Model of the Reticular Formation of the Brainstem Based on Glial-Neuronal Interactions.

A new model of the reticular formation of the brainstem is proposed. It refers to the neuronal and glial cell systems. Thus, it is biomimetically founded.

Balancing and imbalancing effects of astrocytic receptors in tripartite synapses. Common pathophysiological model of mental disorders and epilepsy.

Based on a logic of balance mechanisms influencing information processing in tripartite synapses are proposed. It is hypothesized that the number of expressed astrocytic receptors determines balanced and imbalanced synaptic states. Synaptic information processing in mental disorders is underbalanced in depression, overbalanced in mania, and completely unbalanced in schizophrenia.

Intuition in autistic savantism: a hypothetical model based on glial-neuronal interactions.

The previously proposed hypothesis on the astrocyte mega-domains of autistic savantism is here further elaborated with regard to the faculty of intuition. Two mechanisms may essentially be responsible for the intuition of autistic savantism. First, the increased number of contacted synapses via the astrocyte processes enables the brain to generate a comprehensive perception of a scene in the environment.

Confidence analyses of self-interpretation and self-description in depressive behaviour.

The present paper represents an investigation in the procedure to validate a new questionnaire (Salzburg Subjective Behavioural Analysis, SSBA). This questionnaire is based on a new approach to the diagnosis of depressive behaviour. It is hypothesized that a patient suffering from a depressive disorder loses the ability to produce one or more modes of behaviour at a given time and simultaneously has the urge to produce one or more modes of behaviour constantly.

Neuromodulatory systems.

We examine the interactions and interdependencies between Neuroglia, the Brain-Cell Microenvironment, and the processes commonly subsumed under Neuromodulation. The interactions of the component processes covering a wide spectrum of frequencies are designated as Neuromodulatory Systems (NMS). This implies NMS's scale-invariance as the capacity of linking actions across many time scales, and self-similarity at any scale.