Activation of Nur77 in microglia attenuates proinflammatory mediators production and protects dopaminergic neurons from inflammation-induced cell death.

Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation plays a critical role in the pathological development of Parkinson's disease (PD). Orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 (Nur77) is abundant in neurons, while its role in microglia-mediated neuroinflammation remains unclear. The present data demonstrated that the expression of Nur77 in microglia was reduced accompanied by microglia activation in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro and in experimental 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-PD mouse model.

Dopamine is involved in food-anticipatory activity in mice.

When food is available during a restricted and predictable time of the day, mammals exhibit food-anticipatory activity (FAA), an increase in locomotor activity preceding the presentation of food. Although many studies have attempted to locate the food-entrainable circadian oscillator in the central nervous system, the pathways that mediate food entrainment are a matter of controversy. The present study was designed to determine the role of dopaminergic and histaminergic systems on FAA.

Safranal enhances non-rapid eye movement sleep in pentobarbital-treated mice.

Aims: Safranal (2,6,6-trimethyl-1,3-cyclohexadiene-1-carboxaldehyde, C(10) H(14) O) is an active ingredient in the saffron, which is used in traditional medicine. It has been reported to have sedative and anti-epileptic effects, but its hypnotic effects remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate effects of safranal on sleep-wake cycle.

[Advances in the study of histaminergic systems and sleep-wake regulation].

Histaminergic neurons solely originate from the tuberomammillary nucleus (TMN) in the posterior hypothalamus and send widespread projections to the whole brain. Experiments in rats show that histamine release in the central nervous system is positively correlated with wakefulness and the histamine released is 4 times higher during wake episodes than during sleep episodes. Endogeneous prostaglandin E2 and orexin activate histaminergic neurons in the TMN to release histamine and promote wakefulness.