Neurobiol Learn Mem
September 2003
The db/db mouse has defective leptin receptors. The defects lead to impairments of leptin regulation of food intake and body weight, and result in the expression of diabetic symptoms such as hyperinsulinemia, hyperglicemia, and extreme obesity. Recent studies have proposed that leptin may also affect memory and learning processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe chorda tympani (CT) nerve innervating the anterior tongue contains two types of NaCl-responsive fibers: one, the N-type, receives input from receptor cells, the NaCl responses of which are strongly inhibited by amiloride, whereas the other, the E-type, receives input from cells poorly sensitive or insensitive to amiloride. To investigate the formation of this differentially responsive neural system, we crushed the mouse CT nerve and examined the subsequent recovery of NaCl responses and amiloride sensitivity of the regenerated nerve and behavioral discrimination between NaCl and KCl. At 2 weeks after the nerve crush, no significant response of the nerve to chemical stimuli was observed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGurmarin (Gur) is a peptide that selectively suppresses responses of the chorda tympani nerve to sweet substances in rats and mice. In the present study, we examined the effect of Gur on behavioral responses to sweet substances in C57BL mice. To accomplish this, we developed a new short-term lick test and measured numbers of licks for 10 s for sweet substances mixed with quinine hydrochloride (QHCl) in water-deprived mice.
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