Foote S L, Aston-Jones G, Bloom F E
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 May;77(5):3033-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.5.3033.
By means of extracellular recordings, individual norepinephrine-containing neurons in the locus coeruleus of unanesthetized behaviorally responsive rats and squirrel monkeys were found to respond to specific sensory and behavioral conditions. In rats, distinct clusters of action potentials followed the presentation of various nonnoxious auditory, visual, or somatosensory stimuli at latencies of 15-60 msec. Increased discharge rates were also seen during periods of spontaneous electroencephalogram arousal in both species. In monkeys, these cells responded most vigorously to complex arousing stimuli such as a preferred food. Because the noradrenergic innervation of most forebrain regions arises from the locus coeruleus, these results allow prediction of situations under which this massive projection system would be active and suggest a physiological role for this chemically identified network in specific behavioral processes.
通过细胞外记录发现，在未麻醉且行为反应灵敏的大鼠和松鼠猴的蓝斑中，单个含去甲肾上腺素的神经元会对特定的感觉和行为条件作出反应。在大鼠中，在15 - 60毫秒的潜伏期后，各种非伤害性听觉、视觉或体感刺激出现时会有明显的动作电位簇。在这两个物种的自发脑电图觉醒期间也观察到放电率增加。在猴子中，这些细胞对复杂的唤醒刺激（如偏爱的食物）反应最为强烈。由于大多数前脑区域的去甲肾上腺素能神经支配起源于蓝斑，这些结果可以预测这个庞大投射系统活跃的情况，并表明这个化学鉴定的网络在特定行为过程中的生理作用。
