Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 31, Issue 9, Pages 4115-4139Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab073
Keywords
dopamine-beta-hydroxylase; nonhuman primates; noradrenergic receptors; norepinephrine; norepinephrine transporter
Categories
Funding
- Chair in Neuroscience UAM-Fundacion Tatiana Perez de Guzman el Bueno
- German Federal Ministry of Education and Research [01GQ1902]
- European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme [785907, 945539]
- Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
- Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study reveals that Noradrenaline (NA) plays important roles in modulating thalamic functions related to consciousness, emotion, cognition, and executive functions, with different levels of innervation and receptor densities across thalamic nuclei. The findings suggest a close relationship between NA axonal densities and Alpha adrenoceptor densities in the thalamus.
Noradrenaline (NA) in the thalamus has important roles in physiological, pharmacological, and pathological neuromodulation. In this work, a complete characterization of NA axons and Alpha adrenoceptors distributions is provided. NA axons, revealed by immunohistochemistry against the synthesizing enzyme and the NA transporter, are present in all thalamic nuclei. The most densely innervated ones are the midline nuclei, intralaminar nuclei (paracentral and parafascicular), and the medial sector of the mediodorsal nucleus (MDm). The ventral motor nuclei and most somatosensory relay nuclei receive a moderate NA innervation. The pulvinar complex receives a heterogeneous innervation. The lateral geniculate nucleus (GL) has the lowest NA innervation. Alpha adrenoceptors were analyzed by in vitro quantitative autoradiography. Alpha-1 receptor densities are higher than Alpha-2 densities. Overall, axonal densities and Alpha adrenoceptor densities coincide; although some mismatches were identified. The nuclei with the highest Alpha-1 values are MDm, the parvocellular part of the ventral posterior medial nucleus, medial pulvinar, and midline nuclei. The nucleus with the lowest Alpha-1 receptor density is GL. Alpha-2 receptor densities are highest in the lateral dorsal, centromedian, medial and inferior pulvinar, and midline nuclei. These results suggest a role for NA in modulating thalamic involvement in consciousness, limbic, cognitive, and executive functions.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available