This pattern of results is inconsistent with a prediction error response. Finally, analyses of cross-correlations between the accumbens and simultaneous recordings of medial frontal cortex suggest a dynamic interaction between these structures. The high spatial and temporal resolution of these recordings provides novel insights into the timing of activity in the human nucleus accumbens, its functions during reward-guided learning and decision-making, and its interactions with medial frontal

cortex. Neuropsychopharmacology (2009) 34, 1649-1658; doi:10.1038/npp.2008.222; published online 17 December 2008″
“Purpose: Afferent nerve firing has been linked to spontaneous bladder contractions Selleckchem 8-Bromo-cAMP in a number of lower urinary

tract pathologies and it may lead to urgency PLX4032 nmr and incontinence. Using optical mapping, single unit recording and tension measurements we investigated the correlation between afferent nerve firing and spontaneous bladder contractions in spinal cord transected mice.

Materials and Methods: Bladder-nerve preparations (bladder sheets and the associated L6-S2 pelvic nerves) were dissected from normal and spinal cord transected mice showing overactivity on cystometry and opened along the ventral aspect from base to dome. Bladder sheets were mounted horizontally in a temperature regulated chamber to simultaneously record Ca(2+) transients across the mucosal surface, single unit afferent nerve firing and whole bladder tension.

Results: Single unit afferent fibers were identified by probing their receptive fields. Fibers showed a graded response to von Frey stimulation and a frequency of afferent firing that increased as a function of the degree of stretch. Optical maps of Ca(2+) transients in control bladders demonstrated multiple initiation sites that resulted in high frequency, low amplitude spontaneous contractions. Selleck HKI 272 Alternatively in maps of the bladders of spinal cord transected mice Ca(2+) transients arose from 1 or 2 focal sites, resulting in low frequency, high amplitude contractions

and concomitant afferent firing.

Conclusions: Large amplitude, spontaneous bladder contractions evoke afferent nerve activity, which may contribute to incontinence.”
“Abnormal function of NMDA receptors is believed to be a contributing factor to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. NMDAR subunits and postsynaptic-interacting proteins of these channels are abnormally expressed in some patients with this illness. In mice, reduced NMDAR expression leads to behaviors analogous to symptoms of schizophrenia, but reports of animals with mutations in core postsynaptic density proteins having similar a phenotype have yet to be reported. Here we show that reduced expression of the neuronal RasGAP and NMDAR-associated protein, SynGAP, results in abnormal behaviors strikingly similar to that reported in mice with reduced NMDAR function.