Yamamoto Takashi, Takemura Motohide, Inui Tadashi, Torii Kunio, Maeda Naohiro, Ohmoto Makoto, Matsumoto Ichiro, Abe Keiko
Kio University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nara, Japan.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Jul;1170:378-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.03883.x.
The rodent parabrachial nucleus (PBN) is not merely a sensory relay station but also plays an important role in integrating various ascending and descending inputs together with plastic changes of neuronal responses after learning and experience. The limbic and reward systems receive ingestion-related information via the cortical areas in primates, whereas in rodents the information is sent to these systems mostly via the PBN. To explore how the rat PBN is functionally organized, we detected activation patterns of neurons mainly by means of c-fos immunohistochemistry to show neuronal activation in different situations of ingestive behavior. The expression pattern was different under nutritionally replete and deficient conditions, perceptually new and familiar conditions, and learned and unlearned conditions. As for the possible functions, the rostral part of the external lateral subnucleus is related to general visceral inputs; the caudal part of the external lateral subnucleus, aversive behavior; the dorsal lateral subnucleus, ingestive behavior; and the central medial subnucleus, taste of NaCl. Because several genes were localized in specific subnuclei, we are trying to correlate the gene expressions with possible functional significance.
啮齿动物的臂旁核（PBN）不仅是一个感觉中继站，而且在整合各种上行和下行输入以及学习和经历后神经元反应的可塑性变化方面也发挥着重要作用。灵长类动物的边缘系统和奖赏系统通过皮质区域接收与摄食相关的信息，而在啮齿动物中，这些信息主要通过PBN发送到这些系统。为了探究大鼠PBN的功能组织方式，我们主要通过c-fos免疫组织化学检测神经元的激活模式，以显示摄食行为不同情况下的神经元激活情况。在营养充足和缺乏的条件下、感知上新奇和熟悉的条件下以及学习和未学习的条件下，表达模式是不同的。至于可能的功能，外侧副核的嘴侧部分与一般内脏输入有关；外侧副核的尾侧部分与厌恶行为有关；背外侧核与摄食行为有关；中央内侧核与氯化钠的味道有关。由于几个基因定位于特定的亚核，我们正试图将基因表达与可能的功能意义联系起来。
