Basal forebrain

Abe, K, Takeyama, C and Yoshimura, K (1998) Effect of S-8510, a novel benzodiazepine inverse agonist, on basal forebrain lesion-induced dysfunction in rats. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 347 145-152. 

Neurons within the SCN innervate those hypothalamic areas which have a crucial role in the regulation of the reproductive cycle, mood and sleep/arousal, as well as regions such as the basal forebrain and the thalamus which help to determine the state of arousal. They also project to the pineal gland to govern the synthesis and release of... 

Fig. 2.20 Efferent pathways into bulb showing (a) cholinergic (ACh) fibres projecting to MOB from basal forebrain nuclei. AON = ant. olfactory nucleus, OT = olfactory tract, DB = diagonal band nuc. (from Davis et al., 1978). (b) Nor-Adrenalin input to AOB, via MFB pathway from brain stem centres (nuclei A1-2, A6) (from Keveme, 1971).

The pathologic hallmarks of the disease in the brain include neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques made up of various proteins, which result in a shortage of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. These are primarily located in brain regions involved in learning, memory, and emotional behaviors such as the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal forebrain, and amygdala.11... 

The POA also contains cold-sensitive neurons (CSNs), cells activated by local cooling and inhibited by local warming. Most CSNs are wake-active thus, like arousal-related neurons in PLH, PH, DRN and basal forebrain, they exhibit... 

Alam, Md. N., Szymusiak, R., Gong, H., King, J McGinty, D. (1999). Adenosinergic modulation of rat basal forebrain neurons during sleep and waking neuronal recording with microdialysis. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 521(3), 679-90. 

McGinty, D. and Sterman, M. B. (1968). Sleep suppression after basal forebrain lesions in the cat. Science 160, 1253-5. 

Modirrousta, M., Mainville, L., Jones, B. E. (2004). GABAergic neurons with < 2-adrenergic receptors in basal forebrain and preoptic area express c-Fos during sleep. Neuroscience 129, 803 10. 

Szymusiak, R. McGinty, D. (1986). Sleep-related neuronal discharge in the basal forebrain of cats. Brain Res. 370, 82-92. 

Figure 2.1 Schematic of the rat brain (sagittal section) showing the approximate location of important brain structures controlling wakefulness and REM sleep. Abbreviations AH, anterior hypothalamus BF, basal forebrain DL pons, dorsolateral pons (rapid eye movement sleep control area) M-RA, Magoun/Rhines inhibitory area in the ventral medulla PH, posterior hypothalamus.

The development of antibodies against ChAT allowed the distribution of neurons producing acetylcholine in the nervous system to be revealed (Mesulam et al., 1983 Armstrong et al., 1983 Jones Beaudet, 1987 Vincent Reiner, 1987). In the context of control of wakefulness and REM sleep two groups of cholinergic neurons are of primary importance. Neurons located in the basal forebrain and medial septum provide the cholinergic innervation of the cerebral... 

Cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain and medial septum selectively express the low affinity (p75) receptor for nerve growth factor which allows them... 

Noradrenaline acts on three types of receptor. The ai receptors mediate the main excitatory effects of noradrenaline upon wake-active neurons in the dorsal raphe, basal forebrain, and elsewhere (Vandermaelen Aghajanian, 1983 Nicoll, 1988 Fort et al., 1995 Brown et al., 2002). The a2 receptors mediate inhibitory effects of noradrenaline, e.g. on noradrenaline neurons themselves and on cholinergic brainstem neurons (Williams et al., 1985 Williams Reiner, 1993). The (3-receptors modulate neurons in a more subtle fashion, increasing excitability via blockade of afterhyperpolarizations in hippocampal and cortical neurons (Haas Konnerth, 1983). Activation of (3-receptors also promotes synaptic plasticity via activation of the cyclic-AMP-dependent kinase (PKA) and cyclic AMP response element binding protein (CREB) signal transduction pathway (Stanton Sarvey, 1987 Cirelli et al., 1996). 

GABAergic neurons in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus and basal forebrain... 

Subsequent work by our laboratory and others has shown that adenosine accumulation in the basal forebrain is particularly important in this homeostatic regulation (Strecker et ah, 2000 Basheer et ah, 2004). 

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