Histamine H receptor activation reduces the impairment in prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response and Akt phosphorylation induced by MK-801 (dizocilpine), antagonist at N-Methyl-d-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors.

We have investigated the effect of the local activation of histamine H receptors (HRs) in the rat prefrontal cortex (PFCx) on the impairment of pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response induced by the systemic administration of MK-801, antagonist at glutamate N-Methyl-d-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and the possible functional interaction between HRs and MK-801 on PFCx dopaminergic transmission. Infusion of the HR agonist RAMH (19.8 ng/1 μl) into the PFCx reduced or prevented the inhibition by MK-801 (0.

Dopamine D receptor activation maintains motor coordination and balance in rats.

Dopamine (DA) modulates motor coordination, and its depletion, as in Parkinson's disease, produces motor impairment. The basal ganglia, cerebellum and cerebral cortex are interconnected, have functional roles in motor coordination, and possess dopamine D receptors (DRs), which are expressed at a particularly high density in the basal ganglia. In this study, we examined whether the activation of DRs modulates motor coordination and balance in the rat using a beam-walking test that has previously been used to detect motor coordination deficits.

Functional recovery of the dentate gyrus after a focal lesion is accompanied by structural reorganization in the adult rat.

The adult brain is highly plastic and tends to undergo substantial reorganization after injury to compensate for the lesion effects. It has been shown that such reorganization mainly relies on anatomical and biochemical modifications of the remaining cells which give rise to a network rewiring without reinstating the original morphology of the damaged region. However, few studies have analyzed the neurorepair potential of a neurogenic structure.