Background: Galanin is a key modulator of nociception, and it is also required for the developmental survival of a subset of C-fibre sensory neurons which are critical to the mediation of neuropathic and inflammatory pain. However, the potential modulatory roles played by galanin, or the galanin-dependent neurons, in pruritoceptive mechanisms underlying the sensation of itch have not been investigated.
Findings: Here we report that mice carrying a loss-of-function mutation in the galanin gene (Gal-KO) show no differences in spontaneous behavioural itch responses compared to wild-type (WT) controls. Similarly, the responses to a range of pruritogens are not significantly different between the two genotypes.
Conclusions: These results suggest that neither galanin expression, nor the galanin-dependent subpopulation of sensory neurons is required for itch-related behaviours.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3545919 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1744-8069-8-87 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Osmolarity regulates egg-laying behavior via parallel chemosensory and biophysical mechanisms.
bioRxiv
December 2024
Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146.
Animals alter their behavior in response to changes in the environment. Upon encountering hyperosmotic conditions, the nematode worm initiates avoidance and cessation of egg-laying behavior. While the sensory pathway for osmotic avoidance is well-understood, less is known about how egg laying is inhibited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Sensory stimuli vary across a variety of dimensions, like contrast, orientation, or texture. The brain must rely on population representations to disentangle changes in one dimension from changes in another. To understand how the visual system might extract separable stimulus representations, we recorded multiunit neuronal responses to texture images varying along two dimensions: contrast, a property represented as early as the retina, and naturalistic statistical structure, a property that modulates neuronal responses in V2 and V4, but not in V1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectroencephalographic (EEG) recordings in individuals with Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and the mouse model of FXS ( KO) display cortical hyperexcitability at rest, as well as deficits in sensory-driven cortical network synchrony. A form of circuit hyperexcitability is observed in cortical slices of KO mice as prolonged persistent activity, or Up, states. It is unknown if the circuit mechanisms that cause prolonged Up states contribute to FXS-relevant EEG phenotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurotropic viruses are a major public health concern as they can cause encephalitis and other severe brain diseases. Many of these viruses, including flaviviruses, herpesviruses, rhabdoviruses and alphaviruses enter the brain through the olfactory neuroepithelium (ONE) in the olfactory bulbs (OB). Due to the low percentage of encephalitis that occurs following these infections, it's thought that the OBs have specialized innate immune responses to eliminate viruses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfferent Projections to the Calca/CGRP-Expressing Parabrachial Neurons in Mice.
J Comp Neurol
January 2025
Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
The parabrachial nucleus (PB), located in the dorsolateral pons, contains primarily glutamatergic neurons that regulate responses to a variety of interoceptive and cutaneous sensory signals. One lateral PB subpopulation expresses the Calca gene, which codes for the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). These PB neurons relay signals related to threatening stimuli such as hypercarbia, pain, and nausea, yet their inputs and their neurochemical identity are only partially understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!