Serotonergic median raphe neurons

DahlstrOm A, Fuxe K (1964) Evidence for the existence of monoamine-containing neurons in the central nervous system. Acta Physiol Scand 62 2-55 Daugherty WP, Corley KC, Phan TH, Boadle-Biber MC (2001) Further studies on the activation of rat median raphe serotonergic neurons by inescapable sound stress. Brain Res 923 103-111... 

Lesions of serotonergic neurons in laboratory animals have been reported by some, but not all, investigators to disrupt locomotor rhythms or to result in the loss of the daily rhythm of corticosterone. There is evidence that, in the hamster, the median raphe nucleus projects to the SCN whereas the dorsal raphe nucleus innervates the IGL furthermore, the serotonergic innervation to the SCN and not the IGL is necessary for the photic entrainment of locomotor activity [22]. It appears then, that the SCN circadian pacemaker or clock is modulated by stimulation of serotonergic receptors in the SCN and that serotonergic projections to the SCN may modulate the phase of the SCN in intact animals. 

Fig. 1.4 Diagram of a dorsal view of the brainstem the cerebellum has been removed. The extent of the reticular formation within the brainstem is illustrated. The reticular formation is a polysynaptic network that consists of three regions a series of midUne raphe nuclei (the median reticular formation, which is the site of origin of the major serotonergic pathways in the nervous system) this is flanked bUateraUy by the paramedian reticular formation (an efferent system of magnoceUular neurons with ascending and descending projections) and farthest from the midhne, the lateral reticular formation, consisting of parvoceUular neurons that project transversely See also Color Insert)...

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