Aminergic systems

Schmidt, C.J. Levin, J.A. and Lovenberg, W. In vitro and in vivo neurochemical effects of methylenedioxymethamphetamine on striatal mono-aminergic systems in the rat brain. Biochem Pharmacol 36(5) 747-755, 1987. 

Sastry, B. S. R., and Sinclair, J. G. (1976) Tonic inhibitory influence of a supraspinal mono-aminergic system on recurrent inhibition of extensor monosynaptic reflex. Brain Res., 117 69— 76. 

An imbalance in the cholinergic/aminergic interactions may result from the deficient activity of a certain aminergic system or the hyperactivity of the cholinergic system or any quantitative combination of the two, which could very well be responsible for the pathophysiology of depression (M. Berger and Riemann 1993 Soldatos and Paparrigopoulos 1995). 

The second is that it is precisely these two aminergic systems (and with them the dopamine-acetylcholine modulatory forces) that are most sensitive to manipulation (for better or worse) by psychoactivc drugs, be they prescribed by licensed doctors or sold by street merchant outlaws. 

The revival of interest in acetylcholine s role in schizophrenic pathogenesis is symmetrical to a new interest in dopamine s role in dream psychosis. Could it be that in both psychoses the coactivation of dopamine and acetylcholine systems is necessary but only sufficient if either the other aminergic systems are in abeyance (dream and depression psychosis) or the dopamine system overpowers the cholinergic system (manic and schizophrenic psychosis) ... 

An explanation for sleep EEG alterations in depression is provided by the well established monaminergic-cholinergic imbalance model [49] which includes monoaminergic dysfunction in depression. The result is a disturbance of the mutual interactions between the diverse nuclei which control the transitions between REM and nonREM states (see Fig. 7.5, right part). This concept was developed in close relation to the monamionergic-cholinergic imbalance model of depression [50] which is based on observations that inhibition of the aminergic system by re-... 

Later development of the other systems of chemicals known as aminergic systems (chemicals include histamine and dopamine) is what shuts down infant sleep and especially REM sleep, reducing it by at least 400 per cent from infancy to early adult life. 

Can the formal analysis of dreaming tell us something about how our cognitive repertoire is restored Do we lose memory for the same reason that we lose thermoregulatory capacity - the disablement of the aminergic systems on which both depend ... 

Here again, most people can intuit the general answer. Anxiety and other emotions (such as elation) that increase brain activation of the waking type, impede sleep. They do so by increasing the set-point for the aminergic systems, which mediate waking and inhibit sleep. Besides causing insomnia, which is unpleasant, these conditions also induce sleep deprivation or, at least, sleep curtailment. And we know, from our discussions in Chapter 5, that sleep deprivation may be positively unhealthy, not just dysfunctional. 

Thought (item 6) and orientation (item 7) are both impaired by disablement of the aminergic systems and regional deactivation of the global and local memory systems of the brain. We want to know more about why declarative memories, which are presumably stored in the hippocampus and then moved out to the cortex, are so seldom available to dream consciousness. Clearly, all cognitive functions that depend on memory, except possibly emotional salience, are weakened in REM sleep. Dream consciousness is therefore both a poor analyser and a poor organizer of its content. Hyperassociativity and emotional salience are the rules that govern... 

The rapid, age-related decline of the activity of the mesencephalic catechol-aminergic system, which plays a key role in the activation of the cortex, suggested a reasonable explanation for the onset of natural death (see Knoll... 

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