Medial frontal cortex

Hata, N., Nishikawa, T., Umino, A., and Takahashi, K., Evidence for involvement of A-methyl-D-aspartate receptor in tonic inhibitory control of dopaminergic transmission in the rat medial frontal cortex, Neurosci. Lett., 120, 101, 1990. 

Kashihara, K., Hamamura, T., Okumura, K., Otsuki, S. Methamphetamine-induced dopamine release in the medial frontal cortex of freely moving rats. Jpn. J. Psychiatry Neurol. 45 677, 1991. 

Several lines of evidence support the neurotrophic hypothesis. Animal and human studies indicate that stress and pain are associated with a drop in BDNF levels and that this loss of neurotrophic support contributes to atrophic structural changes in the hippocampus and perhaps other areas such as the medial frontal cortex and anterior cingulate. The hippocampus is known to be important both in contextual memory and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Likewise, the anterior cingulate plays a role in the integration of emotional stimuli and attention functions, whereas the medial orbital frontal cortex is also thought to play a role in memory, learning, and emotion. 

J. Zigmond. 1989. "Differential Effect of Stress on In-Vivo Dopamine Release in Striatum, Nucleus Accumbcns, and Medial Frontal Cortex." journal of Neurochemistry 52 1655-58. 

Figure 4. Inhibitory effect of Arnica 30 and Hypericum 200, and excitatory effect of Arsenic 30 on the lateral hypothalmic area (LHA) neurons of cats. Arrows indicate the time of application of drugs on the tongue of the test animal. (Reproduced, with permission, from Sukul et al. Neuronal activity in the lateral hypothalmus of the cat and the medial frontal cortex of the rat in response to homeopathic drugs. Indian Biologist 1991 23 19)...

Sukul NC, Batuev AS, Sabanov V, Kourzina NP. 1991. Neuronal activity in the lateral hypothalamus of the cat and the medial frontal cortex of the rat in response to homeopathic drugs. Indian Biologist 23 17-21. 

Results Compared with placebo, risperidone produced reductions in metabolism in the left lateral frontal cortex and right medial frontal cortex in healthy subjects. Conjunction analysis reveals that these changes occurred at locations similar to the loci of change produced risperidone with schizophrenia. 

Because the reduction in metabolism in the medial frontal cortex produced by risperidone is associated with alleviation of positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, the observation of a reduction in metabolism at a similar site in healthy subjects supports the hypothesis that the antipsychotic effect of risperidone arises, at least in part, from a physiologic effect that occurs in both patients with schizophrenia and healthy subjects. 

PET, [150]rCBF Normal volunteers f rCBF within anterior cingulate, medial frontal cortex, right inferior frontal region Patients total BPRS score correlated with rCBF in the two maxima located in the anterior cingulate cortex Holcomb et al. (2005)... 

Nakahara D, Fuchikami K, Ozaki N, Iwasaki T, Nagatsu T (1992) Differential effect of self-stimulation on dopamine release and metabolism in the rat medial frontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and striatum following electrical stimulation of the median forebrain bundle. Brain Res 674 164-170. 

Abercrombie ED, Keefe KA, Di Frischa DS, Zigmond MJ (1989) Differential effects of stress on in vivo, dopamine release in striatum, nucleus accumbens and medial frontal cortex. J Neurochem 52 1655-1658. 

Cenci MA, Kalen P, Mandel RJ, Bjorklund A (1992) Regional differences in the regulation of dopamine and noradrenaline release in medial frontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and caudate-putamen a microdialysis study in the rat. Brain Res 557(2) 217-228. 

Maier (1932) examined the cortical contributions to reasoning performance but failed to find specific important cortical regions. His three-table version of the problem is still in modern use though and Poucet (1990) and colleagues have shown that the rat medial frontal cortex (the approximate analogue of human dorsal-lateral frontal cortex Kolb Tees 1990) is essential for the combining of... 

Poucet B 1990 A further characterization of the spatial problem-solving deficit induced by lesions of the medial frontal cortex in the rat. Behav Brain Res 41 229-237 Rabe A, Haddad RK 1972 Methylazoxymethanol-induced microencephaly in rats behavioral studies. Fed Proc 31 1536—1539... 

Siever and colleagues studied six impulsive-aggressive patients and five healthy volunteers to determine their response to fenfluramine compared to a placebo. Normal volunteers showed increases in the orbital frontal and adjacent medial frontal cortex, cingulate, and inferior parietal cortex. Patients with impulsive aggression showed significantly blunted metabolic responses in the orbital frontal, adjacent ventral medial, and... 

Mitchell, J.B., Laiacona, J., 1998. The medial frontal cortex and temporal memory tests using spontaneous ejqjloratory behaviour in the rat. Behav. Brain Res. 

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