Department of Comparative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA, USA.
Front Neural Circuits. 2014 Mar 28;8:30. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2014.00030. eCollection 2014.
The ascending cholinergic neuromodulatory system sends projections throughout cortex and has been shown to play an important role in a number of cognitive functions including arousal, working memory, and attention. However, despite a wealth of behavioral and anatomical data, understanding how cholinergic synapses modulate cortical function has been limited by the inability to selectively activate cholinergic axons. Now, with the development of optogenetic tools and cell-type specific Cre-driver mouse lines, it has become possible to stimulate cholinergic axons from the basal forebrain (BF) and probe cholinergic synapses in the cortex for the first time. Here we review recent work studying the cell-type specificity of nicotinic signaling in the cortex, synaptic mechanisms mediating cholinergic transmission, and the potential functional role of nicotinic modulation.
上行胆碱能神经调质系统向皮层投射，并被证明在许多认知功能中发挥重要作用，包括觉醒、工作记忆和注意力。然而，尽管有大量的行为和解剖学数据，但由于无法选择性地激活胆碱能轴突，理解胆碱能突触如何调节皮层功能一直受到限制。现在，随着光遗传学工具和细胞类型特异性 Cre 驱动小鼠系的发展，首次有可能从基底前脑 (BF) 刺激胆碱能轴突，并在皮层中探测胆碱能突触。在这里，我们回顾了最近研究皮层中烟碱信号的细胞类型特异性、介导胆碱能传递的突触机制以及烟碱调制的潜在功能作用的工作。
