Reticular activating system, cholinergic

The basal forebrain is an important way station in the activation of the cerebral cortex from the reticular activating system. AMPA and NMDA injections into the basal forebrain increase wakefulness and reduce sleep (Cape Jones, 2000 Manfridi et al, 1999), effects that are blocked by AMPA and NMDA receptor antagonists (Manfridi et al, 1999). The excitatory cortical projections of the basal forebrain have long been considered purely cholinergic, but many basal forebrain neurons that project to the cortex are now known to contain Glu, which may function as a co-transmitter or even as the primary excitatory neurotransmitter (Manns et al, 2001). The basal forebrain also affects vigilance via synapses to HCT cells in the lateral hypothalamus some of these synapses are glutamatergic (Henny Jones, 2006). 

Activates reticular formation Activates PGO system Activates cholinergic system... 

Fonnum The evidence that cholinergic terminals and not cell bodies are present in the caudate nucleus is based on the electron microscopy of AChE by Lewis and Shute (1967) in that region. Acetylcholinesterase seems to be bound within the terminals and not on the cells, that is within the cell reticular system. Further evidence is given by the experiment of Lewis and Shute which shows that if you cut the pathway between the substantia nigra and the caudate nucleus, the AChE activity seems to disappear. 

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