Effect of injury to the zone of the medial forebrain bundle and preoptic region on activity of an epileptiform focus induced by penicillin (on the phenomenon of the hyperactive determinant dispatch station)

Experiments on cats showed that injury to the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and also partly to the preoptic region on the side of application of penicillin to the cerebral cortex (middle suprasylvian gyrus) causes depression of paroxysmal activity (spike potentials) in the penicillin focus, and also in a secondary mirror focus arising in the symmetrical zone of the opposite cortex. Injury to MFB on the side of the mirror focus causes depression of paroxysmal spike potentials only in that focus and does not affect activity in the primary epileptiform focus. The effects described are examined from the standpoint of views regarding the role of the determinant dispatch station (DDS) in the activity of the CNS: A primary epileptiform focus is a hyperactive DDS which induces the appearance of secondary foci, supports them, and determines the character of their activity. The results of the investigation suggests a role for MFB in the modulation of cortical epileptiform activity.Laboratory of General Pathology of the Nervous System, Institute of General Pathology and Pathophysiology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Laboratory of Electrophysiology, V. F. Filatov Odessa Research Institute for Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy, Ministry of Health of the Ukrainian SSR. Translated from Byulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 82, No. 12, pp. 1413–1416, December, 1976.     

Adrenalectomy increases local cerebral blood flow in the rat hippocampus

The present study examined the effect of glucocorticoid manipulations on local cerebral blood flow in the hippocampus. We measured local cerebral blood flow in the hippocampus at 1-h intervals over a 1-day period in freely moving rats, by means of the H₂ clearance method, before and after sham adrenalectomy, adrenalectomy or adrenalectomy with corticosterone replacement. We also measured local cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex before and after adrenalectomy. Four weeks after the adrenalectomy, hippocampal blood flow at each time of day was an average of 47% greater than before the operation, showing diurnal variation as before. After the sham adrenalectomy or adrenalectomy with corticosterone replacement, hippocampal blood flow did not change significantly with respect to either its level or its diurnal variation. Local cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex increased by only 19% after adrenalectomy. The present study demonstrates that adrenalectomy causes a remarkable increase in hippocampal blood flow, probably due to a lack of corticosterone.     

Different effects of glucocorticoids on the density of β-adrenoreceptors in the lungs and cerebral cortex

Tissue specificity of the effect of glucocorticoids on the density of β-adrenoreceptors is shown. The hormone increases the number of receptors in the lungs, but has no effect on their density in the cerebral cortex either in the norm or after down-regulation. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 119, N ^o 3, pp. 328–330, March, 1995 Presented by V. A. Trufakin, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

人大脑内部微血管构筑——组织化学显示法研究

本文应用碱性磷酸酶组织化学对血管内皮的染色方法,光镜观察了3例人大脑内部的微血管构型。结果,皮质短动脉进入皮质内的分枝去向有:1.皮质返枝;2.水平枝;3.下降支。皮质长动脉末端的分枝类型分为:1.血管栅栏样分枝型;2.烛台样或小锚样分枝型;3.树根样分枝型。看到了从微动脉、毛细血管到微静脉的连续性通路。论述了皮质动脉与静脉之间在形态学方面的差别及皮质内血管吻合的几种形式,为更好地理解大脑皮质内微循环类型提供了形态学依据。     

Local cerebral blood flow in gently restrained rats: effects of propranolol and diazepam

Summary The cerebrovascular consequences of the gentle restraint commonly used for the measurement of local cerebral blood flow (LCBF) in conscious rats has been tested by using two drugs, propranolol and diazepam. Propranolol induced small LCBF decreases in 7 structures suggesting that the cerebral circulation was partially controlled by the activation of intra or extracerebral aminergic pathways in this protocol. Sedative doses of diazepam reduced LCBF in most of the structures but anxiolytic doses increased it in 4 structures. This effect may be due to a regionally differentiated modification of activity in the brain due to the selective inhibition of limbic structures by diazepam. Since propranolol and diazepam induced only small changes, the LCBF of gently restrained rats appeared to be minimally affected by the stressful situation imposed by the protocol.     

What impairs subitizing in cerebral palsied children?

The goal of this study was to investigate the factors responsible for the low subitizing limit of cerebral palsied (CP) children. For this purpose, 44 CPs were tested on two tasks involving the rapid recognition of dot configurations. The answer was either a number (subitizing task) or the name of a pattern (pattern recognition task). The CPs were compared to controls of the same age. All children were evaluated for visual and visuospatial short-term memory. The results showed that CPs with a low subitizing limit did not do better with a canonical arrangement than the random one, were impaired to the same extent on the pattern recognition task as on the subitizing task, and had a short visuospatial short-term memory span. These results suggest that the low subitizing limit of CPs stems from a (non-number-dependent) lesser capacity to perceive a dot configuration as a gestalt. A low subitizing limit was almost always associated with a right-hemisphere lesion.     

Effects of intracerebroventricular injections of 2-deoxy-D-glucose,d-glucose and xylose on operant feeding in pigs

The effects, on operant feeding, of injection into the lateral cerebral ventricle of 50 μmoles CaCl₂, 4 mmoles D-glucose, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) or xylose, or NaCl, have been studied in five pigs. All the sugars and CaCl₂ were given in 1 ml of normal saline. Each of the sugar solutions produced transient drinking. Only CaCl₂ and 2DG significantly increased food intake during the hour following injection. The results show that the mechanism by which the pig responds to intracerebroventricular 2DG is similar to that of the rat and different from that of the sheep.