely observed in the visual cortex. However, the underlying mechanism and the functional role of this phenomenon remain unclear. We recorded well-isolated single-unit activities in primary visual cortex (V1) from two primates (Macaca mulatta) while they perfo...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
Brain mitochondrial function is critical for numerous neuronal processes. We recently identified a link between brain energy and social dominance, where higher levels of mitochondrial function resulted in increased social competitive ability. The underlying mechanism of this link, however, remains unclear. Here, we investigated the contribution of ...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
The critical role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathological mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Parkinson's disease (PD), is well established. Compelling evidence indicates that Parkinson's proteins (e.g., α-synuclein, Parkin, PINK1, DJ-1, and LRRK2) are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in PD...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
Antidepressants have been shown to influence mitochondrial function directly, and suboptimal mitochondrial function (SMF) has been implicated in complex psychiatric disorders. In the current study, we used a mouse model for trait SMF to test the hypothesis that chronic fluoxetine treatment in mice subjected to chronic stress would negatively impact...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is known to play a role in the control of impulsivity of action and in impulsivity of choice under certain conditions. In order to assess its influence on decision-making under uncertainty, we have tested here the effects of bilateral STN lesions in rats performing a probability discounting task (PDT) and a "loss-chasi...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
The primate ventral motor thalamus contains a large number of GABAergic interneurons of poorly understood function and anatomical connectivity. Glutamatergic inputs to these cells arise predominantly from corticothalamic (in both basal ganglia- and cerebellar-receiving ventral motor thalamic territories; BGMT and CBMT, respectively) and cerebelloth...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
Loss of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) in Parkinson's disease results in over-activation/bursting of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). The STN projects to the substantia nigra (SN) pars compacta (SNpc) and pars reticulata (SNpr). The vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (Vglut2) is localized within at least STN terminals synapsing within the SN, but it is n...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
The striatum is the main input stage of the basal ganglia receiving extrinsic input from cortex and thalamus. The striatal projection neurons (SPN) constitute 95% of the neurons in the striatum in mice while the remaining 5% are cholinergic and GABAergic interneurons. The cholinergic (ChIN) and low-threshold spiking interneurons (LTS) are spontaneo...
