Brain midbrain

The best-understood sites of action of morphine are at spinal and brainstem/ midbrain loci, producing both the wanted and unwanted effects of the opioid. The spinal actions of opioids and their mechanisms of analgesia involve (1) reduced transmitter release from nociceptive C-fibres so that spinal neurons are less excited by incoming painful messages, and (2) postsynaptic inhibitions of neurons conveying information from the spinal cord to the brain. This dual action of opioids can result in a... 

Fuxe 1965) and throughout the brain stem and spinal cord. A series of studies employing small intracerebral lesions (Anden et al. 1966 Ungerstedt 1971) indicated that most 5-HT nerve terminals in the forebrain arise from raphe nuclei in the midbrain and that the axons ascend through the lateral hypothalamus within the medial forebrain bundle (Moore and Heller 1967 Azmitia 1978 Conrad et al. 1974). 

The extrapyramidal motor system controls muscle movement through a system of pathways and nerve tracts that connect the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, reticular formation, and spinal neurons. Patients with PD lose dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, which is located in the midbrain within the brain stem. The substantia... 

The brain is the integrative portion of the nervous system that serves to receive, process, and store sensory information and then plan and orchestrate the appropriate motor response. It is divided into several anatomically and functionally distinct regions (see Table 6.2). The forebrain consists of the cerebrum, basal ganglia, thalamus, and hypothalamus. The midbrain, along with the pons and the medulla of the hindbrain, composes the functional region referred to as the brainstem. The cerebellum is also considered a component of the hindbrain but is functionally distinct from the brainstem. 

The functional region known as the brainstem consists of the midbrain, and the pons and medulla of the hindbrain. It is continuous with the spinal cord and serves as an important connection between the brain and spinal cord because all sensory and motor pathways pass through it. The brainstem consists of numerous neuronal clusters or centers, each of which controls vital, life-supporting processes. 

Wang, R. Y. 8r Aghajanian, G. K. (1977). Antidromically identified serotoninergic neurons in the rat midbrain raphe evidence for collateral inhibition. Brain Res. 132, 186-93. 

Textbooks on neuroscience often describe the location and function of hundreds of individual brain regions (see references above). However, for current purposes these will be kept to a minimum (Figure 2.1). Anatomically, the brain can be subdivided into the forebrain containing the telencephalon and diencephalon, the midbrain or mesencephalon and the hindbrain (metencephalon and myelencephalon). The telencephalon includes the left and right cerebral hemispheres encompassed by the cerebral cortex (neocortex). Cortex is a translation of the word bark and is so-called because its surface, made up of numerous sulci (grooves or invaginations) and gyri (raised areas), is on the outer surface of the brain like the bark of a tree. Each hemisphere is divided into four lobes, named from the front (rostral) to back (caudal) of the brain frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital. 

Diencephalon The between brain connecting the midbrain and forebrain which comprises the thalamus and hypothalamus. 

Legradi GA, Rand WM, Hitz S, Nillni EA, Jackson IMD and Lechan RM (1996). Opiate withdrawal increases ProTRH gene expression in the ventrolateral column of the midbrain periaqueductal gray. Brain Research, 729, 10-19. 

By immunohistochemistry, a- and p-synucleins are concentrated in nerve terminals, with little staining of somata and dendrites. Ultrastructurally, they are found in close proximity to synaptic vesicles. In contrast,y-synuclein is present throughout nerve cells in many brain regions. In rat, a-synuclein is most abundant throughout telencephalon and diencephalon, with lower levels in more caudal regions. P-Synuclein is distributed fairly evenly throughout the central nervous system, whereas y-synuclein is most abundant in midbrain, pons and spinal cord, with much lower levels in forebrain areas. 

The brain, like the seminal vesicles, is able to reduce testosterone to 5a-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and, like the placenta, the brain aromatizes testosterone to estradiol (Fig. 52-4). Neither conversion occurs equally in all brain regions. The aromatization reaction is discussed below. Regional distribution of 5a-reductase activity toward testosterone in rat brain reveals that the highest activity is found in the midbrain and brainstem, intermediate activity is found in the hypothalamus and thalamus, and the lowest activity is found in the cerebral cortex [1]. The pituitary has higher 5a-reductase activity than any region of the brain, and its activity is subject to changes as... 

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